Exposed route with climbing to Velka Baba

An attempt to climb the Big Baba in the Slovenian Alps

Starting point

We started our ascent from the camping site of Šenkova domacia. You can leave your car by the road or at the paid parking lot in Ravenská kočna.
 

Description of the hike

The whole path leads along the red marker. Our path led past the beautiful Planšarký glacial lake.

The route was quite well marked. The goal of the trip was to climb the summit of the Big Bab by normal route, unfortunately the very exposed alpine terrain between the "Bab" peaks stopped some members of our group.

So about halfway between the peaks we stopped at a nice stone tower, had a snack and enjoyed the beautiful views and started down the same way.
 

Difficulty

The ascent to the Jenkova planina was on a cool forest path containing also stones. The path to Mala Baba was quite uphill but nothing too demanding, it continued through the forest, then through the slash forest and finally along a rather exposed path on the rock with loose stones in places.

No need for any other special equipment, there were no fixed ropes in the exposed terrain. There is a very exposed narrow ridge with rock towers between the small and large baba which requires experience with light free climbing.
 

Water availability

We had about 1,25l of water per person. You had to take water with you, the only possibility to buy water was at the very beginning at Planšar lake. Then there was no spring in the mountains.
 

Mountain peaks

On this route we climbed only one peak Mala Baba 2 018 m above sea level. When we attempted the Big Baba 2 127 m above sea level, we finally climbed halfway between the Small and Big Baba.
 

Danger

No dangerous animals we did not meet. For me personally, a beautiful hike. From about 1,800m considerable exposure only for experienced alpine hikers with free climbing experience. There were no fixed ropes.
 

Food

There was no opportunity to buy any food along the way, you had to carry your own.
 

Attractions

The route is in the beautiful Slovenian mountains which are not so well known and so we met only two couples and two climbers during the strong season on Saturday.