Splevta

Overview

Splevta in front of Triglav and Stenar

It started as some sort of joke. After having decided on Dovski Kriz as our common goal for a common climb of SP members I started to complain to Vid and Bor that barely a mountains of the Julian Alps remained to be put up on SP. After a short discussion Vid said: "You can have Splevta". After that they laughed. The next day we climbed Dovski Kriz and upon returning from its summits made a bid for Splevta. We had much fun imagining what one could write about its impressive aspects and massive faces. It was supposed to become a fun page. But upon returning I had a look at the south and south-west faces of the mountain with its vertical, sometimes even overhanging walls. To keep my promise - here s the Splevta page, but it's a real one.

Splevta is one of the minor summits of the Martuljek Group of the Julian Alps. It is located to the east of the group, high above the Vrata Valley, which heads from its mouth near Mojstrana to the base of the giant north face of Triglav, Slovenia's highest mountain. A close-up view will reveal that the mountain is located opposite to the curved ridge which the Rokavi, three of the taller mountains of the group form with Veliki Oltar. The cirque, which this ridge forms has Splevta at its focal point so that Splevta offers brilliant close-up views of these mountains. Moreover, Triglav, Rjavina, Stenar and Skrlatica are also perfectly visible, making the mountain a perfect look-out peak.

Access to the mountain is possible along the two valleys which are located to its north and south. Both valleys combine in a saddle which separates Splevta from Dovski Kriz. From there only some 20 or 30m of easy scrambling lead you to the summit of Splevta. However, this northern side is the only one to easily access the mountain. The faces in the north-east and south-west are vertical, the western one is overhanging in its topmost part while the east ridge steeply climbs from Vrata Valley towards the little meadow underneath the summit. To the south-east of the main summit on this ridge you can find a second (lower) summit, Spodnja splevta.

The whole area is only little frequented though right to the west of Splevta there is a bivouac hut in the cirque underneath the Rokavi. Moreover, our little mountain is not the main objective in the western Martuljek Group. The paths which lead to the bivouac and to the aforementioned saddle are not marked and you need good route finding abilities, especially in the lower parts of the routes where the paths run through a dense forest. All this makes Splevta a nice little mountain to take a rest and take in the scenery.

360° Summit Panorama

360° summit panorama from Splevta

Getting There

The trailhead for the routes to Dovski Kriz and Splevta is located roughly 1km before the end of the Vrata Valley, the entry of which lies between Jessenice and Kranjska Gora. The towns can be found in the north-west of Slovenia - not far away from both the Italian and Austrian borders.

• From Slovenia take motorway A2 to Jessenice, where you switch to 201 to Kranjska Gora. After a few kms a sign leads into Vrata Valley. Follow the road to Poldov rovt. There are a few parking places along the road and a dirt road heads up in direction of the two mountains.
  
• From Austria you take motorway A10 through the Karawanken Tunnel, then turn westward on road 201 to Kranjska Gora. Again, follow the signs for Vrata Valley.
  
• From Italy take motorway A23 to Tarvisio where you turn onto SS54 to Kranjska Gora. Switch to 201 to Jessenice and turn into Vrata Valley, following the signs.

Red Tape

Like all mountains of the Slovenian part of the Julian Alps Dovski Kriz and Splevta belong to Triglav National Park. I'm not really sure but there appear to be only very few climbing related limitations.

Accommodation

In Sava Valley to the north of the Martuljek Group you can find quite a number of hotel rooms and apartments. The following link directs to the official site of the town of Kranjska Gora:

• Kranjska Gora Accommodation

Weather Conditions

Don't ask me why weatherunderground shows the sticker for Tarvisio when you insert the code for Ratece (5km west of Kranjska Gora) but both towns are very close to each other and they will in all probability have the same weather at all times ;-)

Maps & Books

Both Maps and books should be something our Slovenian SPers know much more about. All guidebooks deal with Spik and thus also cover Lipnica. The following list shows the books I used. Most of them are in German.

Books

• Julische Alpen
  M. Podhorsky
  Rother Verlag
  ISBN: 3 7633 4051 3
  
• Julische Alpen (new edition - completely different)
  H. Lang
  Rother Verlag
  ISBN: 3 7633 4051 3
  
• Klettersteige Julische Alpen
  H. Heindl
  Rother Verlag
  ISBN: 3 7633 3372 x
  
• Mountaineering in Slovenia
  T. Mihelic
  Sidarta
  ISBN: 961 6027 36 0

Maps

My map provoked ridicule by the SPers I met in Kranjska Gora so I'm not sure I should recommend it here

• Julische Alpen
  Freytag & Berndt Map WK 141
  ISBN: 3 85084 735 7
  Scale: 1:50000

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Images

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