Poljana (Završnica) - Hochstuhl/Stol (Zabreška pot)

Access to starting point:
From the highway Ljubljana - Jesenice, take the Lesce exit and follow the road ahead in the direction of Žirovnica and Jesenice. After a few km of driving, we will arrive at a crossroads, where the road to Žirovnica and Moste branches off to the right (from the direction of Jesenice to the left). Only a few meters ahead, at the next crossroads, we turn left to Moste (right to Žirovnica). Further on, we drive past the monument to the fallen fighters, where the road starts to ascend under the railway track. At the top of the hill, we turn right (at the sign Vila Karin), while we continue towards Završniško jezero and Valvasorjev dom. The road then flattens and brings us to a crossroads, where the road to Valvasorjev dom branches off to the left. Here we continue straight towards Završnica and then after 100 m park on the well-maintained asphalt parking lot.

Route description:
From the parking lot, we return along the asphalt road to the crossroads, from there continuing in the direction of Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom and Potoška planina. From the crossroads, we walk for some time along a scenic macadam road, then blazes and signs for Valvasorjev dom direct us left onto a marked footpath that gently descends to the nearby stream Rečica. Over the footbridge we cross the mentioned stream, then arriving at a larger meadow through which we gently ascend slightly to the left. On the other side of the meadow, the path enters the forest and turns into a relatively steep cart track, along which we ascend to an indistinct saddle between the peaks Sivo rebro and Smolnik.
From here we continue briefly along the cart track, then signs direct us right onto a footpath that ascends transversely across a short rough slope. The well-maintained path then turns left and continues ascending transversely across occasionally steeper slopes of the peak Smolnik. The quite wide path throughout brings us higher to a forest road, which we merely cross. On the other side of the road, we continue right and proceed with the ascent along a poorly marked path that higher up also has some unmarked shortcuts. We follow this path, which in the upper section due to numerous small paths is also somewhat difficult to follow orientationally, all the way to Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom.
From Valvasorjev dom, we head right onto the footpath towards Stol. The path soon enters the forest, where it gently ascends and leads us to a smaller junction, where we continue right. The path then takes us out of the forest, crossing the slopes below Monštranca. We follow this gentle and partly scenic path, which a bit further crosses a short stretch of forest, to the junction on Žirovniška planina.
We continue slightly right in the direction of "Stol - Zabreška pot" (left Stol Žirovniška pot) along an initially hard-to-follow tracklet that soon enters the forest. This is followed by about half an hour of walking along a path that mostly crosses the southern slopes of Stol. Just a little further from the point where the path from Zabreška planina joins from the right, the marked path to Stol begins to ascend more steeply. A bit further, we emerge from the forest onto Stara planina, where the newer "Betonska bajta" stands. Behind this hut, the path turns slightly right and begins to ascend even more steeply, first through the forest and then across increasingly panoramic slopes that are partly overgrown with dwarf pines. The path then quickly takes us past the pleasant rest area "Pri Janezu" to Finžgarjeva skala (here in the spring months we will notice the habitat of auriculas). The path, which continues along the increasingly panoramic grassy slope, turns sharply left higher up and occasionally begins to fade. Further ahead, we already spot Prešernova koča, which we reach after less than 30 minutes of further walking.
From the hut, we continue slightly right, passing the sign and ascending to the summit of Mali Stol in a few steps. A short descent follows, and the path leads us to the saddle between the two Stols, where there is also a marked junction. We continue towards Stol (right Celovška koča and Zelenica) along the transverse path, which after 10 minutes of further walking brings us to the highest peak of the Karawanks.

Along the route: Valvasorjev dom pod Stolom mountain hut (1181m), Prešernova koča na Stolu mountain hut (2174m), Mali Stol (2198m)

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