Bučan - Veliki vrh (Košuta)

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 on the Austrian side we follow it to the first left bend, where the old Ljubelj road branches off to the right. We park at an appropriate place at the crossroads, or we can also park higher on the Austrian side of the border crossing Ljubelj.

Path description:
From the starting point, we head onto the old Ljubelj road, which is closed to public traffic by a traffic sign. The road first moderately ascends over two hairpins, then continues along the stream to the ruins of the former St. Lenart churchlet, by which stands a somewhat larger sign. Here the road turns left and gradually moves away from the valley. From the road, nice views then start opening onto Palec and other surrounding peaks. The road further leads past a smaller crossroads, where we continue sharply right on the "main" road, then in a moderate ascent cross steep slopes (danger of falling rocks, or in winter time snow avalanches and slips). Higher the road makes a few more hairpins, then brings us to a marked junction.
From the junction we continue left in the direction of the marked path to Košutica / Loibler Baba (straight to Koča na Ljubelju less than 10 minutes) and continue the path on the poorer road. The marked path soon turns right upward from the road and initially ascends steeply. The path soon levels out and turns left. A traverse ascent to the left follows, on a path that is usually quite slippery. After a few minutes of traversing ascent the path brings us to the border ridge, where it first ascends gently to moderately, higher for some time quite steeply. During the steep ascent, a nice view opens up towards Stol, Vrtača, Palec... on looking back, and the steep path brings us to a metal ladder, where with the aid of fixed protections we ascend steeply. Above the ladder a few more steel cables follow, then the path levels out and the demanding section over the Rjave peči is behind us. A little further we cross a pasture fence, then the path leads across the grassy slopes of Grunt. With nice views of Lokovnikov Grintovec, Košutica (Ljubeljska Baba), Veliki vrh in the ridge of Košuta and other surrounding mountains, we soon arrive at a marked junction, where we continue right in the direction of mountain pasture Korošica and Hajnževo sedlo (straight Košutica, slightly left Lokovnikov Grintovec).
The path ahead leads on a cart track that descends slightly, meanwhile crossing a few springlets. Somewhat lower a hunting path from the Ljubelj concentration camp joins from the right, we continue straight and in a few minutes of further walking arrive at mountain pasture Korošica, where on the right side, on a smaller rise we notice the mountain dairy.
From mountain pasture Korošica we continue following the signs for Hajnževo sedlo, Veliki vrh and Kofce, on the path that takes us from the pasture into the forest. Through the forest we continue traversing to the right, the path leads past a wooden trough, behind which we step onto a panoramic gentle grassy slope. On the other side of the meadow the forest gradually gives way to dwarf pines, we follow only occasionally a somewhat steeper path to Hajnževo sedlo, from which a nice view also opens towards Austria.
From the saddle we continue right, where for a short time we still proceed along the panoramic ridge, then enter the climbing section of the path, where the path begins to ascend steeply with the aid of fixed protections. The technically demanding section is especially dangerous for slipping when wet, the path from the saddle onwards exposed to falling rocks. Higher the protections end, the path transitions from the wall onto steep slopes, across which with ever finer views we ascend to Veliki vrh.
Bučan - planina Korošica 2:15, planina Korošica - Hajnževo sedlo 30 minutes, Hajnževo sedlo - Veliki vrh 1:05.

On the way: Grunt (1614m), Planina Korošica (1554m), Hajnževo sedlo (1701m)