Lopa

Overview

Geographical structure: Eastern Alps > Julian Alps > Kanin group.


Lopa (on the left) and Prestreljnik on the right from the north side from route on Montaz. You can see a window in Prestreljnik.

Lopa is the last mountain, which is higher then 2400m in Kanin/Canin group to the east from Visoki Kanin, 2587m and one of the hardest approachable in Kanin group. Kanin/Canin group is an Eldorado for cave explorers (speleologists). Its high plateaus are like a Swiss cheese many extremely hard accessible caves exceed the depth of 1000 meters.

Lopa is an Italian and Slovenian mountain because it leads on frontier between Italia and Slovenia. On the Slovenian side falls very low to the Bovec, 483m. If you want to climb on Lopa from Slovenian side you can drive to the upper station (2200m) of cable car from Bovec. This station leads below the summit of Prestreljnik, 2499m. You can combine your trip with ascend on Prestreljnik because when you descend to the Prevala pass, 2067m from Notch below Prestreljnik, 2282m you can ascend on Prestreljnik by a nice marked route. Prevala pass you can also reach from the Italian side from Nevea pass, 1195m. To the Rif. C. Gilberti (hut), 1850m you can also drive with a cable car.

Lopa is mountain, which is an aim of many climbers but a lot of climbers don’t climb on it because on Lopa don’t lead any routes. A normal ascent is climbing route around UIAA II so you must know how to climb and you must search for the best passages. The normal route leads on Lopa after the east ridge. A nice climbing route is if you cross the west ridge of Lopa from Prevala pass to the top and then descend on the normal route over east ridge.

The view from Lopa is very nice. You see all mountains of Kanin group, Montaz/Iof di Montasio, Vis/Iof FuartJalovec, Mangart and other mountains of Julian Alps.

Getting There

Numbers refer to Kanin group huts: (1) Koca na Stolu, (2) Bivouac C.A.I. Manzano, (3) Dom Petra Skalarja na Kaninu, (4) Rif. C. Gilberti, (5) Rif. Divisione Julia-Nevea, (6) Bivouac Marussich, (7) Dom na Predelu.

By car/bus Soca valley and Bovec can be reached over Vrsic pass (from Sava valley) or from south, from Gorica/Gorizia.
Valleys Rezija/Resia and Reklanica/Raccolana can be reached from Val Canale (Tagliamento river) by deterring from the highway Udine-Tarvisio. Nevejski preval/Sella Nevea (Pass) can also be reached from NE, from Trbiz/Tarvisio.

Two cable-cars can help you reach the high plateau:

Cable car Kanin: In summer 2004: Up - from 7:00 to 15:00 (each full hour). Down - from 8:00 to 16:00 (each full hour). pictures
Cable car Sella Nevea.

Maps:

Julijske Alpe - Zahodni del (Western part). Planinska zveza Slovenije. 1:50000.
Bovec z okolico. 1:250000.
Tobacco Map 019 - 1:25000 - Alpi Giulie Occidentali Tarvisiano.

Routes Overview

To the Lopa leads only one route which is not very hard. It is climbing route around UIAA II. This route starts on Prevala pass, 2067m. To here you can come from more sides. I describe here some aproaches to Prevala pass but the description of normal route you must read it here.

1. From south side, from Slovenia. From the upper station (2200m) of cable-car from Bovec you start walking on the marked route to the Notch below Prestreljnik, 2282m. Then you descend to the Prevala pass, 2067m.

2. From Sella Nevea (1195m), from north side,from Italia. To Rif. Gilberti (1850m) you can hike by a marked path (over ski slopes) or take a cable car. From the hut you proceed towards east, first some 100m down in the valley, then up to Prevala Pass, 2067m. From Sella Nevea 4h, from Rif. Gilberti 2h 30min. This is also a very fine ski tour with 1300m altitude difference, where also the cable car to Rif. Gilberti can be used.

3. Prevala Pass can also be reached from Bovec (in Soca valley) or by one of paths crossing Kanin massif east of it. Very popular is ascend over by a nice marked route after Krnica valley which falls directly from Prevala pass in direction to the east.

Red Tape

No limitations but Lopa leads in Triglavski Narodni park so you must be kind to the nature and other beauties.

When To Climb

The best season for Lopa is Spring, Summer (but not when is hot) and Autumn.

In Spring is fine if snow leads because when you cross the north slopes of Lopa and it is easier.

Camping

To climb Visoki Kanin the following mountain huts and bivouacs are useful:

Dom Petra Skalarja na Kaninu, 2260m, (041) 527-926. For the ascent from south-west.
Rif. C. Gilberti, 1850m. For the ascent from north.
Rif. Divisione Julia - Nevea, 1142m. For the ascent from north.

Mountain Conditions

Mountain conditions in Julian Alps are well known, thanks to Kredarica (2515m) hut and meteo station, which is bellow the Triglav.

You can observe current conditions and forecast for Kredarica on the Wunderground meteo site. Here is direct link to Wunderground - Kredarica page.

Some weather informatin can also be found here.

Images

View Lopa Image Gallery - 27 Images