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Čičarija is a hilly and barren karst landscape that stretches from Kozina and Slavnik in Slovenia all the way to Rijeka and Učka in Croatia. The area is very sparsely populated, there are no larger settlements, residents called Čiči have long sought employment in other places, from Koper and Trieste to Rijeka and Pula, then mostly relocated there too. Higher elevations are full of karst sinkholes and dolines, partially covered with deciduous trees (oak, black and white hornbeam, beech, hazel), above 700 m vast grassy areas prevail, yet you will rarely meet livestock or sheep on hiking trails. The central and highest part of the landscape is the Slavnik range, stretching in Dinaric direction. From Slavnik in the north (1028m) to Orljak in Croatia (1106m), there are quite a few hills around 1000 m, between them numerous hiking and recently also cycling paths wind.

Since every active cycling recreationalist has probably been to Slavnik or Učka sometime, … so maybe this time an idea for a circular tour over less known Čičarija hills like Žbevnica above village Brest and Kavčič, Lipnik, Golič, Kojnik above Ratitovec, which we start and end in Podgorje. Suitable for very fit mountain bikers or e-bikes, loop is cca 45-50 km. And since it crosses the state border, don't forget to take your ID card.

Janče - Pance – Pugled, over Ravno Brdo and over Javor back, in between quite a few hills and valleys.

To Janče – officially the highest peak of the Ljubljana municipality, numerous roads and paths lead there, I prefer to visit it from the north, where the roads from Laz or Jevnice are still partly macadam and less trafficked, from there you have numerous continuation options again on all sides.

For this cycling continuation, I first choose Prežganje and descend from the hill into the Besnica valley (where everyone knows the road route Podgrad – Trebeljevo), from there to the turnoff for the village Ravno Brdo - and I'm quite surprised because they started to asphalt this once nice macadam and forest road. Too bad - for mountain bike lovers, probably fine for the locals, well, and road cyclists can now make a slightly longer detour over this hill.

The few km-long forest section to Pance is still super, a forest jewel, the highlight of this tour, substantially easier in the described direction from Ravno Brdo, because it mainly goes downhill, … where we then arrive in the nicely arranged village Pance. From there we continue to the next ridge hill, first to Mali, then Veliki Lipoglav - from the end of the village still a bit uphill, to a nice forest and marked footpath that leads to Pugled. The ascent to Magdalenska gora and Pugled is nice and not hard, from Vel. Lipoglav we climb about 100 meters of elevation gain, unfortunately possible further descents from Pugled (from the partisan monument) through the forest on paths towards Podlipoglav are probably too demanding for this frame of Sunday cycling. Therefore, I recommend returning via the circular (cycling) footpath back to Vel. Lipoglav and from there – from the village, descend into the valley on the nice macadam road (road route Sostro - Podlipoglav – Pance).

On the mentioned main road in the valley, after approx. 1 km of riding slightly downhill, then at the intersection turn right for the village Javor (straight to Podlipoglav and Sostro) and through the nice and quiet valley, as we moderately ascend on the asphalt road, we arrive in Javor and then through the village to the saddle, from where we descend again downhill into the Besnica valley. From here we again have more continuation options, flat or uphill - if we want to return to Janče, for example, we do the ascent to Vnajnarje on the only still unasphalted road from the southern side of the Janče highlands. This road is gorgeous, below shady, above panoramic, across Vnajnarje and Gabrje, … and it has only two turns: left and right, obviously.

uff, all congratulations for your tour, in cold and snowy conditions it's at least 2x harder

Congrats guys, if you had taken time also for subtitles of the individual peaks on the ridge, it would be even nicer for readers and imitators , otherwise a light ice axe in Trentarske grasses always comes in handy

Slovenian in Triglav north face, Frelih, right exit under Slov. tower

in Triglav north face there are over 100 climbing routes, one of them or even the most known and easy is Slovenian route, alpine classic graded on average III/II difficulty. Some parts are of course much easier and as T.Mihelič says – half of Slovenian you can »walk through without climbing«, but some chimneys in the gully can also be harder, of course depending on conditions (wet rock) and in general if you lose optimal orientation a bit, since no route in the Wall is so branched and has so many possible variants as exactly Slovenian.
This year the ascent, relatively already quite early, surprisingly dry, only the snow patch in the central part of Slovenian gully, which provides a bit of cool, can be bypassed without problems. In Slovenian route there are quite a few hammered pegs, at all key hard spots, newly – which we haven't noticed until now, also some drilled bolts with hangers, as if here too one can notice mass climbing guided tourism?

