Podmežakla (Jesenice) - Snežna jama on Mežakla (via Zakop and Planski vrh)

Access to starting point:
From the highway Ljubljana - Jesenice, take the exit Lipce and turn right towards Jesenice (at the traffic light, left). Here in the center of the town, follow the signposts for Podmežakla. When we drive through the underpass, we turn right, and nearby we can notice the hockey hall. We drive a further 350 meters, until before the highway underpass we notice the parking lot. Here is our starting point.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we head into the underpass, on the right side of which we encounter the first marker. When we pass through it, on the left we notice a path that leads from the road uphill (marker on the asphalt). We take it, ascend a few meters and turn right (west) towards the power line. The path, which initially ascends only moderately but later more steeply, brings us after some time to a junction. Here we go left (straight to Mala Mežakla), somewhat more steeply uphill towards the south. Soon we reach a forest road, which through a double bend brings us to the junction of a cart track that steeply ascends on the right in the SE direction. We take it and follow it for quite some time, ignoring the right turn-offs of smaller shortcuts.
The path through the forest occasionally ascends in serpentines, initially somewhat to the left. After passing the larger right bend, the markers direct us to the narrower path from the right. Now we are facing SW. From here on, the path gradually ascends even more steeply towards the top on the left in larger or smaller zigzags. When we arrive below the rocks on the left, we are already close to the top of the plateau; here we soon encounter a junction of marked trails, meaning two variants are available.
The first is straight ahead (SW direction) along which, soon after the steepness eases, we arrive at Zakop, where we encounter a forest road, turn left and notice a monument and benches (smaller event space). The second option is left (SE direction), steeply uphill towards the top of the plateau, where we encounter the same road that takes us left towards the goal. Soon the road ends; we continue on the path in the same direction, ignoring the left turn-offs of cart tracks. When the path ascends again, we reach the forest road a second time, which we cross. After a few meters, we arrive at the edge of the plateau at Škrbina, near which (left 2 min) the Mežakla television transmitter is located. Here a view opens into the valley; we continue the path right uphill along the edge of the plateau. Soon, when the steepness eases, we walk along the panoramic path atop the northern wall of Planski vrh. After a good 15 minutes of walking from Škrbina, about 20 m below the path on the left, we notice a relatively large rocky natural bridge, near which we can carefully descend (risk of slipping). The path, continuing in the same direction, soon turns right and crosses the top of the plateau. Facing SE, the path descends to an overgrown cart track, where it turns right downhill and soon after left through the forest, heading east. After some time, the path, crossing individual fallen trees while continuously descending, diagonally crosses a forest road and continues descending eastwards. When the path turns slightly right, we encounter a level area at the end of the forest road. We turn right onto this road and follow it for just a few minutes, after which markers and signs along the road direct us left onto a cart track that first turns left and rises slightly, then, through varied forest terrain, brings us in a few minutes of walking to the turn-off to Snežna jama (sign on a tree), which is located on the left side, just a few meters from the cart track. Equipped with a flashlight, we descend the increasingly slippery path first for about 15 m into a sinkhole, from where we continue left through low passages equipped with a short ladder all the way to the large chamber of this 72 m long karst cave, where we encounter numerous characteristic limestone formations and, in its rear, also water.

Along the route: Partizanska bolnišnica na Mežakli (1050m), Škrbina (Mežakla) (1210m), Naravni most na Mežakli (1250m)

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