Podnar / Bodenbauer - Srednja peč

Access to starting point:
We drive to the border crossing Ljubelj and continue on the Austrian side. Soon after that, when on the left side of the road we notice a smaller church, the road branches off to the left towards the village Poden / Bodental. At the crossroad for the village Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg we turn left towards Podnu / Bodental. In Podnu / Bodental we get to mountain signposts for Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte left and right. We go left and drive on the road to the end of the asphalt, where at the parking lot near the grazing fences we park.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we head onto the traffic-closed forest road with signs »Marchenwiese«. The walking forest road through the forest in a gentle ascent brings us to a pleasant meadow, where a beautiful view opens up towards the northern walls of Vrtača and Palec. Further, we cross the meadow on which the footpath is harder to follow and on the other side we look for a cart track that goes slightly upwards into the forest. After a few minutes' walk on the cart track, the blazes direct us right onto a footpath which soon crosses a torrent along which it then ascends. The path then withdraws from the torrent a little to the right and brings us to a smaller clearing, where the marked path directs us even a little more to the right. The path ahead ascends steeper and after a good 30 minutes of walking brings us to a junction, where we continue left (right Vgrizeva planina 5 minutes).
The steepness here eases and the path passes from the forest into the dwarf pines. Next follows crossing the scree, then with the help of a steel cable we descend slightly downwards. From here onwards the path is exposed to falling stones. Further, the well-secured path starts to ascend the steep rocky slope. At the top of this easier climbing section we come to the logbook box, where we sign in. The difficulty of the path then disappears and in a traversing ascent we come to the saddle Vrata. The path ahead starts descending and in a few minutes brings us to a junction, where we continue straight (right Ovčji vrh) and in a few minutes of gentle descent we come to Celovška koča.
From the hut we head right in the direction of Stol / Hochstuhl, Svačica / Bielschitza and Prešernova koča and continue on a gentle cart track which a little lower turns into a mountain path, which through a belt of dwarf pines brings us to the screes below Svačica. The path ahead ascends traversing over the first scree, then brings us to a short steep section, where a steel cable assists us during the crossing. The short and technically not particularly demanding section of the path ends quickly, and the path continues over the scree, across which a wide and well-maintained path leads us. With a view of the surrounding walls, we then ascend without major difficulties to the saddle Belščica, where there is a marked junction.
From the saddle Belščica, from where the path to Svačica branches off to the left, we continue straight and proceed in the direction of Vrtača, Prešernova koča and Zelenica. For a few minutes we cross grassy slopes, then we arrive at the place where the path to Vrtača branches off to the left, and we continue straight downwards. The path ahead first descends steeply down the gully, then turns to the right, where it passes onto extensive screes across which it ascends traversing. Higher we leave the scree and descend slightly to the nearby junction, where we join the upper and lower paths to Stol.
From the mentioned junction we continue sharply left in the direction of Zelenica (slightly right Stol), then after some 10 steps, still before the path starts to descend noticeably, on the right we notice a small cairn and a nice passage on pathless terrain towards the saddle between the massif of Stol and Srednja peč.
We continue along the edge of the dwarf pines, on nicely passable pathless terrain, along which individual cairns indicate the right direction. After approximately 5 minutes we arrive at a small pass west of Srednja peč, where on the left across the scree we notice a poorer footpath. We ascend to the mentioned footpath, then cross the scree to the right. When the scree ends, the footpath leads through a narrow belt of dwarf pines, then the poorer footpath turns left along the dwarf pines steeply upwards and after a few steps ends in relatively steep grass. We continue the ascent along the dwarf pines steeply upwards, and in approximately the same direction we continue all the way to the ridge, where a poorer footpath appears again. We continue right, a little further also through a short belt of cut dwarf pines, then along and on the ridge, which to the left is occasionally also precipitous, we ascend to a little-visited and panoramic summit.
Starting point - Celovška koča 2:15, Celovška koča - Srednja peč 1:30.

On the way: Vrata (1714m), Klagenfurter Hutte/Celovška koča (1664m), Sedlo Belščica (1840m)