Kočni – Kokrska & Jezerska – up and down via Dolce from Kok.saddle,
usually one does the tris with Grintovec, but given that some connecting local paths are officially closed due to rockfalls (Taška, Dolška škrbina - Grintovec), in this changeable weather, I decide for a mini circular tour via Kočni from the Dolci cirque, up past the bivouac, over the scree and with scree from quite loaded and crumbly walls to the summit ridge, where the path then continues to Kokrska Kočna and then further to Jezerska Kočna. The fixed cables are for now quite ok and serve the purpose, just some pulled-out peg should still be glued and fixed back.
Unfortunately Jezerska Kočna is crumbling more and more and it's probably just a matter of time before a rockfall appears there too, depriving us of safe mountain visiting. The traverse under the bulging wall is still an attraction and there many who go to JK for the first time take time to think whether to take off the backpack and continue or not, … I'll write again that I don't understand all the unnecessary iron around the mountains and there, at this short and dangerous spot, no?!
From Dolci direction to Jezerska Kočna the markers have faded and need renewal, as they are barely findable even in sunny weather, while on the Jezersko side they are newly made and there are almost too many.
If you're heading on such a circular path, you need to be aware that you'll throw away quite some elevation, both the descent to Dolce from below a third of Grintovec/Ovna Čeri and then the re-ascent back, are not negligible, but for collecting views and fitness … acceptable, especially if you do such a tour on a slightly cloudier day.

Over the Kopice to Dovški križ

Dovški križ is the "crossroads" of ridges winding towards it from Oltarjev, from Široka peč, from Škrnatarica and from the south from Kopice supporting it from the south side. In height, the subjugated Kopice ridge is the smallest of the others, but in difficulty and variety it lags behind the higher and mightier neighbors not at all, as all three prominent Kopice, rising somehow in three stories one above the other, show a truly scary face, even if you just look at them from the valley or for example from Aljažev dom in Vrata upwards.
About the Kopice under Dovški križ there's not much useful to find, neither in books, nor on the web, nor on Hribi.net, nor on maps, many aren't even in agreement how many there are and what they are called. Well, first you have to be on them and go over them, only then speak sensibly about them. About traversing the Kopice I gather the most useful from descriptions and notes by M.in M. about the ridge difficulty, uploaded photos by Heavy bull on this portal, and of course from some good, old and experienced guides from PD Lj Matica.
In short: Lower Kopica – relatively easy, Middle Kopica – difficult and uncomfortable for descent (II), Upper Kopica – demanding and also short - very demanding descent (II-III), almost mandatory abseiling. Except for the Lower Kopica, where you need some orientation and ingenuity to find a good approach to the ridge, all further directions are logical for traversing. On the Middle and the last ridge of the Upper Kopica, don't fool around without protection, the rock is okay on key parts, but the diagonals are crumbly, exposed ridgelet tops very friable, varied towers require additional caution.
One peculiarity of this ridge is also that from each traversed Kopica we descend to a small saddle, and can also withdraw from the ridge somewhat more easily (but not less than I-II) namely to the west side towards Šplevta or into the Na Brinje cirque, while to the east side – into the Med plazmi cirque, that is much harder or almost impossible. Approach and ascent just to the top of Mid. or just to Upper Kopica is possible from the west side or from the Na Brinje direction, such descriptions have already been uploaded here under this section. Circular tour to Brinova glava up and over scree under Bivak II down, is in this time of year – given the length of daylight, still fully feasible, if not too much on ropes on the Kopice ridges.

SKUTA - KR.RINKA and over its subordinate ridges on the eastern side

We set the tour in nice weather quite ambitiously with big mountaineering or, in the last part between Skuta and Kranjska Rinka, already alpinistic goals, and almost too extensive for the now too short autumn day: warm-up over Veliki greben (between Žmavčarji and Gams.skret), then to Sleme under Skuta and then over Streža and SE ridge to Skuta. In a pretty fast pace and with a lot of fitness reserve and the fact that we had already known those ridges before, from parking V Koncu to the top of Skuta in just over 6 hours, which is pretty super for younger retirees!? But a new story starts at the ridge traverse from Skuta to Kranjska Rinka, where much more protection and technical knowledge was needed and there was no time for looking at the watch, as the traverse demands full concentration and offers plenty of climbing challenges.

