Ljubelj - Srednji vrh (above Završnica) (on a slope of Vrtača)

Access to starting point:
We drive to the border crossing Ljubelj, where before the tunnel we turn left towards Zelenica. Then we drive across a small bridge, and then we park on a large parking lot.

Route description:
At the beginning of the parking lot, the signposts for Stol, Vrtača and Dom na Zelenici point us onto a wide cart track which starts ascending by the torrent. When a little higher the cart track turns left, we continue straight on the mountain path which continues through the forest and soon returns to the cart track. The cart track a little higher turns right and brings us out of the forest onto a ski track of the former ski slope Zelenica. Next follows a short steeper ascent on the ski slope, and then the path flattens and leads us by the foot of the scree below Begunjščica.
From the marked path soon a path which runs on a transport road branches off to the right, and we continue on the "road" to the nearby Koča Vrtača.
At the mountain hut, the road turns right, and we continue straight in the direction of the mountain path to Zelenica. For a short time we continue below the former one-seater chairlift Zelenica II, and then the path starts to ascend more steeply on a slope which is partly overgrown by dwarf pines. After a few hairpin turns, we return to the transport road, on which we continue with a view towards the Šentanski plaz.
The path ahead leads us on the slopes of Spodnji plot (a peak on which a sport climbing route was equipped some years ago), then from the road we turn right onto a footpath which cuts a longer bend. When we return to the road we are already at the upper station of the former one-seater chairlift Zelenica II, and only a few steps of descent separate us from the Dom na Zelenici.
After the mountain hut we continue left and ascend to half of the children's ski lift, then on the right we notice signs for Vrtača and Stol, which direct us right into a belt of forest. A little further we cross the connecting strip between the children's ski lift and anchor lift, then we also cross the other ski track.
We find the continuation of the path at a smaller boulder, then we cross the slopes below the ridge Na Možeh. When the crossing ends we arrive in an indistinct little valley, where to the right a path branches off to Suho ruševje (at the branch-off there is usually a cairn).
From the junction onwards we ascend briefly through the forest, then the path brings us to the slopes of Vrtača, where in a gentle ascent we cross a few screes, occasionally also some really short belt of forest. Further on, the path from Dom pri izviru Završnice joins us from the left, a little further ahead the path splits.
We continue on the somewhat narrower lower path in the direction of Stol (right Vrtača), from which we already nicely see Srednji vrh. At the next junction we continue left downwards in the direction of Dom pri izviru Završnice (right Stol and Vrtača) and through a belt of dwarf pines we quickly descend to the saddle Šija, from which there is a nice view of Stol.
From the saddle Šija we continue straight (left Dom pri izviru Završnice, right Stol lower path) and past a smaller bench we start to ascend the ridge. For a few minutes we ascend the ridge, which is mainly surrounded by dwarf pines on the left side, and on the right side there are also occasional unvegetated slopes. Higher up the path turns somewhat to the left from the ridge, then ascends through dwarf pines to the panoramic summit.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2017 (April).

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register