Podnar / Bodenbauer - Srednja peč

Access to starting point:
We drive to a border crossing Ljubelj and ahead on the Austrian side. Soon after that, when on the left side of the road, we notice a smaller church, the road branches off to the left towards the valley Poden / Bodental. At the crossroad for village Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg we turn left towards Žabnica / Bodental. In Žabnica we get to mountain signposts for Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte, which are pointing to the left and right. We go left and drive on the road to the end of the asphalt, where on a parking lot near the grazing fences we park.

Path description:
From the parking lot, we go on for the traffic closed forest road with signs »Marchenwiese«. Walking forest road through the forest in a gentle ascent brings us to a pleasant meadow, where a beautiful view opens up towards the northern walls of Vrtača and Palec. Further, we cross a meadow on which the footpath is hard to follow and on the other side, we look for a cart track which goes slightly upwards into the forest. After few minutes walk on a cart track blazes point us to the right on a footpath which soon crosses a torrent by which it then ascends. The path then withdraw from the torrent a little to the right and brings us on a smaller clearing, where the marked path point us even a little more to the right. The path ahead ascends steeper and after a good 30 minutes of walking, it brings us to a crossing, where we continue left (right mountain pasture Vgrizeva planina 5 minutes).
Steepness here decreases and the path passes out of the forest into dwarf pines. Next follows a crossing of the scree, and then with the help of steel cables we descend slightly downwards. From here ahead the path is exposed to falling stones. Further, a well-secured path starts ascending on a steep rocky slope. On the top of this easier climbing part we come to an inscription box. The path after that isn't difficult anymore and in diagonal ascending we come to a saddle Vrata. The path ahead starts descending and in few minutes brings us to a crossing, where we continue straight (right Ovčji vrh) and in few minutes of light descend we come to the mountain hut Celovška koča.
From the mountain hut, we go right in the direction of Stol / Hochstuhl, Svačica / Bielschitza and mountain hut Prešernova koča and we continue on a gentle cart track which a little lower changes into a mountain path, and which through a lane of dwarf pines brings us to the scree below Svačica. The path ahead ascends diagonally over the first scree, and then it brings us to a short steep part, where at the crossing we have a steel cable for help. Short and technically not very demanding part of the path quickly ends, and the path continues over the scree, over which leads us wide and well maintained path. With a view on the nearby mountain walls, then without any bigger problems we ascend to a saddle Belščica, where there is a marked crossing.
From the saddle Belščica, from where the path on Svačica branches off to the left, we continue straight and we continue in the direction of Vrtača, mountain hut Prešernova koča and Zelenica. For few minutes we cross grassy slopes, and then we get to the spot, where the path on Vrtača branches off to the left, and we continue straight downwards. The path ahead at first steeply descends through the gully, and then turns to the right, where it passes on ample scree, on which it is ascending diagonally. Higher, we leave the scree and we slightly descend to the nearby crossing, where we join the upper and lower path on Stol.
From the mentioned crossing, we continue sharply left in the direction of Zelenica (slightly right - Stol), and after few 10 strides, still before the path starts considerably descending, on the right we notice a smaller cairn and a nice passage on pathless terrain towards the saddle between massif of Stol and Srednja peč.
We continue by the edge of dwarf pines, on easy passable pathless terrain, by which individual cairns showing the right direction. After approximately 5 minutes, we get to a small saddle west from Srednja peč, where on the left, on the scree we notice a worse footpath. We ascend to the mentioned footpath, and then we cross the scree towards the right. When the scree ends, the footpath leads through a narrow lane of dwarf pines, and then a worse footpath turns left along the dwarf pines steeply upwards and after few steps, it ends in relatively steep grass. We continue the ascent by dwarf pines steeply upwards, and in approximately the same direction we continue all the way until we get on a ridge, where a worse footpath appears again. We continue right, a little further also through a short lane of cutted dwarf pines, and then on and by the ridge which is on the left side occasionally also precipitous, we ascend on a little visited and panoramic peak.
The starting point - Celovška koča 2:15, Celovška koča - Srednja peč 1:30.

On the way: Vrata (1714m), Klagenfurter Hutte/Celovška koča (1664m), Sedlo Belščica (1840m)