The ascent of Spik near Kranska Gora in Slovenia
We caught the 08:26 bus from Kranska Gora bus station which costs about 3.50 Euros to Mihov Dom which is just past bend number 4 on the way to the Vrsic pass. Directly across the road a path drops down to join a track leading to the Koca v Krnici hut. The route was in shadow with the sun just beginning to break through which meant that we could start the walk in the shade. This was an even greater bonus as we began to climb steeply up the Gruntovnica valley.
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| Gruntovnica Valley |
After picking our way through large boulders and dwarf pine the path turned left (NW) on a rising traverse across the side of Gamsova spica (Chamois Peak). From here you can look up at the majesty of Razor and Prisank.
We'd climbed Prisank the day before. It was cloudier then but there was some brilliant scrambling on slabs near the top.
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| Razor (centre) and Prisank (Right) |
We carried on NE and then East around the peak continuing to climb until we reached the ridge that led towards the summit of Spik. We were now at about 1,900 m above sea level with just over half the climbing done.
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| Jalovec and Mangart from Gamsova spica |
From here it was a long haul to the base of Lipnica where we encountered some steep scrambling with an intimidating looking wire cable to help us!
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| Fixed Steel Rope on the way Lipnica |
From the top of this section it went down and then up again. With our maps in our pockets and the sun blazing down this made us think we were nearly at the summit of Spik. We were in fact at the top of Lipnika. The view was superb but ahead of us the lay the true summit of Spik and it did not look at all straightforward!
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| Spik from Lipnica |
We climbed down to the jagged rocks that cross the col. We scrambled across those jagged rocks. We had a short conference about whether or not to carry on, then we gingerly worked our way to the top aided by a few cables, metal staples and spikes. It wasn't really the sections with the climbing aids that were the problem. It was those were they were absent that really made you focus. To be more accurate - despite the exposure there are actually plenty of handholds and footholds.
Once at the top of Spik (2473 m) we really felt we had achieved something. The views were incredible as we finally tucked into our lunch having climbed about 1600 metres all told.
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| Panoramic view from the summit of Spik: Lto R: Skrlatica, Razor, Prisank, Jalovec and Mangart on the Italian border. |
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| Jalovec |
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| Chuffs on Spik |
On the way up there had been some discussion about the best way down but time was getting on and we didn't really want to go all the way back over Lipnica to retrace our steps on the descent. The scree run down from the col looked a little intimidating but was certainly going to be a quick and exhilarating way down.
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| The quick way down. |
Keep right on the way down to avoid a very large crag and eventually, after getting the stones out of your boots, you are back amongst the dwarf pines. The fun isn't over though because there are plenty more limestone rocky steps to clamber down.
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| Rocky steps amongst the dwarf pines on the way down |
Finally we reached the bottom of the valley. Water reappears from the hidden depths that it's been trickling through to form the Piscnica River and you follow the valley down to Kranska Gora having descended about 1800m.
I was rationing out my 2 litres of water towards the end but this is an amazing walk that has absolutely everything, especially when the weather is as good as this. A cracking day but my knees definitely need a rest!
