taubi4 - Recent messages

Today, on Sunday still to the last Kanin two-thousander.
With Edot we drive to B-station at 8:00, park the car there and start the hike towards Planina Gozdec. After two hours of hiking we reach the old hut. Already there I realized that today won't be my day. It hurt in my groin and thigh. It went very slowly with quite a few pauses. At 12 we were at Dom Petra Skalarja where we had a longer pause with lunch. Then we continued on the marked path towards Kanin. After three quarters of an hour we were below the south "wall" of Hudi Vršič. Here we turned off the marked path towards the first chimney from the right side. The chimney is II difficulty grade in the lower 3-4 meters, further nothing special. When you exit it you continue somewhat to the left towards the summit ridge. Along the ridge you reach the summit in less than a hundred meters. From B-station to summit we needed five and a half hours. From the summit then three quarters to beer at D-station. Then farewell descent with the old, decommissioned cable car.

At 8:00 we started from the first bend above station B of the Kanin cable car. After a good twenty minutes we branched left from the marked Bovec - Kanin trail onto an unmarked path towards Škedanj. The path runs through the forest towards south-south-west and is clearly visible all the way. Below the summit of Kop (1439m) it turns from the forest towards the west. The trail repeatedly turns into a well-preserved mulatjera and back to trail. When we reach the rocky area below Mali Škedanj the trail becomes a bit less visible. With a little effort we still follow it to the southern slope of Veliki Škedanj. Here we turned sharply left on real pathless terrain towards the summit. After three hours and a quarter of walking we reached the summit of Veliki Babanjski Škedanj. Here we had a snack and the last views towards Velika Baba and Vrh Laške Planje. During the half-hour break fog slowly covered us. Nevertheless we set off to find the summit named Zelene Čuklje. According to Marjana and Marko this summit is on the Kanin foothills, somewhere between Laška Planja and Veliki Škedanj. Haven't seen the name on any map yet. But on Garmin Adria topo map I noticed a summit shown with contour lines without name almost exactly on the saddle between both mentioned summits. We descended along the gentle western ridge to the saddle, from where with very nice scrambling on compact rock we climbed in fifty minutes to the summit of the 2170m high mountain. Fog lifted every now and then enough so we could assure ourselves we're not on some shoulder or false summit of another peak, but on an independent summit rising at least fifty meters above Prodi. Confirmation it's really Zelene Čuklje came when Zdenka got the summit with that name on Lokus map loaded on her mobile. Return in fog over Prode to the marked Kanin-Bovec path wasn't really easy either. We stepped on the path below Kačarjeva glava, after an hour and a half searching passages. To the car another good hour and a half. Whole tour lasted eight hours.
In good weather this would certainly be one of the nicer tours.

Nice photos, pity they lack comments (captions).

For Tuesday, the last more or less sunny day was forecasted, so I decided with my son's help to try to ascend to Veliki Skutnik. In the end, the day was not as nice as I had imagined, but still nicer than it seemed after less than two hours of walking.
We started at 7:00 from Vršič. I chose it because despite the big distance it has the least height difference. After three hours of walking, we were under Vršac's eastern spur at almost the same altitude as Vršič. The real tour started here. From the path to the Shelter to here, the path is so well marked as rarely. Marks, mostly red lines, appear about every ten meters. From here on, they are all rarer and more faded.

First, you zigzag up partly overgrown scree and on the left side seek passage to the higher level. Several such passages offer themselves, but the right one is the very last, highest. The path leads through steep forest, but it is muddy all the way and extremely slippery. This part seemed almost more demanding to me than the climbing to Skutnik itself.
When we finally crawled out of the forest onto the grassy flatland, we spotted a rock on the left side with the last mark. The marked path here, according to the maps, starts to descend slightly downward, but we climbed up the steep grasses of Vršac's southern slope (pic. 2).

We crossed Vršac's southern spur (pic. 3) and continued along the grassy ridge toward the Pelci ridge (pic. 4). Comfortable walking ended soon, as we reached awkward scree (pic. 5). We climbed up them to the rocky edge (pic. 6), where it was still easier to walk.
When we reached the entry gully (pic. 7), we put on helmets and cautiously headed toward its top. From the saddle, we turned right into the nicely dissected slope and in a few minutes climbed to the southwest ridge (pic. 10) of V. Skutnik. Here we decided on the left, blue variant. On the descent, we realized that the right, red one is more comfortable. Unfortunately, the most fog rolled in just during our summit ascent (pic. 9). Since nothing was visible, we quickly turned back.

