Bodenbauer - Vertatscha/Vrtača (on scree)

Access to the starting point:
From the motorway Ljubljana - Jesenice take the exit Ljubelj (Tržič) and then continue in the direction of Klagenfurt / Klagenfurt. After the Ljubelj tunnel, the road starts to descend and we follow it to a junction where the road to the Poden valley / Bodental branches off to the left. Take the road mentioned above, which then leads you through Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg and higher up to Žabnica / Bodental. Follow the road to the end of the tarmac by the Podnart / Bodenbauer guesthouse, where you can park at a suitable roadside parking place.

Path description:
From Podnart near which you park on the widened road, take the macadam forest road closed to public traffic in the direction of Mlake / Märchenwiese and Klagenfurter Hutte / Klagenfurter Hütte. The road, which begins to climb gently, soon leads us to the first crossroads, where a path branches off to the right towards the farm Vgriz / Ogrisbauer, and we continue straight on in the direction of the Klagenfurt hut. The road goes a little further into the forest and splits into two parts. Take the marked road to the left, and after about 30 minutes' walk from the starting point, it leads to Mlaka (a flat, spacious and scenic meadow).
Here the road turns slightly to the right, and we continue straight ahead on a parallel, but slightly less visible, marked path that continues across the meadow. On the other side of the meadow, the path returns to the woods and gradually begins to climb moderately. After a short climb, we reach a small crossroads where a touring-skiing path branches off to the left, and we continue straight ahead along a small torrential gully. A few 10 steps higher, the marked path turns right and we continue along the torrent, following a fainter path, which turns left a little further on and climbs through the lane of dwarf pines to the vast scree below Vertatscha. Here the track disappears and we continue along the lower part of the scree, where here and there we see some cairn. We continue to climb along the lower part of the scree below Vertatscha for a while, and then a nice passage opens up on the right to the slopes below Bielschitza. After a short cross-climb to the right, you will come to a fainter but clearly visible path that continues to climb between the scree and the dwarf pines belt. Continue your ascent along the above-mentioned path, from which you will have increasingly beautiful views of the surrounding peaks. Higher up, the track starts to disappear on the scree below Bielschitza, and if we are careful we can find a barely visible track on the right which starts to climb crosswise to the right. Further on, we climb over steeper, partly grass-covered scree, which ends, or rather begins, below the cliffs of Svacica. When you reach the lower edge of the cliffs, join the unmarked path leading from the Vrata / Matschatcher Sattel pass towards the Belščica saddle (the path that bypasses Bielschitza on the left east side). Follow this path to the left, while we climb up it over sometimes quite steep slopes. Higher up, the path flattens out and changes from scree to less steep grassy slopes, over which we climb to the border with Slovenia. Continue left here (straight ahead - Belščica saddle 3 minutes, right Bielschitza), where after a short crossing you reach a grassy slope over which you begin to descend crosswise on a less well-trodden path. The path descends towards Skleda or Vatelca, then climbs slightly and leads to a place where you join the marked path from the Belščica saddle. When you reach the above-mentioned path, follow it to the left (Stol to the right), and it will lead you to a place where you will reach a short but steep grassy slope, over which you will descend crosswise. When the descent ends, you reach extensive scree over which you start to climb in a semicircle. The path, which is less well beaten and exposed to falling rocks in several places, climbs steeply a few times higher up, then turns slightly more to the right and leads us to the south-western shoulder of Vertatscha, where we join the better beaten path from Ljubelj and Završnice.
Here we continue to the left and start climbing steeply up very steep and slip-prone slopes. Higher up, the path leads us to the main ridge of Karawanks, where it lays down. There is a 20-minute walk along and along the ridge, which is slightly exposed in places and dangerous for slipping throughout. Follow this scenic route all the way to the top of Vrtača.

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