I have been thinking about Little Prisank for three years. Due to Vinko Praprotnik's observation that he definitely wouldn't go there again, because there are almost no pictures of it, and everyone says it's one big rockfall, I decided back then not to invite any acquaintance into this risk. I was determined to try to reach it with the help of a mountain guide. Whatever it costs.
So last year, early in summer, I first called Klemen and Tomaž. Both were too busy with guiding in the Swiss and French Alps. They advised me to find someone with more time. Then last year and this year I called two Markots, Gregor, Mitja, Andrej and some others. All were too busy. Only one admitted he doesn't guide to it because he hasn't been there. One even promised me at the beginning of July that we would agree on a date in three weeks when he returns from France. When I called him at the end of July, he told me to get someone else as he has no time. So I lost another month. At the beginning of August I called the last one, the 91st on the list of mountain guides, Martin Žumra. Although he later admitted that he didn't even know about Little Prisank then, he promised to take me up in three weeks, upon return from France, at the first good weather. And so it finally happened.
Because in recent years I have a problem with worn cartilage in my knees, I chose Poštarski dom as the starting point. My son and I slept there, Martin arrived at six in the morning. We put on harnesses, helmets and headed towards Kopišarjeva difficult via ferrata. Just before the window we turned left onto the connection to Hanzova, bypassed Turn (Škofova glava) and reached the top of Hudičev steber. Here we first saw the pointed summit of Little Prisank (pic. 2 and 3). Anže left us here and continued to Prisank and from there back to Vršič. Martin belayed me on a 30m rope.
From the pillar we started descending towards Hudičev žleb. In the ridge ahead of us, the starts of two ledges are visible. The correct one is the lower one. The ledge is nearly 100m long. At the beginning it is wide and slightly descends. Here we walked one behind the other on a short guide rope (ca. 8m). The walking seemed completely safe to me. In the middle it starts descending more steeply towards the gully and becomes narrower. This part he belayed me once traditionally over solid rock and once with an inserted cam. Here one had to carefully search for steps and holds. Even more demanding was crossing the gully, as the incline is greater here, and rocks and stones are just waiting for a slight touch to send them down the gully (pic. 5 and 8). The same problem occurred when climbing (scrambling) from the gully to the ledge under M. Prisank. While looking for a hold, I lightly pressed a large rock (dia: ca. 50 cm) and it already rolled towards the gully. Simultaneously I spotted another similar one above me that lost support and started moving towards me. I barely had time to dodge it. With a menacing rumble they both rushed down the gully. This section of the path is really the only dangerous one, but truly dangerous.
When ascending from the gully, Martin belayed me again, once over rock and once with a cam. From the middle onwards the rock is better (pic. 6), the top 20m excellent, so we climbed to the narrow summit via a ca. 5m high chimney of 2nd difficulty grade. The summit is really miniature with two rocks, I am sitting on one (pic. 7), Martin is photographing me from the other, with a good meter of space in between.
The return was almost the same, one hour up and one down. Actually down and up, since Hudičev steber is 22m higher than M. Prisank. From there we descended to Koča na gozdu. On the way we also climbed the ridge to Turn (Škofova glava), which is supposed to be a two-thousander with 50m prominence. According to Marjana and Markot it should be 55m. We measured only 47m.
In the end one can say that overall it is not extremely demanding, but in one part very dangerous, since you are completely helpless if something starts collapsing uncontrolled in front of you.