How to get there:
Locate the small town Krumë, it is 30 kilometer (along a good road) north of Kukes.
From there, take a pretty good dirt road 12 kilometer east to the small village Kishaj.
This road is ok for any car, a few rough spots, some reasonable ground clearance makes
the drive slightly easier. I had a report of a car that was broken into while hiking, so
perhaps best to park at a house and ask a local to keep an eye on your car.
I parked at N42.18761, E20.50324, the man living there was very friendly. The elevation
there, about 1065 meter.
Route description:
This summit may be climbed (short walk) from a high trailhead on the Kosovo side of the border.
However, this reports a climb from Albania. There is no trail and a lot of uphill on grass.
Head directly uphill, aim for a group of trees. From there, continue to the left end of a small
cliffband that you should see above. Once there ascend on a traverse (climbers right) until an
obvious passage through the cliffs above. Next, contour right and enter the basin just below the peak.
Ascend to the saddle (left of peak), then follow a
small trail to the summit.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed on this trip to Balkan.
A track of the hike is
posted on Peakbagger.
Comments:
I drove from Kukes after breakfast. The last 12 km of road from
Krume to Kishaj was better than feared. I decided to drive a short side-road in Kishaj
and check if I could park at a house with a person present. This worked out just fine
and I was ready to walk by 0945.
The walk up grass slopes was sort of boring, not many critical choices in the lower section,
one can walk essentially anywhere.
Slightly more route-finding higher up.
I passed through
a bretch in the rocks and soon what remained was just easy
walking to the summit.
The ascent had taken me precisely 2 hours.
Good views in all directions, but some clouds made visibility a bit worse than yesterday.
I took some drink, then headed back down pretty much the same way. Back at the car in 1:18.
The house owner was not there just then. I left 1000 LEK (about 10 USD) inside his yard with a small rock
to prevent it from blowing away.
Overall, a nice day to conclude this trip in Albania. Tomorrow, June 1st. is a travel day going
back to Montenegro.
