July 22nd, 2007 - Links to a new page added: Trupejevo poldne / Techantinger Mittagskogel.
> March 24th, 2007 - Links to two new pages added: Oistra/Ojstra and Topitza/Topica.
> January 20th, 2007 - The Mountain biking chapter added.

The purpose of this page

The long chain of Karavanke, as seen from the summit of Struska

General remark: (When reading Slovenian words on maps or in books, you will find special characters for ch, sh, and zh. They are written with c, s and z with a caron - little v above them.)

The group I am describing here is named Karavanke in Slovenian language and Karawanken in German.

On this page I would like to summarise information, common to all summits of Karavanke. I don't like this site to be the garbage can for all kinds of pictures and descriptions, which do not pertain to specific mountains in Karavanke. Gradually important mountains will get its pages - it is the only way to find information. But writing on each mountain page how to get to Karavanke, which maps are relevant and where to get weather forcasts is boring. This will be reviewed here as well as the general overview of the group.

Overview

In the central part of Karavanke - Stol is the highest mountain in the range

Karavanke belong to Southern Limestone chain of European Alps. They are similar to Carnic Alps, Julian Alps or Kamnik Alps, although they are a bit lower, so many of their important peaks are grassy on southern side and rocky only on northern side. The whole range stretches about 120 kilometers in the west-east direction. They begin on Megvarje vrata / Maglern Thoerl on west and finish with forehills around Slovenj Gradec town.

Northern border of the range is clear - it lies on Drava/Drau river. On west, southern border is Sava river, but soon after Jesenice town Karavanke range starts to hide behind Kamnik Alps. So from this point the south border of the chain is hard to describe, it is evident from the two general maps.

Karavanke range is a paradise for hiking and tour skiing. Almost all summits can be reached by marked paths. Summits offer wonderful panoramas, especially on Julian Alps and Kamnik Alps, which are close, while towards north views are far mor open. In the range there are also some climbing areas.

Subgroups and summits

As there are no evident subgroups, I shall here list the important summits from west to east. Because there are some passes, which cross Karavanke range, summits will still be grouped. The summits, which are listed below are on both overview maps marked with a black triangle.

An interactive map of Karavanke/Karawanken - western part. Point on red spots to see mountain names, click on them to get their SummitPost pages!

An interactive map of Karavanke/Karawanken - eastern part. Point on red spots to see mountain names, click on them to get their SummitPost pages!

Western part - map 1

Pec, 1510m. Grassy summit on the border of three states (Austria, Italy, Slovenia), nice mountain bike tour, ski resort on north.
Vosca, 1737m. Grassy summit over Kranjska gora. Ski tour.
Trupejevo poldne / Techantinger Mittagskogel. 1931m. Grassy and rocky summit over Martuljek. Ski tour.

Kepa, 2143m. Nice shaped cone peak, a true landmark of Austrian Kaernten. Marked paths, a ski tour towards NE.

Dovska Baba, 1891m. Grassy summit, very popular for tour skiing.
Hruski vrh, 1776m. Grassy summit, very popular for tour skiing.
Golica, 1835m. Grassy summit, steep ski tour, hut just below the summit.
Struska/Baerentaler Kotchna, 1944m. Grassy summit, nice for tour skiing.

Vajnez, 2104m. Grassy summit on south, rocky on north, close to the highest summit - Stol. A few great ski tours.
Stol/Hochstuhl, 2236m. Grassy summit on south, rocky on north. A few great ski tours, a few rock climbs.
Vrtaca/Wertatscha, 2181m. Steep grass on south, high rocky north face. Hard ski tours, rock scrambles, a few harder climbs.
Palec/Selenitza, 2027m. A sharp rocky summit, some nice climbs in N face.
Kozjak, 2016m. Grassy summit north of the central group. A nice ski tour.
Begunjscica, 2060m. Steep grass on south, rocky on north. Many nice, steep ski tours.

Eastern part - map 2

Kosutnikov Turn, 2133m (highest point of 12km long Kosuta ridge). Grassy on south, rocky north face. Tour skiing, climbing.

Setice, 1922m. Grassy summit north of the main Karavanke range.
Hochobir/Ojstrc, 2139m. A lonesome massif north of the main Karavanke range. Nice ski tour, great panorama.

Plesivec, Pecovnik, Virnikov Grintavec, Pristovski Storzic, Veliki Vrh, Rus, Stegovnik, Mali Javornik, Zeniklovec/V. Javornik - Lower summits, covered with forrests and grass, only partly rocky. Nice views on Kamnik Alps and other groups. Hikes, some ski tours.

Oistra/Ojstra and Topitza/Topica - two lower summits in the northern range. Especially Oistra offers a nice view around.

Olseva, 1929m. Grassy and rocky ridge, popular with stone windows and a cave. Also a ski tour.

Peca, 2125m. Very broad grassy and rocky massif. Ski resort on the northern side.

Urslja gora, 1696m. Grassy summit, easternmost in Karavange range. A hut and nice church just below the summit.

Mountain Biking

Karavanke/Karawanken are also great for biking tours. In this chapter I'll list only a few. When the list gets more complete, I might do a special page.

Pec, 1510m. Wonderful, very panoramic tour. 22.0km, 670m of altitude difference. Difficulty: medium/hard. 2 hours.
Course: Ratece (0.0km, 870m) - Podkoren (2.7km, 840m) - below Korensko sedlo turn left (5.5km, 1080m) - below Petelinjek turn right up (11.5km, 1280m) - summit of Pec (14.2km, 1510m) - back to the crossroads, there turn right (16.9km, 1280m) - Ratece (22.0km, 870m).

