How to get there:
This peak is in Bosnia, but close to the border with Croatia. Locate Hwy. M-6.1. This road
runs south from a small town named Bosansko Grahovo to the town Mostar. Turn off this road
about 35 km south of Bosansko Grahovo, continue 3 km to location N43.96331, E16.64991. A smaller
dirt road forks right here, there is a sign reading Troglava. This is a key forest road
serving a high trailhead. It was in good condition (spring 2026), but some reasonable ground
clearance (a SUV car of any type) is recommended. Follow this road uphill to find parking
near location N43.96497, E16.60216, elevation near 1225 meter.
Route description:
There is a sign and some red paint marks showing the way, the route initially heads south.
My track is slightly off route in the beginning due to extensive logging with machine tracks, mud
and logging debris (branches), making life a bit unpleasant initially.
As soon as the trail gets above the logging area, everything improves and the route is fairly easy to
follow. Heading towards a big basin
protected by cliffs, it soon climbs steeply staying mostly on dirt with
a cover of leaves, slippery when wet.
You have a pretty impressive basin with steep cliffs off to your left.
The route exits nicely, there is a pretty new shelter located on a small
local col off the trail to your right (going uphill), shortly before the trail connects with the upper cliffs.
In summer, some easy scrambling
may be needed. The route ascends a gully where a fixed line
has been placed for protection (not really needed). In mid May, when I climbed, substantial snow made the
ascent slightly more complex since I had left boots, axe and crampons behind in the trunk (mistake!). The trail
ascends to a small local top on the main crest, from here you see the summit and the rest of the ascent is
on an easy trail.
You first arrive at a concrete pillar, this is marked as the summit.
A bit further along the ridge is
a cross, perhaps slightly lower. However, a short walk beyond this you
will notice a summit more south-east that
appears higher. In fact, there is evidence that this is the true summit, perhaps 1-2 meter higher.
This location is N43.94705, E16.59379. It is also possible that the correct elevation is a few meter
lower than the official 1913m quoted.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed on this trip to Balkan.
A track of the mountain road is
posted on Peakbagger.
Comments:
This was a nice ascent with many interesting aspects. I had limited beta, it seemed
like people hiked essentially from the highway, approximately a 1200 meter ascent.
I left our hotel (vacation with Heidi) in Sibenik shortly after 0730, then drove to
Bosnia via the town of Bosansko Grahovo. I explored the local dirt road used by the
farmers and found a promising forest road that got me to a high trailhead, now only
700 meter vertical remained.
Based on a few ascents just before this one, I decided on light trail shoes and therefore
leaving my ice axe and crampons behind, this turned out to be a big mistake.
In the beginning, the area was messed up with muddy tracks and lots of debris (branches and smaller
trees) from logging activity. I did loose the trail, but soon recovered. Everything sorted out and
became nice as soon as moving higher than the logging area.
Some attention was needed to not stray off the proper trail, however there were marks on trees and
rocks assuring that I was on track. The trail ascended a pretty steep slope having a layer of old
leaves and no rocks, slippery even when dry. Higher up, I ran into snow and what is almost
certainly an easy summer route became (YDS) class 3. I arrived at a spot where the most straightforward
route would be to cross a pretty steep snow slope. With trail runners and no axe, this did not look
very inviting. The alternative, below was to cross a short and easier patch of snow, but then cross
a deep gap that had formed between the snow and the rock.
Once across, one would need to climb what
looked like pretty easy rock. First and foremost, I needed to approcah the gap with utmost caution,
not knowing how stable the snow lip would be. I checked that it was safe to get pretty close to the
gap, then a long step would get me onto a small, but safe ledge. The climbing was easy as expected,
this kind of limestone rock has very good hand and footholds. Still, quite a bit of steepish
snow and rock before I got to the main crest. I mostly stayed in the various cracks separating
snow and rock - very important to avoid the dense dwarf pine that is difficult to pass through.
Once on the main crest, the terrain became easy and free of snow. I was soon at the summit marker.
A bit beyond this concrete slab, another point of similar height with a cross. However, it seemed
that the next bump on the ridge was higher or at least of equal height. I went across, the connecting
saddle was very shallow. My conclusion seemed fairly certain, the highest point is indeed on this
hump. Next, I returned back to the first summit.
The ascent had taken me 2:15, including considerable time to carefully cross and pass the snow
areas with trail runners only. My boots and crampons would have made this faster. After sbout 10
minutes on the summit, I descended back down in 1:45. I certainly did not look forward
to the downclimb and the return jump from rock across the gap to snow. However, everything went
well and seemed easier than expected.