I did not look forward to the descent at all, since I was afraid we would lose the ascent direction. It did happen, but luckily we "got lost" into an easier direction.
After descending to the notch, we still had three hours of descent to the Hut at the source of the Soča.

Pictures of Veliki Skutnik

Thanks to all for the congratulations, especially to my role model Vinko, who finished a similar project ten years ago as I hope to do this year or at the latest next year.

Regards to all, Ivo

I have been thinking about Little Prisank for three years. Due to Vinko Praprotnik's observation that he definitely wouldn't go there again, because there are almost no pictures of it, and everyone says it's one big rockfall, I decided back then not to invite any acquaintance into this risk. I was determined to try to reach it with the help of a mountain guide. Whatever it costs.
So last year, early in summer, I first called Klemen and Tomaž. Both were too busy with guiding in the Swiss and French Alps. They advised me to find someone with more time. Then last year and this year I called two Markots, Gregor, Mitja, Andrej and some others. All were too busy. Only one admitted he doesn't guide to it because he hasn't been there. One even promised me at the beginning of July that we would agree on a date in three weeks when he returns from France. When I called him at the end of July, he told me to get someone else as he has no time. So I lost another month. At the beginning of August I called the last one, the 91st on the list of mountain guides, Martin Žumra. Although he later admitted that he didn't even know about Little Prisank then, he promised to take me up in three weeks, upon return from France, at the first good weather. And so it finally happened.
Because in recent years I have a problem with worn cartilage in my knees, I chose Poštarski dom as the starting point. My son and I slept there, Martin arrived at six in the morning. We put on harnesses, helmets and headed towards Kopišarjeva difficult via ferrata. Just before the window we turned left onto the connection to Hanzova, bypassed Turn (Škofova glava) and reached the top of Hudičev steber. Here we first saw the pointed summit of Little Prisank (pic. 2 and 3). Anže left us here and continued to Prisank and from there back to Vršič. Martin belayed me on a 30m rope.
From the pillar we started descending towards Hudičev žleb. In the ridge ahead of us, the starts of two ledges are visible. The correct one is the lower one. The ledge is nearly 100m long. At the beginning it is wide and slightly descends. Here we walked one behind the other on a short guide rope (ca. 8m). The walking seemed completely safe to me. In the middle it starts descending more steeply towards the gully and becomes narrower. This part he belayed me once traditionally over solid rock and once with an inserted cam. Here one had to carefully search for steps and holds. Even more demanding was crossing the gully, as the incline is greater here, and rocks and stones are just waiting for a slight touch to send them down the gully (pic. 5 and 8). The same problem occurred when climbing (scrambling) from the gully to the ledge under M. Prisank. While looking for a hold, I lightly pressed a large rock (dia: ca. 50 cm) and it already rolled towards the gully. Simultaneously I spotted another similar one above me that lost support and started moving towards me. I barely had time to dodge it. With a menacing rumble they both rushed down the gully. This section of the path is really the only dangerous one, but truly dangerous.
When ascending from the gully, Martin belayed me again, once over rock and once with a cam. From the middle onwards the rock is better (pic. 6), the top 20m excellent, so we climbed to the narrow summit via a ca. 5m high chimney of 2nd difficulty grade. The summit is really miniature with two rocks, I am sitting on one (pic. 7), Martin is photographing me from the other, with a good meter of space in between.
The return was almost the same, one hour up and one down. Actually down and up, since Hudičev steber is 22m higher than M. Prisank. From there we descended to Koča na gozdu. On the way we also climbed the ridge to Turn (Škofova glava), which is supposed to be a two-thousander with 50m prominence. According to Marjana and Markot it should be 55m. We measured only 47m.
In the end one can say that overall it is not extremely demanding, but in one part very dangerous, since you are completely helpless if something starts collapsing uncontrolled in front of you.

