Sunday, 9th October 2022
Distance: 13.6km
Time: 7h (4h45min walking time)
Average moving speed: 2.9km/h
Elevation gain: 1000m
Manuel decided against joining us on today's trail but he dropped us off at Ivan Do, the start of every trail in this area.
Ledena Pećina is an ice cave and one of the highlights of the Durmitor NP. In the cave it's always Winter, covered with eternal snow and producing stalagmites and stalactites.
A very well signposted trail for the most part. It looks like someone took the trouble to re-paint the signs up to around 1900m altitude and then decided it was too hard to carry on any higher and quit. Signage is in situ above 1900m high but it is faded and it is not as easy to see.
A zigzag sign we had not seen before.
The beginning of the trail starts like the others, through conifer forest gradually changing to deciduous plants sporting Autumn colours.
Roots embellish the trail and work as a sort of stairs.
This huge rocks is round and it looks like it came rolling down the mountain.
At one point the trail goes around to return to the same place, a loop. We took the left and returned via the right.
The trail gets progressively bare and higher providing beautiful views.
At 1800m there is a plateau with an area for camping, meaning it has a little less rock but still has some rock. A wooden shack with a beer sign seems to be the support building. All closed.
For about 1h the climb was hard and slow. Loose rock. A lot of loose rock. Slipping was a regular occurrence.
At 1960m we stopped at the slope of Čvorov bogaz to rest and have a banana. Some extra energy was required to complete the ascent.
Ascent continued on the slopes of Paljevine around 2000m high until we finally found the last directions for the ice cave. Again, the sign is a bit faded.
A small detour and at 2190m high the cave entrance can clearly be seen.
The entrance is wide but way up and the snow is way down. My first reaction was: 'Why does it have to be so difficult?'. I was clearly tired of the climb!
A steel cable helps you descend to the snow level. The descent is far from easy even with the cable and digging in the feet. Stepping on loose soil, the fear of slipping is high.
There was more cable to carry on downwards but we decided against. We felt that we would need crampons to safely descend any more so we sat down holding the few rocks and admired the cave. I did not take pictures because I needed both hands to keep safe but below is what we could see.
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| Credits: www.alltrails.com |
The cave is wide, allegedly 40 x 20 meters, it has a blanket of eternal ice at the entrance and then a hall with stalagmites. Stalactites cannot be seen from this level. Some stalagmites are broken and some are not, they have different shapes and sizes, some as high as a person. There is a permanent icy breeze coming from within and dripping can be heard.
Frankly, we were underwhelmed. Perhaps because it was difficult to get here and we couldn't even get close to the stalagmites. Perhaps because we were expecting something more monumental. Thankfully the trail is pretty enough to be worth trekking.
We sat at the entrance of the cave for lunch. The view was breathtaking, towards Žabljak's plateau.
I was expecting the descent to be easier than the ascent. I was wrong!
First there was a lot of loose rock. Not pebble like the ascent, proper boulders. Then we went through the layers of limestone and erosion, at some points descending vertically. When 3 days ago I said I wasn't ready for any more scrambling, I didn't realise I would be doing some today. This morning, Jorge did say that whilst the Planinica trail was classed as 'intermediate', Ledena Pećina trail was classed as 'expert'. I should have known, really!
We carried on downwards until the crossing with the signpost and terminating the loop.
Through the forest level again and towards the Black Lake. There were plenty of people walking around the lake, reading on the lake's benches and even sleeping on the sun.
We stopped 1km from the end of the trail at the Black Lake's restaurant: Nacionalni Restoran Crno Jezero.
The restaurant's outdoor seating was packed, everyone enjoying meals under the sun with beautiful lake views.
Desperate for something sweet, the only dessert left was apple pie, so apple pie it was. It was served with chocolate ice-cream. The pie was delicious, not sure if it works with chocolate. My best guess is that they run out of vanilla ice-cream...
We paid for the food and the view. A cappuccino was €1.90, the pie was €4.
The kilometre between the restaurant and the Ivan Do car parking is levelled and covered in tarmac. There are stalls by the side selling what looks like local and homemade products: honey, jams, liquors, woollen jumpers and socks.
Goats are supposed to roam the park but this is the only one we saw.
The Ivan Do parking was also packed. Coming to the lake is clearly a weekend favourite.
After many days of eating meat and with little options on the typical Durmitor food repertoir, we needed a break so we decided to have dinner at an Italian restaurant instead: Lupo d'Argento.
Service wasn't great. There were only 2 tables with clients yet the waitress looked and sounded like we were giving her too much work, which we were not. She got €1 tip, the lowest so far. Food wise (mains), it was delicious. Desserts were appalling. The panna cotta wasn't a panna cotta. The tres leches was too big and sickening and it only had 2 types of dairy (milk and cream). Why the hell was it called '3 milks' then?
For 1 soup + 3 mains + 2 desserts + 1 beer + 1 Martini + 1 orange juice + water we paid €51.
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| Chicken in Gorgonzola sauce |
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| Penne with boletus |
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| Risotto with saffron |
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| Panna cotta |
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| Tres leches |
The nights on the mountain are cold, temperatures are on the single digits. Damn the lack of heating in the restaurants! I'm always cold and looking forward to leave and return to our warm chalet.
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