Yesterday (Friday, 08.11.2024) to the summit via Smrajko up the western side of the valley and down the eastern.
Morning caught me a bit further from Podkuž, where a German trucker's motorhome occupied almost half of the about five parking spots. Ice accompanied me along the bike path to the top of the clearing at Podkuža, where I turned into the forest slightly left until I stumbled upon cairns of a barely visible hunter's path.
At the saddle, a flagged path branches right, crossing towards Lešnik's gully and beyond to the salt lick and maybe further, where I stopped being curious, returned and continued transversely left from the saddle. Lack of time due to this excursion soured my evening. After about 150 meters, an excellent hunter's path branches right and up (somehow reminds me of Martinj path), leading over a rocky head into the forest below Smrajko and on to the hunter's hut.
As far as I could trace, the shepherd's crossing towards the Ridge goes through the area of eastern screes of the Cijanica valley below Vrtaški vrh. I've been there, but didn't fancy grinding my knees on scree. So I headed into moderately steep forest on the western part of the valley. It went better than on rocky debris, continued left into wet, grassy gully from which after about 100m elevation I exited left again. From here to the rocky barrier it's about 250m of digestible vegetated scree, topped towards the top by deposits of somewhat larger rocks. In between, among open rocky clearings, some short dwarf pine passages. Wildlife prepared a friendly path under the wall, along which under steep slopes closing this part of the valley I crossed to its eastern edge. There upwards again some path with lots of animal tracks and no human, quite comfortably leading over the barrier (total about 70m elevation) and then flattening.
Below the walls of Vrtaški vrh and Urlež I continued about half a km towards the right. The path here partly on screes, partly on grassy slopes was quite visible, locally frozen due to ice. The primeval dwarf pine forest at the end surprised me a bit, under branches animal tracks, no other signs of a path. But I found my way somehow left and soon hit the (poorly) marked path to Vrta Ridge. The sun, which I hadn't had all the way, pleasantly warmed me, above me a herd of about 50 chamois (looked strong and healthy) grazed merrily and moved towards Vrata about as fast as I puffed upwards.
Views from the Ridge were of course magnificent, just a bit foggy. And completely solitary.
Descended the same way, first challenge was of course returning through the dwarf pines, but I was lucky. After the barrier I descended to the middle of the valley and slowly continued on rocky slide towards the east side. Some short passages through dwarf pines no problem, a bit more tricky was the first narrow rocky steep scree that gave no footing, so I held firmly to the dwarf pines. As observed on ascent from the other side of the valley, this part could perhaps be avoided a bit left over some narrow clearing in dwarf pines (photo).
Continuation mostly scree to about 1400m asl, where dwarf pines stretch almost the full width of the valley. Passage is just meters from its far right edge, tens of meters down from the passage sharp eye spots a cairn then another pointing through short dwarf pine barrier to narrow scree.
Let me say that the whole way from the hunter's hut onwards except the two described cairns above I saw no sign, say no cut branch hinting a passage, a few meters below them on two trees there are two blue marks showing the path out of the valley by the other variant.
On the scree that at times almost disappears then widens again I went down until I spotted a white birch on the right, about 20m below it the salt lick, next to it poorly visible path coming right from rocky head, from the other side of which the hunter's path leads. Followed the cairn and along animal tracks right around the rock until in hard darkness a small but shining white cairn directed me to transverse path and past the branch for hunter's path to the saddle with split to Lešnikov gully and salt lick. Lower down the path completely disappears, I also got lost in some huge grass interwoven with blackberries and tripping holes in the ground, but finally found the exit clearing and road. Next time at the start of the path I'll be less curious.
Conditions were of course dry, season-appropriate and changed regardless of elevation. First slip in the morning on the bridge over Sava, once or twice higher up when carelessly jumping rock to rock, then suddenly and who knows why one iced over.