Sella Nevea - Visoki Kanin (Via ferrata Rosalba Grasselli)

Access to starting point:
From Kranjska Gora, via the border crossing at Rateče, we drive to Trbiž / Tarvisio. In Trbiž, we continue left in the direction of Bovec and follow the road to the junction near Rabeljsko jezero. Here, we continue right in the direction of Nevejski preval / Sella Nevea. We follow this road, which is mostly ascending, to the large parking lot at the lower station of the cableway that leads to the hut Gilberti.

From Bovec, we drive to the border crossing Predel, from which we descend to the Italian side. Just a little after Rabeljsko jezero, we reach the junction, where we continue left in the direction of Nevejski preval / Sella Nevea. Further, follow the above description.

Path description:
At the end of the parking lot, we notice the sign for mountain hut Gilberti, which directs us to the lower part of the ski track. When we step onto the track, we continue left and after a short ascent step onto the transport-rescue road, which ascends along the track upward. On this relatively steep and closed-to-traffic road, new views open up step by step, which are most beautiful toward nearby Bela peč and the Montaž group of mountains. The road higher up approaches the cliffs of Bela peč completely and then brings us to the upper station of the cableway at hut Gilberti.

From the hut, we slightly descend (direction west) into a smaller valley, where there is a path junction. We continue right in the direction of S.Grubia along the path that runs between the main Kanin ridge on the left and Bela peč on the right. The path ahead first ascends gently through the valley, then begins to ascend more steeply and after a few minutes of ascent brings us to an old military fortification on saddle Bela peč. Behind the fortification, we continue slightly left in the direction of "bivacco" (right Bela peč 30 minutes very demanding path) along an old military mule track, which is already well destroyed. The path, which slightly descends and then ascends again, runs along locally steep slopes, which are somewhat precipitous and exposed to falling rocks in places (since the path is wide when dry, it causes no problems). The path then brings us to a junction, where the path to Visoki Kanin branches off to the left upward. We continue along the mule track, which further crosses several gullies that remain covered with snow late into summer. The nice and panoramic high-mountain path brings us to bivouac Marussich after 2 hours of walking from hut Gilberti.

At the bivouac, we head southeast onto a narrow path that leads along the ridge and begins to ascend. The path soon brings us to the ridge and then slightly ascends and descends a few times. Later, the path withdraws from the ridge to the left side, followed by a short ascent over scree to the entry into the climbing section of the path.
Initially, along the steel cable we ascend right upward to the ridge, from where a view opens into Rezija Valley. On the ridge, we continue left and for a short time ascend along the steel cable on the narrow ridge, then withdraw from the ridge to the northern side again. Here the path becomes very steep and ascends vertically with the help of numerous pegs. Several steep ascents along the steel cable follow, then we reach the ridge again. In the continuation, the path is somewhat less secured, but at key points the steel cable still helps us. Mostly we ascend along the ridge on the northern side, occasionally the path also runs on the ridge. In the last part of the path toward Vrh Krnice, the path brings us to the south side of the ridge and to the summit follows a shorter ascent on a somewhat less steep slope.
From the summit, we continue along the ridge and first descend slightly on smooth slabs, then withdraw from the ridge to the right side. Here we descend a bit more on slightly scree-covered terrain, then continue left and ascend a few times along the steel cable. In the continuation, in a gentle ascent we cross an unsecured steep grassy slope, then soon begin to ascend left upward and with the help of several steel cables regain the ridge. In the continuation, the path runs along an exposed unsecured ridge and some easy climbing over short rocky jumps on the ridge is also needed. Larger rocky jumps we bypass on the right side of the ridge. When we reach the ridge again, the path becomes less demanding and a shorter ascent to the panoramic summit follows.

We can descend via the path Via ferrata Divisione Julia, which is somewhat less demanding than the one described above. This path leads over a glacier, therefore for descent via this path we need appropriate winter equipment.

The second option is to descend via the path that leads on the Slovenian side past saddle Prevala. The path on the Slovenian side is substantially easier than both mentioned paths that lead from the Italian side.

On the way: Rifugio Gilberti (1850m), Sella bela pec (2005m), Bivouac Marussich (2041m), Vrh Krnice (2441m)

Trip can be extended to: Mali Kanin