Stenar is a bedrock in the heart of Julian Alps, from where you can get an almost unparalleled view on a clear day. It's a popular two-thousand meters high peak visited both in winter and summer alike.
I went to Stenar with a group of tour skiers on a grand winter day. The tour skiing from the top is not a mass event, since the descent is rather difficult. But once you reach a few peaks and great rides down, you do want to try yourself out with something a bit more challenging. So we chose Stenar, which really offered us a wonderful experience.
A long and difficult route
For an average hiker the hike to the top of Stenar counts as a rather difficult one, as no mater witch path you take you will spend more than five hours hiking before reaching the top. The shortest way is from the valley of Vrata, from where it takes you some five hours. Along with the distance you also need to overcome the height difference of some five hundred meters. In summer months there are many more people going up the mountain than in winter, but especially in snowy days you’ll find tour skiers yearning to reach the top to ride all the way down. With skies the whole thing is rather faster, especially if the conditions to ride all the way down are really good. That is why we were looking for a window of good weather at the time where there are no avalanche alerts yet. The weather really was wonderful and nobody was thinking about out path being at least an hour longer in one way. During winter you cannot reach the valley of Vrata by road, as it’s closed, so we had to stop at the waterfall Peričnik. From there we started walking up to the mountain cabin in the valley of Vrata.
Fron the valley to the top with almost a constant climb
After an hour’s walk on the rather boring closed road in the valley we started ascending a steep path through a rather demolished forest. The last year’s harsh winter did a lot of damage, which we experienced along the way to the top. It was impossible to make out the marked path underneath the snow and fallen trees, so we simply followed the trail of previous skiers, which made it much easier for us. The already trodden paths certainly make it easier. As we came out of the forest the hike got more interesting, as the view started to charm us. Our first longer break was at the shelter point called bivak IV in the plains. The sun was so hot we enjoyed the short sleeves and a short break for sunbathing. From the shelter point on to the saddle under Stenar we were mostly walking in shade, which was good as it decreased the chances of an avalanche. The last half hour of the hike was again filled with sun and a stunning view. The tour was long and steep, with very few flat parts, but it was worth the hustle as the view from the top is truly unparalleled.
Skiing down from the peak of Stenar in such grand conditions was too good to put in words. The snow was just the right level of soft, to give you the feel as though you swam in it. The only bother were the few fallen trees nearing the bottom and the hour’s walk on the closed road from the valley of Vrata. Yet all of us were certain to return when the weather was just right again.
