Kladivo / Hajnschturm round tour

After a long drive up by mountain roads we start the tour on Pungrat alpine meadow.

Just above us, in the northern direction there is Škrbina / Skarbina (=notch), the lowest part of Košuta range. That's the point we aim first.

From the parking place we go right towards the hut on Pungrat meadow. Near it we find the marked path directly up, towards the notch. If we don't find it, we can still go up almost anywhere, keeping a bit towards the right. When exiting the forrested slope, the path gets more clearly visible. It winds up in switchbacks towards a distinct limestone tower, then passes left of it and soon reaches the notch on the main ridge (1869 m). Some 1 h 15 min till there.

On the notch, we turn left, towards a sharp, handsome ridge tower. The path crosses left around it and then gains the main ridge again. Panorama gets broader and broader, soon you see also the summit of Kladivo. But the ridge will still challenge you a bit. It consists of several rocky heads. The path detours only one of them, others are crossed. On two places there are short exposed sections, where the path is protected by steel cables. There are no real difficulties, but some additional care is needed. Also a few other places where there is no protection, on steep grassy slopes some care is needed. So from the notch you will need on top some 45 minutes. We are on the highest point of our tour, on 2094 m.

On the other side, the marked path goes equally steep down, only that it is not so exposed. When reaching between the main summit and the western foresummit, from the left a weak direct trail from Šija alpine meadow comes up. But we keep right, towards the western foresummit (Malo Kladivo / Kleine Hainschturm, 2036 m). It's worth going on top of it, the view back on the main summit is very nice. Then we continue along the main ridge. The trail becomes very easy and it also doesn't go much up and down. We soon pass Mali Turn, 1937 m, then we gain Kofce gora / Hüttenberg, 1907 m, where from the left the marked trail from Kofce hut comes.

From Kofce gora we can descend directly down to Kofce hut, but the proposal here is to continue along the main ridge to the summit of Veliki vrh / Hochturm, 2088 m. It's 200 m of additional ascent and some distance. In less than 45 minutes we are on its top, all the time following the upper - ridge trail.

From Veliki vrh / Hochturm we descend to Kofce hut by the lower trail. It descends  immediately southwards, then it turns left and crosses the slopes, all the time gently losing altitude. When reaching below Kofce gora, the trail turns slowly southwards and keeps descending. Some 20 minutes more it is still a bit rocky and rugged, then we reach the upper part of the wonderful Kofce alpine meadow. By it, we just continue to the popular hut (in 2019 it was chosen as the best mountain hut).

From Kofce we need to cross back towards the east. Don't lose any altitude! From above the hut just go towards the NE, soon you'll get on the cart road which descends to Ilovica alpine meadow and further on to Šija meadow. There stands Taborniški dom (hut), which can already be reached by car. A few more minutes we continue eastwards by the road. Then the road goes horizontally far right around the  hill. We can take a shortcut, crossing straight over the grassy hill and descending on the other side on the road again. Then we have only some 10 minutes to the parking place below Pungrat.