Magnificent outing

A cold night, we need to warm up with a little exercise.

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Just bringing the sleeping bag liners was not such a good decision. It wasn’t freezing cold, but it was uncomfortable enough to make you restless. The good thing is, it looks a clear morning so we will soon warm up.

Susana has her iced coffee and I have a yogurt drink. We grab all our stuff, water lunch, wet weather gear, first aid kit and head off. It is still quite early, 07.30, so maybe no one is manning the ticket kiosk.

No, they get up early around here, another €6, but this is fantastic value for a days entertainment.

We are still not quite sure which is the highest peak, Bobotov Kuk, however we did see the signs for the turn off yesterday. It looks well marked.

The path is fantastic, heading up through the pine forest adjacent to the lake, before rising up above the trees into an Alpine landscape of shrub and meadows.

The path is really nice; not too wide and maintained, not too much scree which can be tiring and nicely undulating.

At first it wends its way fairly straight direct into the mountains. We eventually stop to have a look at the map. There was a turn off that we had meant to take, but somehow we have missed it.

Not too worry, we can just do the loop in reverse. We much prefer a different way back, you get to see more of the landscape, but to tell you the truth, even if you go there and back along the same route it still looks remarkably different!

The path goes through some really lovely little gorges, sometimes with steep little scrambles, before you pull yourself up onto the next little plateau.

What a fantastic little path, what a route.

Sometimes you get so carried away, you forget to look backwards. What a mistake, you miss all the good views.

The landscape is opening up a bit and these meadows look like they could sustain some domesticated beasts. We hear the bleating of sheep in the distance.

They seem to be just over that little pass.

As we climb up to it, we see a lot of activity. A rough cabin seems to be occupied by some trekkers, although it looks a bit tatty and strewn with rubbish. There are also a few tents pitched and presumably quite a few have already packed up. Strangely we take no photos of our fellow trekkers, rather focusing the lens on the mountain vistas.

The other side of this small pass is an even more barren landscape, and the remnants of a lake that seems to all but disappear during the summer months. This must be quite a harsh and foreboding place during the winter.

The paths climbs more steeply now. Luckily, most of our fellow trekkers seem to be heading back down the valley. All but a couple are following us, so we are back in peaceful bliss.

Looking back you can only just see the cluster of three buildings and the sheep fold nestled in the pass.

This is climbing rapidly now. Luckily with altitude you start to get a cooling off of the temperature and a freshening breeze. We also have a bit of cloud cover today, which is just what you need, we just hope for a clear summit, as the clouds tend to cluster around the highest points.

This is a pretty steep slope, but the path is well cut into it.

And the views are getting glorious, but we are still not quite sure which our peak is.

We pull up over another pass. We are much higher now, but the landscape continues with these little gorges, with steep little risers at the end. It keeps your views rather blinkered. We had expected to see the summit by now. We have been walking for a little over three hours.

There is the pass we have just come through. The couple that were following us seemed to have been struggling a little and we can no longer see them, perhaps they have turned back.

This path is covered by scree and also quite steep. These type of paths are hard to climb without a third point of contact; say a rock to grab on or a pole. These guys have not poles and there are not rocks along the path. It could take them a long time. SM

We also get to see the return path, a very faint line tracks horizontally just below the opposite rocks. We are sure that will be the start of our loop back.

But that is for later, now we must push on, ever higher.

I am always surprised about how much distance you cover, and how quickly you climb. Soon we are looking back onto the pass we crossed just a few minutes before.

And still this mountain throws us nice surprises. It is not one of those mountains that revels everything from the start, this one is a real poker player. Which way next? find a narrow path up through that malaise of rock.

So off to the left then, around the edge, wasn’t expecting that!

And there she is, our first proper view of the summit. At first glance it looks quite intimidating.

This one is going to be a bit of a challenge.

This is what is going to happen;

First we have to make our way across a boulder field.

Then pick our way up a steep slope, a lot of it scree (the red line)

Then cut around the back of the peak, occasionally using fixed cables (the yellow line)

Finally scaling the ridge to the summit (the red line)

At this point the day is just half finished because then we need to descend and return to the campsite.

Have we bitten off more than we can chew here?

The boulder field is filled with…..boulders, lots of them. It is a balancing act hopping from one to the next. Concentration is key here. The poles really help in keeping stable.

We are high now, and have to cross some residual snow field, although I don’t think they will be around much longer. The boulder field is complete, now to pick a route up that scree slope.