Little Prisank

On Wednesday, Rafko and I set out to climb Mali and Veliki Bedinji vrh from Konjska škrbina. Armed with descriptions of the tour from Marjane and Markota from the web, Jožeta Draba from the guide "Julijske Alpe group Mangart and Jalovec 2015" and Vladimir Habjan from the guide "Brezpotja 2009", we started from PUS Bavšica at 6:35. We expected wet grass, but surprisingly it was almost completely dry. To Lovska koča took us 1:30 hours. There we filled the necessary water and continued through the forest. After 15 minutes we reached the end of the forest, there we turned left from the marked path westward, back into the forest, onto a poorly visible hunter's path. The path is hard to follow, but searching for the best passages you stumble upon it several times. When we came out of the forest again, we spotted Stador to our left ahead, right next to it Morež and further right both Bedinji vrhovi. From there we no longer looked for the path, but only for

the best passages over the slopes and through the bushes. After two hours we stopped for a snack and rest. We continued straight to Konjska škrbina and then right along the ridge above Loška Koritnica to the top of Mali Bedinji vrh. Continuing along the ridge to Škrbina v zakladih seemed too demanding to us, so we returned to Konjska škrbina, bypassed MBV (lowest point at 2000m) and climbed up a steep grassy gully to the notch between the two peaks. From there we stepped left into the Loška side of the ridge on narrow, exposed grassy ledges. The views into Koritnica from the ledges are magnificent, the feelings not the best. After careful progress toward the summit we reached a chimney, which luckily was rocky, but still a bit annoying in the first two meters. We reached the top exactly at one. We didn't stay long there, as possible showers were forecast, which we certainly didn't want to wait for in these grasses

. The descent to the notch required even more caution than the ascent. But when we reached Škrbina v zakladih, we were on horseback. We returned via Predelna saddle (between Stador and Briceljek) on the old path to Lovska koča (the path is extremely unpleasant due to holes covered with grass). The path further to Bavšica, where we arrived at 17:25, is much better. All in all it took almost 11 hours.
I think we chose the best variant for the ascent, for the return I would recommend descent via Lepoč break to Lanževica and then along the marked path toward Bavšica.
PS During the ascent on the Lovska koča - Konjska škrbina section I lost a light aluminum ice axe, ideal for summer ascents on smooth steep grass. If anyone finds it, please.

DVas, hard to say because I don't know your abilities. I'd say if you come up without rope, you'd have to go back down too. Don't know why you wouldn't take 30m rope with you, just in case.
mosovnik: It's team work. Pictures and all lines on them are Nejc's work, text is mine.
Thanks everyone for congratulations.

With Nejc we decided to ascend Vevnica, V Koncu Špica and Kotovo Špica on Saturday. With the van on Friday afternoon to Planica and packed under the trees before the former ramp. To Dom v Tamarju then by bikes (without electric). We didn't gain much with that, but a lot the next day on the return. At the hut we planned to buy two cans of Laško before sleeping in the bivak, but they only have bottles. To the bivak ten past nine, just as the day was fading. Two guys were already in it, so we all lay quite comfortably.
In the morning we set off onward only around seven. First we climbed to 2000m altitude, walked along it for about 20 minutes and reached the desired gully. The gully is indeed quite exposed, but still wide enough and comfortable. Interestingly, a large part is equipped with bolts. I really don't know for whom, since it's certainly not for alpinists, we scree guys don't need them here either, and regular hikers don't go on such demanding pathless terrain anyway. The gully rises evenly all the time, so in three-quarters of an hour we gained 100m. (pics 5-11) This gully brings you under the southeast slopes of Vevnica. Here we turned left into the compact rocky gully, which was entirely in shade. Very pleasant. When we reached the sun again, we turned right and scrambled over the rocks left of the scree valley toward the ridge of the eastern forepeak of Vevnica. We reached the main summit at 9:15. From it we already looked toward the next one, V Koncu Špica. From here the ascent to it right of its ridge seems impossible. But when you reach the foot of the Špica, you see that a wide, unexposed gully leads to it here, which is not overly steep either. The continuation along the ridge toward Kotova Špica is interrupted by two jumps, which are equipped with belay anchors for rope descent. The first very steep jump we free-climbed (pics 27 and 28), since the rock was very good. The second, which was even overhanging, we bypassed left over two exposed ledges. Then to the summit there were no more difficulties.
The ridge continues from the summit for another good hundred meters, until it starts dropping toward Kotovo sedlo. Here, a couple of meters before the end, we look for the anchor right of the ridge for the first of five rope descents. We decided that the best would be if I, roped, climb over each descent, find the next anchor, belay to it, then Nejc descends to me on the rope. The first three and the fifth I could climb in an emergency even without protection, but not the fourth. At the end, you also have to go over a steep smooth slab, whose top also has an anchor (pic 42), which I think no one who is able to get here needs.
All this ropework took us an hour and a half. To the bivak we needed another three-quarters of an hour and just under an hour and a half to Laško in Tamarju. Then on the bikes and in just over half an hour we were already riding from Planica toward Kranj for a late lunch at Gorenjec. For a nice conclusion, we unexpectedly met my longtime scree companion Tone there.

