Ljubelj - Hochstuhl/Stol (upper way)

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

Route description:
From the parking lot, we head onto the marked footpath in the direction of Zelenica, Vrtača and Stol. The path first leads along a moderately steep cart track that climbs through the forest, then turns slightly to the right and brings us out of the forest onto a ski slope. We continue the ascent on the ski slope, from which beautiful views open up onto the walls and screes of Begunjščica, and on the right side we see the ridge of Ljubeljšica. The path, which then runs along a rough road, brings us a little higher to the Koča Vrtača hut, where the Zelenica I chairlift ends and the Zelenica II chairlift begins. Here the transport-rescue road turns sharply to the right, but we continue straight ahead towards Zelenica and proceed along a path that is at first still gentle, then steeper, climbing along the ski slope. Higher up, we ascend through a sparse belt of dwarf pines, then return to the road. We continue along the rough road, but when the road turns left, we go right onto a steep footpath that rejoins the road just below the upper station of the single-seater Zelenica II chairlift. From here follows a short descent, and the path brings us to the Dom na Zelenici hut.
Just before the hut, the path to Begunjščica and Roblekov dom branches off to the left, but behind the hut we continue left and begin to ascend beside the children's ski tow Ciciban. Somewhere in the middle of the tow, we reach a small junction, where we continue right across the ski slope (straight to Koča pri izviru Završnice, Srednji vrh and Stol - lower path). On the other side of the Ciciban ski slope, the path enters a narrow belt of forest, beyond which we reach the next ski tow. We also just cross this ski slope, then beside a smaller boulder we find the continuation of the marked path leading towards Vrtača and Stol. Further on, the path leads us across the slopes below the Na Možeh ridge, then descends slightly and brings us to the point where an unmarked path into the Suho ruševje valley and to Palec branches off to the right (there is a small cairn at the junction). After the junction, the path gradually moves onto the slopes of Vrtača, across which it ascends mostly transversely. Higher up, an unmarked path from Koča pri izviru Završnice joins from the left, but we continue straight to the nearby marked junction.
At the junction, the path to Vrtača and towards Stol and Svačica via Vatelce or Sklede branches off slightly to the right, but we continue straight along the lower path, which crosses a belt of dwarf pines and raspberry bushes. After a few minutes of further walking, we reach the next junction, where we can descend left downhill in a few minutes to the Šija saddle, from which the lower path to Stol leads; to the right, a poorer track towards Vrtača branches off (the latter joins the aforementioned marked path a little higher up), but we continue straight again, this time across occasionally steeper grassy slopes interrupted by a few less steep gullies. The crossing of the grassy slopes soon ends, and the path brings us to a steep gully, through which we begin to descend along a path that is locally eroded and slippery in places. When the gully ends, the path moves onto scree, across which it descends transversely below the cliffs to the cirque V Kožnah. Here the path begins to ascend again, and the lower path and the path from Završnica join from the left.
We continue straight, and the path further leads us past several large boulders. A short, somewhat steeper ascent follows, and we reach a junction where the path to Celovška koča and Svačica branches off to the right, or the path via Vatelce or Sklede joins us. Here too we continue straight; the path from the small valley between Srednja peč 1920 m (Srednja peč is a lesser-known peak on the left) and the Orlic ridge (Orlice is a more difficult-to-access ridge between the Belščica saddle and Stol) gradually moves onto 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 climbs steeply, then gradually levels out and brings us to a marked junction, where the path to the nearby Prešernova koča (5 minutes) branches off to the left; we continue right and in 10 minutes of further walking ascend to the highest peak of the Karawanks.
Ljubelj - Zelenica 1:20, Zelenica - Stol 3:30.

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

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