Podnar / Bodenbauer - Prešernova koča na Stolu (on scree)

Access to starting point:
From the Ljubljana - Jesenice highway, we take the Ljubelj (Tržič) exit, then continue driving in the direction of Celovec / Klagenfurt. After the Ljubelj tunnel, the road starts descending, and we follow it to the crossroads, where the road into the Poden / Bodental valley branches off to the left. We take the mentioned road, which further leads through Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg and higher Žabnica / Bodental. We follow the mentioned road to the end of the asphalt by the Podnar / Bodenbauer inn, where we park in an appropriate place by the road.

Route description:
From Podnar, near which we park on the widened road, we head onto the gravel and public traffic-closed forest road in the direction of Mlaka / Märchenwiese and Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte. The road, which starts gently ascending, soon brings us to the first junction, where the path to the farm Vgriz / Ogrisbauer branches off to the right, and we continue straight in the direction of Celovška koča. The road goes a little further into the forest and splits into two parts. We choose the left marked road, which after approximately 30 minutes of walking from the starting point brings us to Mlaka (flat, expansive, and panoramic meadow).
Here the road turns slightly to the right, and we continue straight on the parallel but somewhat less visible marked path, which continues across the meadow. On the other side of the meadow, the path returns to the forest and gradually starts moderately ascending. After a short ascent, we arrive at a smaller junction, where the ski touring path branches off to the left, and we continue straight along the smaller torrent gully. Some 10 steps higher, the marked path turns to the right, and we continue along the torrent, following a faint path, which a little further turns to the left and ascends through a belt of dwarf pines to the expansive screes below Vrtača. Here the path disappears, and we continue along the lower part of the screes, where here and there we notice a cairn. Further on, we ascend for some time along the lower part of the scree below Vrtača, then a nice passage opens on the right side to the slopes below Svačica. After a short traverse ascent to the right, we will reach a faint but well-visible path, which then ascends between the scree and the belt of dwarf pines. We continue the ascent along the mentioned path, from which increasingly beautiful views open up to the surrounding peaks. Higher up, the path starts to disappear on the screes below Svačica, and if we are attentive, we will be able to find on the right side a barely visible path, which starts traversing upwards to the right. Further on, we ascend over steeper, partly already grass-overgrown scree, which ends or begins below the cliffs of Svačica. When we reach the lower edge of the cliffs, we join the unmarked path leading from the pass Vrata / Matschatcher Sattel towards the saddle Belščica (path that bypasses Svačica on the left eastern side). We follow the mentioned path to the left and ascend along it over occasionally quite steep slopes. Higher up, the path flattens and transitions from scree to less steep grassy slopes, over which we ascend to the Slovenian border.
Here we continue straight (right Svačica, left Vrtača) along the initially gentle path, from which some 10 meters further a still marked path to Svačica branches off to the right. Here we continue slightly left and descend over a somewhat steeper slope in some 10 steps to the saddle Belščica, where there is a marked junction.
From the saddle Belščica, we continue left in the direction of Vrtača, Prešernova koča, and Zelenica (right downhill Celovška koča). For a few minutes we cross grassy slopes, then we reach the place where the path to Vrtača branches off to the left, and we continue straight downhill. The path ahead first steeply descends through the gully, then turns right, where it transitions to expansive screes over which it ascends transversely. Higher up, 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; the path from the small valley between Srednja peč 1920 m (Srednja peč is a less known peak on the left) and the ridge of Orlice (Orlice is a harder-to-access ridge between the saddle Belščica and Stol) gradually transitions to a larger scree, over 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. Here we continue left (right Stol 10 minutes) and after a few minutes of moderate ascent step onto the summit of Mali Stol, from which only some 10 steps of descent separate us to Prešernova koča.

Along the route: Sedlo Belščica (1840m)

The trip can be extended to the following destinations: Hochstuhl/Stol

We recommend: trips from the same starting point, similar trips, panorama, summit register