Jalovec over Kotovo Saddle

Itinerary

We leave our cars in Planica, not too far from the Olympic Sports Center Planica, and head in the direction of Tamar towards great Jalovec, the sixth highest mountain in Slovenia. The trail first ascends slowly passing the Tamar Hut, but then gradually becomes steeper taking us over large scree slopes towards Kotovo Sedlo. We'll be putting on our climbing harness soon after a crossing of two main routes,  one coming from the Vršič Pass, Jalovška Škrbina, and our route via Kotovo Sedlo. After climbing a few secured spots, we soon arrive at a well-known bivouac (Bivak pod Kotovim sedlom) in the shape of a piton. The trail crosses more and more rocky grounds until it becomes close to vertical at about 2,400 m altitude. As the climbing part is secured with steel cable and pitons, we continue our way to the top safely with an experienced mountain guide keeping an extra eye on the safety of our journey. After a rough 6-hour adventure, we are rewarded with mind-blowing views from the summit of Slovenia's 'King'. The descent will follow the same route, but, as the thing is with all descents, we'll need much less time to get down compared to the getting-up part - 4 hours.