The difficulty of the descent from Skuta down is average II, but due to bad rock, friability and scree loading it rather increases a bit in places than decreases. Above the window there is a fairly demanding slab, below it also narrow and hard. The detail of climbing over the steep, exposed and nasty slab just above Konj seemed to me personally very hard too – but now there is a prepared anchor for abseil there, we abseiled also over Konj (opposite direction up approx. IV, approx. 7m, down without rope would of course be even harder). The continuation over the intermediate part, from afar seemingly more level part between Skuta and Kr.Rinka, still presents a whole bunch of up-down climbing over narrow edges and pointy peaks with abundance of exposure (like financiers in miniature). Retreat is possible from the middle onwards to the south side, but even those few narrow and loaded ledges demand full focus. Then follows the ascent itself, somewhere to 3/4 to the top of Kr.Rinka in difficulty also around I-II, but the ridge soon becomes wider and transitions into broader terrain, so it loses a bit at least on exposure, but still due to crumbly nature one has to watch especially for slipping.

From Kranjska Rinka down to the bivouac on Mali podi and then to the valley there are already known hiking paths and they are currently without any specials, although the consequences of this summer's thunderstorm in these areas are still very visible, but luckily not on the paths over Gamsov skret and over Žmavčarji.

Along the Orlic ridge to Stol,
we started the tour at Tinčkova hut in Završnica, up and down over Zagon, then from Belščica saddle onwards: first to green Rupa and then all the crumbly Jelenčki, the double-headed Celovška Špica and then the scree of Krkotnik, from Stol's notch then up the not so easy little ridge to Stol, and at the end on a nice first autumn day we added Srednja peč, which is a fairly easily accessible summit via the western ridge and a nice and sometimes unjustly neglected viewpoint (1920m).

Rupa and Krkotnik are not specially marked, nor do they have any Austrian cross up top, especially Krkotnik – which has two quite similar boulder summits, when crossing you're not quite sure if you're on the highest, and there's not much space on any spire, so the most convenient spot for snack and break is on Celovška špica.

In the descent direction from eastern Jelenček there are still those two thick slings installed and functional, from the top of CŠ towards Krkotnik there's now also a loop for rappel/abseil, further on at some harder spot you find a peg or hanger with eye, but they're not plentiful anymore, like they were densely placed e.g. before CŠ.

We did the Orlic crossing strictly along the crest line, most of the tour also roped up. Some dilemmas left or right or straight appear on the ridge anyway, especially in the second part from CŠ to Krkotnik and down towards Stol's notch, when huge boulders and scree are piled practically one after another on the very ridge.

For comparison - so as not to answer the so-called questions about the difficulty of this crossing, it's harder and longer e.g. than Zeleniške špice, the rock here is mostly very crumbly, which makes climbing harder (fingers even burn and itch a bit the next day), some bypasses under the ridge are possible, two or three are even nicer on the north side (watch for wet rock in shade, as the Austrian side is quite airy!), bypasses on our (south) side though are quite loaded with scree and rubble and brittle rock, so better take a rope and stick as much as possible to the crest line, but therefore crossing the little towers quickly becomes one grade harder. If I were repeating the Orlic crossing tomorrow, I'd probably choose the described direction again, because in the end you go from lower to the highest summit, and regarding difficulty itself there's no essential differences in direction.

Pihavec and Bov. Gamsovec – conditions 7.9.2024

These are two nearby and convenient mountains to visit and for a circular connection, also because they have quite similar starting points, but we visited them from Luknja saddle, to there either from Zadnjica or a bit closer from Vrata valley. Both starting parking lots are unfortunately paid, in Vrata valley in front of Aljažev dom the parking price is already quite salty 25 Eur.