Blekova Meadow, 1629m. Long, panoramic ascent, very steep and hard descent. 24.9km, 859m of altitude difference. Difficulty: hard/very hard. 3 hours.
Course: Kranjska Gora (0.0km, 810m) - Podkoren (1.4km, 840m) - below Korensko sedlo turn right (4.6km, 1080m) - Jurezeva planina (12.3km, 1450m) - Blekova planina (15.4km, 1629m) - Zeleznica valley (16.8km, 1550m) - Srednji vrh (20.2km, 960m) - Kranjska Gora (24.9km, 810m).

Veliki Vrh Saddle, 1230m. Over fore-hills above Sava. 23.6km, 650m of altitude difference. Difficulty: medium hard. 2 hours.
Course: Jesenice (0.0km, 600m) - Dovje (8.6km, 700m) - on Presusnik creek drive right (15.3km, 1070m) - Veliki Vrh Saddle (16.7km, 1230m) - via Plavski rovt down in Jesenice (23.7km, 600m).

Around Spanov vrh and on Suha saddle, 1438m. A bit more demanding on the upper part, where we reach the panoramic main ridge. 19.0km, 578m of altitude difference. Difficulty: partly hard. 2 hours.
Course: Planina pod Golico (0.0km, 950m) - Prihodi (1.5km, 860m) - Around Spanov vrh on Krizovec saddle (10.1km, 1222m) - over Pusti rovt on Suha saddle (12.9km, 1438m) - back to Krizovec saddle (15.6km, 1222m) - Planina pod Golico (19.0km, 950m).

Below Kosuta, 1560m. Beautiful, panoramic rbiking over nice alpine meadows. 29.8km, 1048m of altitude difference. Difficulty: very hard. 3 hours 30 minutes.
Course: Trzic (0.0km, 510m) - Putrhof in Jelendol (6.4km, 760m) - right on next crossroads (10.4km, 1220m) - left on Zali potok crossroads (11.8km, 1300m) - Over Pungrat to Sija meadow (16.3km, 1530m) - Kofce hut (17.7km, 1460m) - right on the ridge elevation Ravne (18.9km, 1300m) - via Matizovec farm to Podljubelj (24.5km, 680m) - Trzic (29.8km, 510m).

Getting There

By plane
The nearest airports are:

1. Ljubljana airport, near the capital of Slovenia.
2. Klagenfurt airport, Kaernten.

By bus
There are regular bus connections along Sava, Drava and Savinja valleys and over passes Korensko sedlo / Wuerzen pass, Ljubelj/Loibl pass and Jezerski vrh / Seebergsattel.

By car
See the map.

Maps

You can see a detailed map on:

http://www.austrianmap.at/.

That's in German, but as of classical maps, you can refer to:

Karavanke, 1:20000. Planinska zveza Slovenije, or
Karavanke, Central part and Grintovci, 1:50000. Planinska zveza Slovenije.
Kranjska Gora (community tourist map), 1:30000 (only for the western part to Rozca/Rosenbachsattel saddle).

Red Tape

No limitations. For a few private roads on the Austrian side you must pay toll.

When To Climb

In summer best months are from start of July till end of October.

For tour skiing the best months are from December till April. First snow usually falls in November, in certain areas skiing is possible till start of May.

For tour skiing almost every summit of Karavanke is appropriate.

For climbing the best resorts are:
- north faces of Stol group and Vrtaca group
- north faces of Kosuta

Camping

In valleys there are many tourist resorts. Along the whole Karavanke range there are many mountain huts, the most important are named below. In the massif there are no useful camping places.

Huts (from west to east):
Pec: Dreilaendereckhuette, 1423m.
Kepa: Bertahuette, 1567m, open from mid June to end of September, Tel 0664/5968677and Mittagskogelhuette, 1527m.
Golica: Koca na Golici, 1582m.
Struska: Dom Pristava, 975m.
Stol: Valvasorjev dom, 1171m, mobi: 051/ 328-648. Presernova koca, 2172m, mobi: 050/ 611 366, Klagenfurter Huette, 1663m, tel.: 04253 / 8556, mobi: 0664 / 220 2929.
Vrtaca, Begunjscica: Planinski dom na Zelenici, 1536m. Tel.: 04/ 59-71 536.
Begunjscica: Roblekov dom, 1657m.

Kosuta: Dom na Kofcah, 1488m, Koschutahaus, 1279m.
Obir: Eisenkappler Huette, 1553m.
Olseva: Koca pod Olsevo, 1232m.
Peca: Dom na Peci, 1731m,
Urslja gora: Dom na Urslji gori, 1696m.

Mountain Conditions

For weather see here.

The Older History of This Page

> October 2nd, 2005 - Inserted links to a new page: Peca/Petzen.
> May 31st, 2005 - Inserted links to a new page: Golica/Kahlkogel.
> April 9th, 2005 - Inserted links to a new page: Hochobir/Ojstrc.
> March 21st, 2005 - Inserted links to a new page: Stegovnik & the surroundings.
> December 26th, 2004 - Inserted links to new pages: Palec/Selenitza, Struska/Baerentaler Kotchna.
> November 22nd, 2004: A new panoramic picture inserted.
> August 12th, 2004: Inserted links to Begunjscica page.
> July 16th, 2004: Inserted links to Kepa/Mittagskogel page.
> July 13th, 2004: A few pictures added, minor style corrections, one more map cited, Bertahuette info added.
> May 8th, 2004: Inserted links to Vrtaca/Wertatscha page.

External Links

Karavanke
The page is in Slovenian language, but there are mainly photos (some more than 100).

Images



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