Durmitor, Montenegro
23 August 2018
With Wen
Montenegro’s most popular mountain
What a beautiful hike! Bobotov Kuk is what Mount Temple is to Banff and what Pedraforca is to Catalonia – it’s a must-do hike for anyone visiting Durmitor National Park and a symbol of national pride as Montenegro’s “highest” mountain. Highest in quotation marks because technically speaking the highest point in the country is actually the top of a peak called Zla Kolata (2535 m), which sits right on the border with Albania. However, because Bobotov Kuk is the highest mountain entirely within Montenegro, most Montenegrins consider this the country’s tallest.
Thousands of hikers plod up the well-marked route from Sedlo Pass every year, so chances are you’ll be sharing the mountain with scores of other people. We set off at the lazy hour of 10 AM from the overcrowded parking lot where we grabbed one of the last spots. A shuttle bus from the nearby town of Zabljak, where we stayed in a cheap vacation apartment, dropped off another load of hikers all keen to do this classic climb.
Other than having to contend with hordes of other visitors, the trip was perfect. The trail goes through lovely open meadows, past craggy peaks and jagged ridges, and even a couple of small alpine lakes. The terrain is generally easy, but there are three short sections where some easy scrambling is necessary – a cable is in place to provide extra security for those who need it. Because this hike is so well-publicized and so easily accessible, it sees more average “tourists” and day walkers than other mountains of similar size and stature. In fact, it was a bit worrying to see how many people were up here without adequate gear. Very few people had proper hiking boots, most were in flimsy trainers that are completely unsuitable for the slightly exposed sections and scree that you have to traverse to get to the top. I was also surprised to see how few were using hiking poles. They made our hike so much more comfortable and efficient, not to mention easier on the knees on the descent.
Just before reaching the summit tower there’s a small saddle where the trail from Zabljak joins the main route. This trail is much longer and in my opinion not as scenic, and only a few people seem to go that way. After a short scree slope we came around the steep cliffs of Bobotov Kuk’s west side, where gorgeous views of a lake called Veliko Skrcko Jezero opened up. From here it was a short but enjoyable scramble to the summit, where dozens of people were lounging around, taking their lunch breaks and enjoying fantastic 360° panoramic views.
On our way back I made a short detour to pay a visit to Uvita Greda, a small peak right by the main trail near the parking lot. The ascent looks daunting, but is no more than an easy to moderate scramble on scree-covered slabs and grassy slopes to the small summit cairn. I stuck right to the crest of the ridge where there was a faint trail and a brand-new fixed cable for those feeling uncomfortable with the terrain (only necessary in snowy/icy conditions in my opinion). I was up in only 15 minutes from the main trail – very little effort considering the views from the top from this vantage point were quite interesting and well worth it. The faint trail continued south from the summit, so I figured I might as well attempt a full traverse to loop back to the main trail near the parking lot. After losing about 70 m of elevation, the ridge suddenly got much steeper and abruptly ended in a sheer drop-off: the fixed cable went straight down the rocky cliffs and I could see some metal holds and steps in the rock below me. Far too exposed for my liking, especially since I had no helmet or other gear with me, so I simply turned around to the summit and hiked back to where I had left the main trail.
Once I was back down near the parking lot I looked at the south ridge of Uvita Greda from below. Indeed, there is a brand-new via ferrata installed here that you could go up, but it’s pretty steep in places so you’d want to be clipped in to do this safely. There are apparently some tour operators in Zabljak who offer group climbs on this via ferrata, the first of its kind in Montenegro.
Bobotov Kuk was a wonderful outing that is justifiably also the most popular hike in Durmitor and perhaps all of Montenegro. Despite the masses, we thoroughly enjoyed this trip and rank it as one of the absolute highlights of our travels in this tiny but hugely interesting country.
| Elevation: | Bobotov Kuk: 2523 m (official), 2518 m (my GPS) |
| Uvita Greda: 2523 m (official), 2196 m (my GPS) | |
| Elevation gain: | 1150 m |
| Time: | 5.5 h |
| Distance: | 10.9 km |
| Difficulty level: | Easy to Moderate (Kane), T3/T4 (SAC) |
| Reference: | Local maps |
| Personal rating: | 5 (out of 5) |
DISCLAIMER: Use at your own risk for general guidance only! Do not follow this GPX track blindly but use your own judgement in assessing terrain and choosing the safest route.
