Ljubelj - Prešernova koča na Stolu (upper way)

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana–Jesenice highway, take the Ljubelj exit and follow the road ahead to the border crossing. Just a few meters before the border crossing, signs for Zelenica direct us to the left and after some 10 meters of additional driving the road brings us to the parking lot below the ski center Zelenica.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we head onto the marked footpath in the direction of Zelenica, Vrtača and Stol. The path first leads along a moderately steep cart track that ascends through the forest, then turns slightly to the right and brings us out of the forest onto the ski slope track. We continue the ascent on the ski slope, from which beautiful views open up onto the walls and screes of Begunjščica, and on the right side we see the ridge of Ljubeljšica. The path, which continues along a rough road, brings us a little higher to the Koča Vrtača hut, where the Zelenica I chairlift ends and the Zelenica II chairlift begins. Here the transport-rescue road turns sharply to the right, but we continue straight ahead towards Zelenica and proceed along a path that is initially still gentle, then steeper, ascending along the ski slope track. Higher up, we ascend through a sparse belt of dwarf pines, then return to the road. We continue along the rough road, but when the road turns left, we continue right onto a steep footpath that rejoins the road just below the upper station of the single-seater Zelenica II chairlift. From here follows a short descent and the path brings us to the Dom na Zelenici hut.
Just before the hut, a path branches left to Begunjščica and Roblekov dom, but behind the hut we continue left and begin ascending beside the children's drag lift Ciciban. Roughly midway along the drag lift, we reach a small junction, where we continue right across the ski slope (straight to Koča pri izviru Završnice, Srednji vrh and Stol - lower path). On the other side of the Ciciban ski slope, the path enters a narrow belt of forest, beyond which we arrive at the next drag lift. We also just cross this ski slope, then beside a small boulder we find the continuation of the marked path towards Vrtača and Stol. Further on, the path leads along the slopes below the Na Možeh ridge, then descends slightly and brings us to the point where an unmarked path branches right into the Suhega ruševja valley and to Palec (there is a small cairn at the junction). After the junction, the path gradually moves onto the slopes of Vrtača, across which it ascends mostly diagonally. Higher up, an unmarked path from Koča pri izviru Završnice joins from the left, and we continue straight to the nearby marked junction.
At the junction, a path to Vrtača and towards Stol and Svačica via Vatelce or Sklede branches slightly right, but we continue straight along the lower path, which crosses a belt of dwarf pines and raspberry bushes. After a few minutes of further walking, we arrive at the next junction, where we can descend left downhill in a few minutes to the Šija saddle, from which the lower path to Stol leads; right branches a poorer track towards Vrtača (the latter joins the previously mentioned marked path a little higher up), but we again continue straight, this time across occasionally steeper grassy slopes interrupted by a few less steep gullies. The crossing of the grassy slopes soon ends, and the path brings us to a steep gully, through which we begin descending along a path that is locally eroded and slippery in places. When the gully ends, the path moves onto scree, across which it descends diagonally below the cliffs to the cirque V Kožnah. Here the path begins ascending again, and the lower path and the path from Završnica join from the left.
We continue straight and the path further leads past several large boulders. A short, somewhat steeper ascent follows and we arrive at a junction, where a path branches right towards Celovška koča and Svačica, or the path via Vatelce or Sklede joins us. Here too we continue straight, and the path from the small valley between Srednja peč 1920 m (Srednja peč is a lesser-known peak on the left) and the Orlic ridge (Orlice is a harder-to-reach ridge between the Belščica saddle and Stol) gradually moves onto a larger scree field, across which we ascend diagonally to the right, then the path gradually enters a steeper valley between Mali Stol on the left and Stol on the right. Here the path ascends steeply, then gradually levels out and brings us to a marked junction. Here we continue left (right Stol 10 minutes) and after a few minutes of moderate ascent we step onto the summit of Mali Stol, from which only some 10 paces of descent separate us to the Prešernova koča hut.
Ljubelj - Zelenica 1:20, Zelenica - Prešernova koča 3:25.

Along the route: Koča Vrtača mountain hut (1288m), Dom na Zelenici mountain hut (1536m)

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Hochstuhl/Stol

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