To Pihavec - searching for the best passages over the lower scree and then left through the chimney above Mihelič memorial plaque, then through demanding pathless terrain between steep grasses and rocky steps upwards and a bit to the right over gentle scree towards the saddle between Pihavec and Vrh nad Kamnom. From the small almost horizontal rocky saddle then further left, then again through more friendly terrain in gullies upwards, in between you can find some old markings from the once marked path that led from Kriški podi or from Dovških vrat and under the north walls of Bov.Gamsovec and over steep scree all the way to the notch - with some belays and pegs and from the aforementioned saddle onwards to the elongated and scenic summit.
The once marked path is now closed for some years due to really problematic notch and collapsed upper part of scree, but we used this path for descent from Pihavec and for the next ascent from Dovških vratc to Bov.Gamsovec via marked and protected path, and this one too - in the last part despite abundance of iron, mainly due to exposure and north aspect, is very demanding.
Unfortunately in mountains, sometimes - despite good forecast, the weather spoils it, fog accompanied us all the time and only occasionally offered some small views. But what if people could complain only about the weather …
Ascent to Pihavec from south side, from Mihelič plaque to saddle between Pihavec and Vrh nad Kamnom, is uncomfortable in fog or poor visibility, as you need to search for good passages and see the goal ahead, some shortcuts over stepped ledges or gullies to the right, or bigger detours to the left – viewed upwards, but I don't recommend. Currently the path above the exit gully is quite well secured with wire rope and they stand in right places, but for such ascents you need some mileage and experience of this kind. My difficulty rating: through Mihelič gully I-II. (peg above it), continuation average I., but in wet even steep grasses can be dangerous for slip.

Congratulations on successful tour and clear depictions of route choices in photos

From Tolsta Košuta to Košut. turn: via Obliči and Gamsovke – conditions on 18.6.2024.

We did the ridge traverse, officially over 3 Obliči and 4 Gamsovke, … but there are actually a few more peaks, corners, steep ascents and descents. If the Obliči are somewhat of a ridge stroll, that certainly no longer applies to the peaked Gamsovke (difficulty approx I – II, some pegs), and since we didn't tempt fate, we did the traverse over Gamsovke roped up and directly along the ridge edge.
Where to start the ridge traverse is always an interesting question for route choice, we started from easier terrain to harder and from lower (Tolsta Košuta) to higher (Košut. turn), in between Obliči and Gamsovke are fairly level in peak heights, in short whoever counts two-thousanders, there are quite a few, but so what when those 7 or even more don't have their own personal names?!
It was a nice sunny day with wonderful views, a quite solid forest road leads below the Dolga njiva pasture, and now there's plenty of alpine flowers on the pastures and in the green slopes.

from Kamen Castle over M.Vrh and Vrh V.Gač to Jamarski vrh … to Draga valley and back

Idyllic world of hills, steep paths and views from the ridge between Blatnica and Draga above Begunje.
If the weather is brewing something in the mountains, it's better to stay a bit lower, use lower paths and explore some more piece of our beautiful nature, … silence, solitude and peace ... guaranteed, if you like that, of course. The paths are not marked or signposted, but – for those with some mountaineering experience and skills and sense of orientation – normally followable. For the described circular trip it takes about 5 h, but in nice weather take some more time for the soul and nice photos.

Krk, Baška, camp Bunculuka: Vrženica canyon and Vela/Mala Luka bays
- one of the nicer and most mountaineering trails on Krk .

For the entire trail of about 10 km it takes about 5 hours, as there is a lot of nice things to see along the way, in the first part above Bunculuka, it can be done in a loop, in the second part - from the junction in the upper part of the Vrženica gorge via Rebica pass to Vela and Mala Luka bays, we hike it back and forth on the same path.
In sunny weather and summer it can get quite hot, off-season or during the week it's not certain if the "bufet" on the beach in Vela Luka is open, so water and snack in the backpack, sunscreen and hat on the head are mandatory parts of equipment. I also recommend proper hiking footwear and don't underestimate these trails, as they are for the most part genuine mountaineering trails.

On the ridge: from Ponc to Kotovo sedlo -
in between Strug, Strug Peaks, Vevnica and more demanding V Koncu Špica and Kotova Špica - conditions and pics from 1.10.2023

We started the tour at the end of the ski jumps, from Tamar, to Srednja Ponca and then on from easier to harder, more or less along the ridge to Kotovo sedlo and back to Tamar, timewise cca 12 hours, so currently the tour starts and ends in the dark.

