Ljubelj - Hochstuhl/Stol (via Vatelca or Skleda)

Access to starting point:
From the highway Ljubljana - Jesenice we go to the exit Ljubelj and follow the road ahead to the border crossing. Only a few meters before the border crossing signs for Zelenica point us to the left and after some 10 meters of additional driving the road brings us to a parking lot below the ski center Zelenica.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we go on a marked footpath in the direction of Zelenica, Vrtača and Stol. The path at first leads on a moderately steep cart track which ascends through the forest and then turns a little to the right and brings us out of the forest on a ski slope. We continue the ascent on the ski slope, from which beautiful views open up on the wall and scree of Begunjščica, on the right side we see the ridge of Ljubeljšica. The path, which then runs on a rough road, brings us only a little higher to the mountain hut Koča Vrtača, where the chairlift Zelenica I ends and the chairlift Zelenica II starts. Here the transport road turns sharply to the right, and we continue straight in the direction of Zelenica and continue on at first still gentle, then more steep path, which ascends on a ski slope. Higher, we ascend through a thin belt of dwarf pines, then we return to the road. We continue on a rough road, then, when the road turns to the left, we continue right on a steep footpath which returns to the road just below the upper station of the single chairlift Zelenica II. From here a short descent follows and the path brings us to the Dom na Zelenici.
Just before the hut a path which leads to Begunjščica and Roblekov dom branches off to the left, and behind the hut we continue left and start to ascend beside the children's ski lift Ciciban. Somewhere in the middle of the ski lift we arrive at a smaller junction, where we continue right across the ski slope (straight Koča pri izviru Završnice, Srednji vrh and Stol - lower path). On the other side of the ski slope Ciciban the path goes into a narrow belt of forest, behind which we arrive at the next ski lift. We also just cross this ski slope, then beside a smaller boulder we look for the continuation of the marked path, which leads towards Vrtača and Stol. In continuation the path leads us on slopes below the ridge Na Možeh, then it descends a little and brings us to the place where to the right an unmarked path to the valley Suhega ruševja and Palec branches off (at the junction there is a smaller cairn). After the junction the path gradually transitions to the slopes of Vrtača, across which it mostly ascends transversely. Higher an unmarked path from Koča pri izviru Završnice joins us from the left, and we continue straight to the nearby marked junction.
At the junction the path to Vrtača branches off slightly to the right, straight the upper path towards Stol continues. We continue on the right path in the direction of Vrtača, which ascends somewhat more steeply. Higher we arrive on grassy slopes, where the path becomes a little more steep, then turns to the left and transitions to steep slopes. A traverse of a slightly exposed gully follows, then we ascend over steep grass to the southwest shoulder of Vrtača.
Here the marked path which leads to Vrtača turns sharply to the right, and we continue straight to the other side of the ridge, where we descend along the path to the nearby scree. When we reach the nearby scree we continue on a somewhat less trodden but marked mountain path (the path is marked with red lines). The path, which first gently, then moderately, occasionally also steeply descends over the scree, almost semicircularly bypasses the nearby cirque. The path, which at several places is also exposed to falling rocks, lower stops descending and brings us to a short but steep grassy slope. After the steep slope we ascend a few meters, then we arrive in the flat terrain around the sinkhole Skleda (on some maps also Vatelca). A few minutes of relatively gentle path follow, then we arrive at a smaller junction, where we continue left downward (right saddle Belščica, Svačica and Celovška koča). The path ahead first steeply descends through the gully, then turns to the right, where it transitions to expansive scree fields across which it ascends transversely. Higher we leave the scree and slightly descend to the nearby junction, where the upper and lower paths and the path from Završnica join us.
Here we continue straight, and the path from the small valley between Srednja peč 1920 m (Srednja peč is a less known peak on the left) and the ridge Orlic (Orlice is a harder to access ridge between the saddle Belščica and Stol) gradually transitions to a larger scree, across which we ascend transversely to the right, then the path gradually enters a steeper valley between Mali Stol on the left and Stol on the right. Here the path steeply ascends, then gradually flattens and brings us to a marked junction, where to the left the path to the nearby Prešernova koča branches off (5 minutes), and we continue right and in 10 minutes of further walking ascend to the highest peak of the Karawanks.

Along the route: Koča Vrtača mountain hut (1288m), Dom na Zelenici mountain hut (1536m)

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