Krn ski tour from Komna

Rating the Route (By Hiking Standards)

0. General. 653 m to 2244 m. Easy, on some places medium hard ski tour, lasting around 12 hours. Sleeping on Komna recommended. Gear: Normal tour skiing equipment. Beautiful scenery on Komna plateau, around Krn lake and a nice panorama from Krn summit.

1. Effort. 2100 m, some 12 hours trip.

2. Power. 2 - easy

3. Psyche. 2 - easy

4. Orientation. 2 - easy (don't go if bad visibility!)

Intro & Approach

Reaching the summit of Krn from Komna with skis is one of classics in Slovenian mountains. But this is an old-fashioned ski tour, nowadays not so popular any more. People today tend to wake up early, ascend some 4 hours, ski down and be at home for a lunch already. In contrary, the ski tour on Krn is a 2-days endeavour, more a travelling up-and-down than really a skiing. You first ascend 900 m through forrests from Bohinj valley to Komna plateau, sleep there, go across the plateau and reach a 300 m higher Vratca pass (1803 m), ski down 450 m to Krn lake and ascend again 900 m on the summit of Krn. And go the same route back, of course. The route starts at the end of Bohinj valley, on a big parking place by Savica hut, 653 m.

Route Description

From Savica hut you go by a usually well beaten path up on Komna plateau. Reaching the plateau there's immediately Dom na Komni, 1520 m (today a hotel), and 15 min further on Koča pod Bogatinom (1513 m), a pleasant mountain hut. In one of these it's recommended to sleep, as the whole tour is very long. From Savica 2:30 h.

From Dom na Komni you proceed towards the west, pass Koča pod Bogatinom and continue by the main valley, called Gracija. The ascent there is flat, only when approaching the Vratca saddle, the trail ascends on right slopes (take care of avalanche danger) and crosses them. Finally it reaches the slope some 50 m straight below the saddle and in 2 or more turns hits the pass, 1803 m. Left of us is Bogatin summit, right are the gentle slopes of Lanževica and ahead, we can see in the distance the sharp summit of Krn. From Komna 2 h.

From Vratca pass we ski down towards the right, but soon the slopes themselves turn us left again and we follow flat valleys towards the west. Skiing here is usually very fine. Down in the valley we first reach Lepoče (or Za Lepočami), 1608 m, where remains (barracks) from the World War I can be seen. We continue straightforward till we reach the eastern shore of Krn lake, 1400 m. 30 min till here.

Crossing the lake can be simple, or it can be tricky (see the trip report, how my wife fell in the lake) and it's better to cross the slopes left above the lake. In any case we reach the western shore from where we proceed towards the summit of Krn. After a short flat field a step through a light forrest is overcome and we reach Poljanica alpine meadow. There we continue towards Krn, aiming left of its »nose«, to reach the notch between Krn and Batognica (above be aware again of avalanche danger). It is called Škrbina (=notch) and is 2058 m high.

There we turn right and follow the main ridge of Krn to its summit. 2:30 h from the east shore of the lake.

We return by the same route. There is also a possibility to cross Batognica summit, 2154 m, or Vrh nad peski, 2176 m, but these are all longer variants and orientation is more demanding. Skiing down to Krn lake is very fine (1 h), but ascending Vratca pass again is a tedious job, which takes us another 1:30 h. Then skiing to Dom na Komni is very flat and lasts another 1 h. Skiing by the path down to Bohinj valley depends on snow conditions. If good, the path is wide enough to enjoy skiing, which lasts cca 1:30 h. Altogether the tour lasts 11:30-12:00 hours, better to do it in two days.