Italians have renovated and installed quite a few new cables over Strug and Strug Peaks, practically almost to the foot of Vevnica, so the crossing there is relatively easier and faster, only the ferrata to Vevnica is still in pretty poor condition, with old, rusty and partially ripped out ironware, in between a bit patched with rope that for now still withstands time, but doesn't look very safe. But it looks like they will set up quite interesting circular ferrata paths on the Italian side up to Vevnica and under Strug Kugy valley /or vice versa, from pasture Alpe Vecchia or nearby Rifugio Luigi Zacchi above Mangart or Belopeška lakes.

If V Koncu Špica is still somewhat normally accessible from the Vevnica side, that no longer applies to Kotova Špica, neither via the technically demanding approach from the east (V Koncu Špica, from where you need to do a more demanding descent), nor via the very steep loose terrain from the north-west side (Kotovo sedlo), here to the summit it's quite messed up, very crumbly and loaded with scree and sand, difficult – at least II and dangerous for slipping from start to top. So we did our traverse in the above described direction from the east, for descending from the summit to the lower parts we used several abseils (at least 50 m rope, or 2x 30 m is enough), stances and anchors are for now in this rubble on the west side of Kotova Špica quite solidly built.

If someone wants to visit only V koncu Špica and Kotova Špica and is accordingly experienced climber and technically skilled, it's probably most suitable in this autumn time to do a loop route in the direction from Kotovo sedlo along the marked path, which first slightly descends to Loška Koritnica and then slightly climbs to Bivak Tarvisio on the saddle Rob above Zagače, from there up through the scree between Vevnica and the foot of V Koncu Špica. Of course in this direction for descent you almost need a rope, (unless you're related to chamois)

On the ridge: from Kukova Špica over Škrnatarica to Dovški križ

Already Tine Mihelič (Julijske Alpe/Northern approaches) wrote that climbing the ridge Dovški križ – Škrnatarica is a prestigious tour and must not be missing from the list of any true mountaineer. Well, we did it from another, personally more dear to me, direction than Mihelič describes.
The starting point is known; according to new TNP rules you can even park at the end of the gully below Veliki Črloveč (3-4 cars), then follow a well traceable pathless route upwards and in three hours we're already at the saddle Čez Dulce (2257 m). Quick warm-up jump to the right to friendly Kukova Špica (2427 m) and return, all done in under an hour. Then from the saddle follows a more serious ascent (not long, but technically demanding, average between I and II, sometimes a bit more) over the eastern slope to Škrnatarica (2448 m) and then continuation along the beautiful ridge cut to Dovški križ (2542 m), approximately 3 hours of more or less demanding climbing with occasional very airy passages above the cirque of the Martuljek amphitheater.
If for Škrnatarica from the direction of Kukova Špica you don't choose the loaded and supported gully, with some imagination in the relatively wide but steep and partly smooth and very crumbly terrain of the east wall, there are more approach options (some are also mentioned here on the forum). Ascent to Škrnatarica - along a more direct middle line, as we did this time, on ledges left of the notch, I wouldn't recommend without protection; currently there are quite a few pegs hammered in the route for setting up belay systems.
Similarly, it's not easy to free-solo descend (awkward III) that mere 10 m drop from the top of Škrnatarica down to the saddle or notch where the top of the gully leads, and there are also several rope slings hanging there, which can be handy help for someone climbing up here.
In the continuation of the ridge towards Dovški križ, there aren't so many technically difficult spots when crossing two unnamed summits, but here and there you'll find a short II, and if you stick strictly to the ridge you have another approx. 25 m abseil a bit before the window; this section can however also be elegantly bypassed a bit lower along the ledge from the left on the south side.
Descent from DK we did to Šplevta and past Bivouac II at Jezera (but you won't find water there!) and then via the largest Slovenian scree field - downhill express to Poldov rovt. One more info: at the end of the lower scree field, when you're already in the forest, there's still a bit of refreshing water flowing in the gully, otherwise the tour is very very hot in sunny weather.

but it's really like that, so many belays nowadays in the mountains and also on Kočnas, but the installation of one short section some deliberately refuse, ... wisdom comes only with years, and some realize only when it's/will be too late