Sveti Križ (Planica) - Mariborska koča

Access to the starting point:
Leave the Štajerska motorway at exit Fram and follow the signs for Fram. When you reach the main road Slovenska Bistrica - Maribor, continue straight ahead from the semaphoreised intersection into the centre of Fram. Continue through the village, and when you reach the parking lot under the parish church of St Anne, continue along the left-hand road, passing the church on your left. A little further on, go right at the cemetery and then start climbing steeply. At a higher altitude you reach the village Kopivnik, and we continue along the road towards the village of Planica, where we follow the signs for the church Sveti Križ, which we park next to.

Path description:
On the north-east side of the church, to the left of the games, you will see cart track, which is the starting point. After a few steps, continue slightly to the left (take the right-hand path down to the tarmac road that led to the starting point) and then climb for a few minutes cross-country through the woods. As you leave the forest, the slope drops into a small valley, and we continue along the left edge of the pasture and climb along it to the asphalt road, where we reach the marked trail Fram - Ruška koča na Arehu and follow it to the left.
Continue along the road for a short distance, and when the road makes a long right turn, turn left off the road onto the waymarked path, which climbs alongside the power lines. At a higher level, you reach a narrower tarmac road, where you go right, and at a junction with a priority road, go left. The way ahead leads past a small hamlet, then the road returns to the forest, where signs soon direct you to the right on a footpath towards Areh. Follow the signs through the forest at a number of crossroads, and the path leads you first past a cross, and then higher up past the NOB memorial, near which there is another cross.
Here you will also come out onto an asphalt road, which you will quickly leave and continue right into the forest, where you will follow signs at crossroads, and higher up you will reach the main asphalt road and follow it to the left.
Follow the main road to a crossroads where the road to Hotel Zarja branches off to the right.
Continue right along the marked road in the direction of Hotel Zarja (slightly left along the Areh footpath) and after a few minutes of cross-country climbing you will reach the hotel.
Go around the hotel on the lower side, and on the east side of the hotel take the path towards Maribor hut. Continue on the cart track, which leads through the forest, and cross-climb the south-eastern slopes of Sedovec Peak (1231 m). At a higher altitude, we reach the marked path connecting Mariborska koča and Ruška koča na Arehu, and we follow the worse road to the right. The road then gradually descends and after a few minutes we reach a marked crossroads where we continue downhill to the right and follow the wider dirt road (Pečke to the left, lookout tower straight ahead). Follow the road down for a few minutes, and at the crossroads continue straight ahead, and when the road becomes tarmac, turn right down the road onto the marked path, which quickly descends to the Maribor hut.
Starting point - Zarja 1:45, Zarja - Mariborska koča 0:45.
Description and figures refer to March 2022.

On the way: Planinski dom Zarja (Hotel Zarja) (1113m)

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