Iličev rovt / Illitsch Rauth - Mittagskogel/Kepa (path 680)

Access to the starting point:
Drive through the Karavanke Tunnel into Austria, then take the motorway to Bialystok, leaving at the first exit, Kot / Winkl. When you reach the main road through Rosenthal, turn right towards Lake Bäck / Faaker See. Follow the main road for a few kilometres, then at the beginning of the village of Lower Dobje / Unteraichwald, take a fairly sharp left onto a local road, along which there are signs (the signs are from the opposite direction and are harder to see from our direction) for Kepa / Mittagskogel, Koča Berta and Kopanje / Kopein (leave the main road about 200 metres before the Hotel Mittagskogel). Continue along the asphalt road, which you follow at the junctions towards Berta Hut. Higher up, the dirt road usually becomes quite bad, and we follow it to the marked parking area at Illitsch Rauth. If we find the road too bad, we can park lower down, in a suitable place on the roadside.

Path description:
From the parking lot, continue to the barrier, after which the road splits. Take the left path, which goes into the forest (straight ahead along the road) and gradually starts to climb steeply. Soon the path from the lower starting point joins us from the left and we continue our ascent. At a higher level, we cross the road twice, then continue along the footpath towards Berta's Cottage. The path then turns slightly to the right and gradually becomes less steep. When you emerge from the forest, you can already see Koča Berta in front of you, which is only a short walk away.
From the hut, follow the road down to the nearby Borovščica / Ferlacher Sattel saddle, and from there continue slightly left on the marked path towards Kepe (left Podrožca / Rosenbach, slightly right Mittagskogel on the north-east ridge, right down our starting point). The path ahead is initially quite steep and mostly crosses the slopes to the left. As the path starts to climb, however, you quickly reach a crumbly gully where the path may be damaged by rainfall, and emergency tools are stowed in front of the gully to repair the path. In the second part of the gully crossing we have some fixed safety gear to help us, and then a steep climb. Further on, we climb along a nicely surfaced path which crosses a few more ravines, but the passage over them is easier. The path, which is becoming more and more scenic, is getting closer and closer to the foot of the Dovška Mala Kepa walls, but it does not pass right under the wall, as there is a larger torrent between the path and the wall, so the path is not too exposed to falling rocks. Higher up, the path turns to the right, where two more ravines are crossed, followed by a fairly steady climb towards the state border. The last part of the ascent to the border becomes steeper, but when you reach the border ridge, the marked path from Erjavec's rovt joins from the left.
Continue to the right, initially walking along the ridge, and then the path crosses over to the Austrian side, where it climbs cross-climbing to the main summit, which is reached after a few minutes of further walking.
Iličev rovt - Koča Berta 0:55, Koča Berta - Mittagskogel 2:05.
Description and pictures refer to the situation in 2018 (August).

On the way: Koča Berta / Bertahütte (1527m), Sedlo Borovščica / Ferlacher Sattel (1500m)

We can extend the trip to the following destinations: Gubno, Dovška Mala Kepa

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