Tour: bivak under Kotovo sedlo - Vevnica - V Koncu špica - Kotova špica

I haven't been to Rogljica, but Rakova špica and Dovški gamsovec seemed easier to me. Once you get some more scree experience, these two are nothing special.
Best, Ivo

Congratulations on picture No. 7.

Best, Ivo

Last autumn we tried to traverse this great ridge in the same group. Since we realized at Rigljica that there's a high chance we'd get caught by night before Frdamane police if we continued, we turned back there.
This year we set off from home a bit earlier. We also skipped Kurji vrh. First break only at the saddle between Rušica and Rigljica. There we refueled a bit and put on harnesses and helmets. That's where the more serious part of the tour starts. Climbing 1st to 2nd difficulty grade. Nejc's picture no.2. After less than half an hour of climbing we reached a small ridge from which you have to descend about 10m. At the top there's an anchor from which we rappelled last year with ropes, this year we climbed a bit left into the gully under the chimney. It's a 20m long chimney which I didn't dare climb without protection. Last year we belayed the next pitch too (pic.3), this year we skipped belay there. Right after the edge of that picture the terrain becomes a bit more crumbly, but when you reach the top ridge of Rigljica, the rock is just excellent (pic.4). Due to skipping one rope descent and one belay, and knowing the route, we gained one and a half hours from the break to the top of Rigljica compared to last year. (Here I need to clarify something. On my map Julijske Alpe eastern part, Rušica is 1911m and before Rigljica 2074m, which is before Vrh nad Rudo 2108m. On some maps it's Rigljica first, then Rušica and at the end Rusa peč, as Nejc always calls it.)
Descent from Rigljica was the most demanding part of the traverse for me, as it's a completely broken ridge (pic.5). After half an hour of careful descent we reached the anchor (pic.8). Followed the first 50m rope descent, then another 20m (pic.9-12).
If that descent was the most demanding, the ascent up the gully was the nicest part. Difficulty supposed to be 3rd grade, but since the rock was so good and clean, the climbing was really one big pleasure. Vrh nad Rudo is on the right after exiting the gully, the anchor for descent under Frdamane police is under the left summit. Actually it's really under the summit, you spot it only when you're already under it.
After the descent we had about three quarters of an hour of carefree scrambling to the top of Frdamane police, good half an hour of somewhat more careful descent from them and two hours of suffering down Kačji graben.
After twelve and a half hours of walking, half an hour of swimming in the lake at Jasna and less than an hour drive to Gorenjec for pizza and some beers, all the bad is forgotten. Only pleasant tiredness and pure satisfaction remain.

Exactly two months after Heavy bull, we three also headed to the top of the third over 2000m high Goličica. Up the scree gully also on the right side. At 1450m there is a somewhat tricky part. Once an avalanche took part of the trail. Two to three meters to cross very carefully, or you can slip 20-30m down the steep slope to the gully bottom. But right in the rock there is a piton, so quick belay is possible.
To the saddle (1665m) between Prednja glava and Mala Goličica exactly two hours. (Two retirees and one who works for us)
From here scrambling starts. Pictures with drawn routes are very helpful on ascent. On return they do not help much. We marked the ascent with red-white tapes, which we of course picked up on the way back. I think it is much better visible in this bushy world than cairns.
On the summit in under five hours. Back we also kept to the opposite edge of the gully. Descent is really much more comfortable than the ascent route. Only somewhat more demanding is the crossing of the gully right at the bottom.
One more thing. Without bushes the descent to Prednja glava would be much harder than it was with their help.

Congrats from me too for traversing the great ridge. I don't know if nobody traversed this ridge in these two years, or if it's not worth mentioning. So far I've traversed all the so-called great ridges, but this one is still by far the most beautiful for me, not the hardest. We descended somewhere in the middle between 1 and 2. I think you chose a better variant.