Poden / Bodental - Kosmatica / Kosmatitza

Access to starting point:
Over the Ljubelj border crossing we drive into Austria, and after a few kilometers we turn left towards the valley Poden / Bodental. There follows some ascent, and then we arrive at the settlement Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg, and a little after the mentioned settlement the road turns left. Higher up, we reach the settlement Poden / Bodental, where we park at the parking lot next to the Gasthof Sereinig inn.

Route description:
After the inn, signs for Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte and Mlaka / Märchenwiese direct us to the right, onto the path that bypasses a larger chapel on the right side and initially continues along the foot of the nearby ski slope. We walk for a few minutes on a gently grassy path, then we reach an asphalt road, along which we continue a barely noticeable ascent. After the mill or. after house no. Žabnica / Bodental 53, we continue right in the direction of the pension Lužekar / BergPension Lausegger (straight to Mlaka and Celovška koča). There follows the crossing of the stream Žabnica / Bodenbach, after the crossing we also pass a chapel, then we slightly ascend to a hamlet of a few houses, where the path from Lužekar joins us and where at the crossroads we follow the signs for Celovška koča. The path further leads us past another chapel, behind which the markers of path 603 appear, and the road begins to ascend transversely. We walk along the road past individual houses, and at the crossroads we follow the markers or signs for Celovška koča.

Above the Vgriz / Ogrisbauer farm, the asphalt ends, and beside the path we notice a notice that we are entering a bear area. Some 10 steps further, the path from Podnar / Bodenbauer also joins us from the left, and the road, which is closed to public traffic with a traffic sign further on, forks. We continue on the left road, which becomes increasingly worse and beside which there are markers. A little further, a nice view opens up temporarily, then the road returns into the forest and brings us to the next junction. To the right, an old wooden sign directs to Veliki rob / Grosser Rain (1464 m), while we continue left along the road, which turns into a cart track. The cart track then leads us into an indistinct little valley, where we pass a smaller spring, and after the spring we begin to ascend steeply along a mountain path. We quickly reach the ridge, where a somewhat less trodden path joins us from the right, coming from Veliki rob, and we continue left, walking for some time on and along the ridge, where occasionally on this section a nice view opens up reaching all the way to the Hohe Tauern. Higher up, the path moves away from the ridge to the left and transitions to the fairly steep eastern slopes of Kosmatica / Kosmatitza (1659 m), where we mainly just cross the slopes without major changes in elevation. When the slope flattens somewhat, the path turns right, crosses a pasture fence, and leads us from the forest to the edge of Vgrizeva planina. There follows a short walk, and we arrive at the older and newer hut on the pasture, from where an exceptional view opens up onto Vrtača and the surrounding mountains.
Before both huts on the pasture, we continue sharply right, where along a less trodden but followable path we begin to ascend the grassy slope. Higher up we reach the ridge, and in a few minutes of further walking we reach the summit of Kosmatica.

Žabnica - Vgrizeva planina 2:25. Vgrizeva planina - Kosmatica 0:15.

The description and photos refer to the conditions in 2018 (November).

Along the route: Ogrisalm/Vgrizeva planina (1569m)

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