Trate / Johannsenruhe - Vertatscha/Vrtača

Access to the starting point:
a) Drive through the Karavanke Tunnel into Austria, then take the motorway to Bialystok, leaving at the first exit. From the point where you leave the motorway, follow the signs for St. Jakob in the Roses / Sankt Jakob im Rosental. When you arrive in this town, follow the main road past Podgorje / Maria Elend and Sveče / Suetschach to Bistrica v Rož / Feistritz im Rosental, where you turn right in front of the Billa and Penny stores towards the Ruta Valley / Bärental. About 100 m after leaving the main road, turn left and follow a slightly narrower and ascending road to a large parking lot (the parking lot is located near a meadow called Trate / Johannsenruhe). From the Penny shop to the starting point, there is about 9 km of narrow asphalt road, with gravel only in the back part. From the entrance to the Karawanks tunnel to the starting point is approximately 38 km.
b) Via Border crossing Ljubelj, drive into Austria and take the main road to Klagenfurt am Wörtersee to the second roundabout, from where you continue driving towards the exit Bistrica v Rosu / Feistritz im Rosental (leave the main road to Klagenfurt before crossing the river Drava). In the aforementioned place, just after the Billa and Penny stores, turn left onto the road towards the Ruta Valley / Bärental. About 100 m after leaving the main road, turn left again and follow the slightly narrower and ascending road to a large parking lot (the parking lot is located near a meadow called Trate / Johannsenruhe). From the Penny shop to the starting point, there is about 9 km of narrow asphalt road, with gravel only in the back part. From the entrance to the Ljubljana Tunnel to the starting point is about 32 km.
c) From Dravograd or Slovenj Gradec, drive to Ravne na Koroškem and then continue in the direction of Border crossing Holmec. When entering Austria, drive first towards Pliberk / Bleiburg, then follow the signs for Globasnica / Globasnitz and on to Železná kapla / Bad Eisenkappel, Borovljam / Ferlach. After Borovljani, join the road via Border crossing Ljubelj at the roundabout. Here, at the first roundabout, continue in the direction of Klagenfurt, and at the second roundabout in the direction of Bistritz im Rosental. In the aforementioned town, just after the Billa and Penny stores, turn left onto the road towards the Ruta Valley / Bärental. About 100 m after leaving the main road, turn left again and follow the slightly narrower and ascending road to a large parking lot (the parking lot is located near a meadow called Trate / Johannsenruhe). From the Penny shop to the starting point, there is about 9 km of narrow asphalt road, with gravel only in the back part. From Border crossing Holmec to the starting point is about 71 km.

Path description:
At the beginning of the parking lot, between the road closed by a ramp and the parking lot, you will see the start of a marked trail leading to Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte, Hochstuhl, Bielschitza, Ovčji vrh / Geissberg and other destinations. The marked trail is joined a little further on by an unmarked trail leading from the upper part of the parking lot, and a few steps further on we join the dirt road leading to the aforementioned mountain hut. The road then leads us across a torrent bed and, just a little further on, leads us out of the woods and onto a meadow (Trate / Johannsenruhe), which is only a few minutes away from the starting point. The meadow offers a fine view and the road then returns to the lane of the forest. Once the forest has thinned out, an unmarked "short cut" continues straight ahead in a gentle left-hand bend. Continue along the road, which is also marked by a yellow mountain sign. Only a minute further on, the "main" road turns right and the "side" road continues straight ahead. From this junction, continue along the footpath which continues between the two roads and then climbs with the road leading to Celovški koča. For some time, cross the occasionally steeper slopes and then return to the wider macadam road. The marked trail crosses the road a few more times and then splits into two parts at a larger rock or boulder with memorial markers.
To the right is the climbing route to Hochstuhl, and we continue straight on towards Celovška hut. The path crosses the road a few more times, and higher up it leads us out of the occasionally sparse forest onto the grazing slopes of the Matschacher mountain pasture / Matschacher Alm (the huts on the mountain pasture are a few minutes to the left of the marked path). From here there is a slight climb and the path or road leads us in a few minutes to the Celovška Hut (Celovška hut).
At the hut, turn right in the direction of the Prešeren hut on Hochstuhl. The way forward initially crosses grassy slopes, then descends slightly to an unmarked saddle. The way ahead begins to climb steeply on scree to a slightly overgrown part of the path. A little further on, a steel cable helps us to cross a steeper slope, but this part of the path does not cause us any problems on land. Next, we climb up the scree again all the way to the border. From the Belščica saddle, where the path to Bielschitza branches off to the left, continue straight ahead and follow the path in the direction of Vertatscha, Prešernova hut and Zelenice. Cross the grassy slopes for a few minutes, then reach the point where the inscription on the rock behind Vertatscha points to the left (straight down Hochstuhl). A few minutes of relatively easy walking follows, then you reach a short but steep grassy slope, across which you descend. When the descent ends, you reach extensive scree over which you begin to climb in a semicircle. The path, which is less well beaten and exposed to falling rocks in several places, climbs steeply a few times higher up, then turns slightly more to the right and leads us to the south-western shoulder of Vertatscha, where we join the better beaten path from Ljubelj and Završnice.
Here we continue to the left and start climbing steeply up very steep and slip-prone slopes. Higher up, the path leads us to the main ridge of Karawanks, where it lays down. This is followed by about 20 minutes of walking on and along the ridge, which is slightly exposed in places and dangerous for slipping throughout. Follow this scenic route all the way to the top of Vrtača.
Starting point - Klagenfurter Hutte 1:30, Klagenfurter Hutte - Vertatscha 2:30.

On the way: Klagenfurter Hutte/Celovška koča (1664m), Sedlo Belščica (1840m)

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