When up close it is never quite as steep as it seems from a distance, fortunately for us.

The opposite could also happen. No this time, so we make the most of it. SM

Keep looking back at where you have come from and that amazing view.

The pass gets closer and closer, but still a lot of scree to scramble up. Scree has to be the worse, loose footing all the way, two paces up, one slide down.

Still no idea what that summit climb is going to be like, from here it looks like technical climbing.

Higher and higher, we are close to the pass now, and from this angle it once again, starts to look seriously steep. A good effort.

A woman is going up in front of me. She eventually let me go ahead. I look at her, she is bending down, breathing heavily. “Are you okay?” “Yes, thanks I just need to recover”. She really doesn’t look like it. A few steps up there is her partner waiting for her. Ok, at least she is not on her own. SM.

At last we have reached the pass. Many others have reached it from the other side. From here it is a much shorter walk in, just three hours. Hardly seems worth it, if you ask me.

And at last we get to see the next stage of the climb. A thin track that passes just below the rocky cliffs

More are following us up, we have come a long way in such a short time.

This is such a good vantage point

But we need to head on. We have a summit to complete.

We’ve have to get up there.

We trek all the way around the back of the mountain and get to see new vistas, including this beautiful lake.

The path is pretty exposed here, with sheer drops.

This then leads to a rocky ridge and a scramble up to the top.

Until eventually we pull ourselves up onto the summit.

The obligatory summit photo. We are getting quiet a collection of these.

Lets face it, it is what it is all about!

Yesterday it looked quite cloudy up in the high peaks, but today is pretty clear.

That must be Bosnia and Herzegovina over there

This is a pretty robust landscape, and because of this you get lots of summit photos.

We stay up here to have our lunch, which is unusual for us, normally we head down a little where it is more peaceful and sheltered.

Whilst having lunch, the woman’s partner I saw earlier reaches the top. He is on his own. Perhaps she has decided to wait at the bottom. Fifteen minutes later, she turns up. “Well done” I thought. We look at each other and smile with satisfaction. The photo summit is not as fulfilling as the rewards of reaching the summit after a big effort. SM

We waited to show the route to the summit on the return, it looks more dramatic that way. It always feels more exposed going down.

The summit ridge.

We need to get used to that cabling as we are soon heading to Italy and Via Ferrata.

You may not wish to look down at this point.

Susana coping really well and enjoying the descent.

What a fabulous summit climb, but I must say we are both glad to be back down.

Just that last little path back to the saddle of the pass.

The descent is much quicker, usually two third of the time and we are soon once again crossing the boulder fields.

We just climbed that!

We retrace our steps through a particularly woody challenge.

Back on much safer ground now, back amongst the meadows.

The meadows are an abundance of flowers this time of year.

Soon we are back at our junction and we can explore a new part of this mountain, returning via the loop.

The yellow arrow show where we originally came from, back down to the sheep fold, refuge and camping ground.

The red arrow is the route back from the summit.

This is a surprise climb back up to a new pass though and is really starting to sap our energy. We have now been on the mountain about six hours.

 

The couple that were in front of us, seem to be struggling with this climb. We get to the pass before them, and although we keep looking back we see no sign of them. Perhaps they turned back.

 

No turning back for us though. We have heard there is an ice cave somewhere around here.

It is just getting a little bit tricky finding it.

Ok it is not quite as dramatic as the Dobsinska ice cave in Slovakia, but then this one you don’t have to pay to get in and isn’t so crowded, there are just three other people around.

It is quite slippery getting down into it. A rope at the bottom has become embedded in the ice, so this is as far as I am going to go.

Nice ice stalagmites though.

It was cold down there but it is still amazing that it stays frozen the whole summer.

We make our way down from the ice cave, not sure what happened to the others, we never saw them again.

The route back to the campsite seems much longer this way.

But I am sure this is just because we are using up the last bits of our energy.

But gradually it feels like we are losing some altitude.

The shrubs turn into trees and we eventually meet up with the path we used early this morning. It is not surprising we missed the junction. It is completely unmarked and really difficult to find in this direction.

We are getting to be quite the regulars at this little bar overlooking the lake. No violinist today, shame.

We are utterly shattered, so treat ourselves not only to a meal out, but also a taxi into town, well it is only three euros.

Susana has a traditional dish around these parts; Polenta with cheese.

And I have my favourite, lamb.

Tomorrow we have a long day of travelling, at least we will be able to recover from todays exertions!

19 kms

10 hrs

GDR