Bodenbauer - Vertatscha/Vrtača (on scree)

Access to starting point:
We drive to the border crossing Ljubelj and continue on the Austrian side. Soon after noticing a small church on the left side of the road, a road branches off to the left towards the village Poden / Bodental. At the crossroads past the village Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg, we turn left towards Podnu / Bodental. In Podnu / Bodental, we reach the mountain signposts for Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte, one to the left and one to the right. We head left and drive along the road to the end of the asphalt, where we park at the parking lot near the pasture fences.

Path description:
From Podnar, near which we park on the widened road, we head onto the macadam and for public traffic closed forest road in the direction of Mlake / Märchenwiese and Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte. The road, which starts gently ascending, soon brings us to the first junction, where the path towards the farm Vgriz / Ogrisbauer branches off to the right, and we continue straight in the direction of Celovška koča. The road goes a little further into the forest and splits into two parts. We choose the left marked road, which after approximately 30 minutes of walking from the starting point brings us to Mlake (flat, ample and panoramic meadow).
Here the road turns slightly to the right, and we continue straight on the parallel but somewhat less visible marked path, which continues across the meadow. On the other side of the meadow, the path returns to the forest and gradually starts moderately ascending. After a short ascent, we arrive at a smaller junction, where a ski touring path branches off to the left, and we continue straight through a smaller torrent gully. Some 10 steps higher the marked path turns to the right, and we continue along the torrent, where we follow a weaker path, which a little further turns to the left and ascends through a belt of dwarf pines to the extensive screes below Vrtača. Here the path disappears, and we continue along the lower part of the screes, where here and there we notice a cairn. Further on, we ascend for some time along the lower part of the scree below Vrtača, then a nice passage opens on the right side to the slopes below Svačica. After a short traverse ascent to the right, we will reach a weaker but well-visible path, which then ascends between the scree and the belt of dwarf pines. We continue the ascent along the mentioned path, from which increasingly beautiful views open up on the surrounding peaks. Higher up, the path starts to disappear on the screes below Svačica, and if we pay attention, we can find on the right side a barely visible path, which starts traversing upwards to the right. Further, we ascend over a steeper, partly already grass-overgrown scree, which ends or begins below the cliffs of Svačica. When we reach the lower edge of the cliffs, we join the unmarked path that leads from the saddle Vrata / Matschatcher Sattel towards the saddle Belščica (path that bypasses Svačica on the left eastern side). We follow the mentioned path to the left, ascending along it over occasionally quite steep slopes. Higher, the path flattens and transitions from scree to less steep grassy slopes, over which we ascend to the border with Slovenia.
Here we continue left (straight saddle Belščica 3 minutes, right Svačica), where after a short traverse we reach a grassy slope, over which we start descending transversely along a less trodden path. The path, which descends towards Skleda or Vatelca, then rises slightly and brings us to the place where we join the marked path from the saddle Belščica. When we reach the mentioned path, we follow it to the left (right Stol), and it brings us to the place where we arrive at a short but steep grassy slope, over which we descend transversely. When the descent ends, we reach extensive screes, over which we start ascending in a semicircle. Further, the less trodden path exposed to falling stones in several places ascends more steeply a few times higher up, then turns a bit more to the right and brings us to the southwest shoulder of Vrtača, where we join the better trodden path from Ljubelj and Završnica.
Here we continue left and start steeply ascending very steep and slippery-dangerous slopes. Higher, the path brings us to the main ridge of the Karavanks, where it flattens. This is followed by approximately 20 minutes of walking on and along the ridge, which is somewhat exposed in places and slippery-dangerous throughout. We then follow this panoramic path all the way to the top of Vrtača.