| VanSims2. 10. 2013 17:27:52 |
This Saturday I took advantage of the weather before the rainy Sunday and in the morning (a bit late, only at 9am) drove through Šoštanj and over the Sleme pass to Carinthia. The whole way it was gloomy up to the top of the pass and it was lightly drizzling. But when I got to the Carinthian side, it was cloudy but dry weather, and the road to Črna is better there too. In Črna I turn towards Podpeča and along the so-called 'highway'  to Jakob. What to say about the road that was talked about a lot in previous posts? Currently (September 2013) it's reasonably passable, I've driven on worse. I also don't see much difference if you start from Črna or Mežica since both paths merge and only then (at least from Črna side) does the more annoying part begin.
Well, when I barely park (at 11:30 there were already quite a few cars) I head to the hut. As I walk to the hut, it almost clears up, and below I see fog in the valley. At the hut I head to Mala Peca from where a large group of hikers was just descending, there was an event "Fairy Tale World of King Matjaž on Peca" as I later find out on the net. From Mala Peca I go to the saddle where at the junction I turn left onto the climbing path. The weather clouded over again in the meantime.
The climbing path itself is very well secured by our standards, one could even say exemplary. But it's not that long. As usual, I climb it freely with self-belaying on the rope. I'd rate it a shade harder than e.g. Žrela on Storžič. The latter reaches a bit more steepness only right before exiting to the ridge, here there are at least two longer steep climbing sections. Rock, as for Karavanke, quite good and fairly grippy.
After the climbing part, the path first still climbs steeply then becomes flatter and reaches something that could be said to resemble a football field  , where it also meets the easier path. From there it's another 15 min. to the top of Peca (Kordeževa glava).
At the top, as I expected from predecessors' reports, it was really windy so I found shelter behind a rock and had a snack. Then I continued to Knepsovo sedlo. It was foggy too but you could still see ahead quite well at least the markers. The sign at the top of Kordeževa glava marking Knepsovo sedlo greatly exaggerates.  It's max. 20 min. there, not 45.
Well, at Knepsovo sedlo due to the fog slight orientation problems start. I want to reach Končnikov vrh, I know it's only about 10 min. from the saddle. One path leads to Koprivna, the other on the Austrian side to Bistriška špica. I choose ours then after about 2-3 min. of walking I cut right off-path to the top. It must be somewhere here. I was afraid that maybe because of the fog I wouldn't find my way back, but at the same time I knew I had to meet the Austrian path from the saddle somewhere. I reach the top, where on a rock it says Knieps. This is probably it (later at home on the net I find out that Knieps is the Austrian name for Končnikov vrh). It wasn't marked anywhere at the saddle.
I had nothing to see so I head back along the Austrian markers to the saddle and back to Kordeževa glava. The signs especially on the Austrian side (1h) as well as on ours (45 min) exaggerate again. All together now maybe half an hour since the return path goes a bit uphill. But it's not that steep except a little right before the top of Kordeževa glava. As I approach it, it starts clearing again and when I get there I see how on the left Uršlja gora peeks from the clouds, in front Raduha, Olševa and the far eastern side of the main KSA ridge with Ojstrica and Molička peč. That was almost all. You couldn't see farther, not along the ridge nor to the Austrian side. But it was still windy. Back to the 'football field'  I descend along the unmarked border ridge, which leads a bit left of the junction and head along the easier path back to the hut.
At the hut I also turn towards the cave of King Matjaž, who sleeps at his table (by the way, the real King Matjaž is not supposed to be the Hungarian Matija Korvin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFlvmF2hKaQ ) then along the unmarked path past Mala Peca I reach the hut again. There I treat myself to a beer and sausage. Next to me playful children are playing, although the warden was calming them, their shouting didn't bother me at all, what bothered me more was the rowdiness of the 'big kids' with the accordion in the next room.  No one was calming them!
Then I head back to the car, drive back through the fog, in Črna still for ice cream and over Sleme back home. The weather on the Carinthian side was dry all the time, as said it even cleared up at times. Well, when I get back to the Šoštanj side of the pass, light drizzling greets me again...
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