Page Type:
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Route |
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Lat/Lon:
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42.44000°N / 19.81000°E |
Route Type:
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Scramble |
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Time Required:
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One to two days |
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Difficulty:
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Walk-up, short part I-II |
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Approach
The road to Theti starts in Kopliku just north fo Schodra. The road is bad, but it could be done if you own your car, not the car you:-) It is some 70.80 km and it takes some 4 hours, You go over a pass and the scenery is beautiful. So is the valley of Theti.
In Theti there are about 50 families living. We camped next to the abandoned hotel or something like that, which is some 200 m above the bottom of the valley. People there are very friendly.
Route Description
The begining of the climb to Jezerce is easy: you have to go to the end of the valley, there is a small spring there (last water) and than you follow prity obvius trail, suitable also for mules, which climbs for almost 1000 m to the pass Qafa Pejes. From there the trail continues to the north side, which is still Albanian, but in few kilometrs reaches the border with Montenegro.
Before the pass you have to find a smaller path to the right, which leads you in about one hour to the region of small valleys, where there is a summer camp of sheepherds. One of these valleys is very flat and perfect for camping - we slept there.
From there on there is no more obvious trail. Unfortunately the Maja Jezerce is also not visible well from that side, so you can not distingush it from other mountains. You have to climb without any difficulties in north direction keeping gradualy to the right. With the height you are comming into the more stony area. There was quite some snow there mid July 2005. Only from there you can see the summit, but it is still not very distingushable from other mountains. It is to the north of you.
If you keep to the left of the big cwm there, you may find rare red dots on the rocks, showing the way up. You keep climbing keeping on the left slope, which is becoming more and more rocky. If you look for the best passages, you will not have to use your hands yet.
Once you are at about 2500 m high approaching the main ridge west of the main summit, the terrain becomes more remanding. You have to pass to the right to the system of ledges under the main west ridge and follow it to the right. After some 200 m you will have to climb from the lower ledge to the higher one, which is the key technical difficulty. It is not too difficult, less than II. grade, but you have to be careful. After that you continue along the ledge to the right. The terrain slowly turns you more upwards to the rocky summit terrain. With some use of hands you reach the summit. There you will see that from the north side red dots are comming.
In summary, the climb is long, orientation is not easy and in the summit part there are some technical difficulties. Altogether it is about 1700 m elevation difference, almost 8 hours. I recommend to make a camp at that small valley at about 1700 m.
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Essential Gear
For the approach to the camp site at elevation about 1700 m you don't need anything special. In the summit part there are several meters of rock, where you will have to use your hands. Rope might be usefull there for less trained.
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
afri - Sep 23, 2007 4:32 pm - Hasn't voted
hidden mountainIn September 2007 I climbed Maja Jezerces from Theth. I want to thank the author for his south-route description, because he encouraged me to make a try. But having no guide, it was very difficult to find the right way to the top. Therefore I would like to give some route-additions for these-ones which are hazardous-minded enough to try it without a local guide : From the summer camp of shepherds after Qafa-pejes-pass, M. Jezerces is in the north-east. You can see in the north of you an incision in the rocks to the right of Maja Malisores. After climbing up for around one hour in northern direction towards this incision you reach the last green-grassy barrier and the stony area is beginning. At this point, M.Jezerces is by far more in the east than in the north of you. It means you do not continue straight further up to the north towards the incision, but now make a sharp turning to the right (east) in order to reach the south-western flank of M. Jezerces. Some goat-pathes help you to find the way in this direction through some small stony valleys, leading gradually upwards. The south-west flank of M.Jezerces is towering steep to your left. On the highest point of this small rocky valleys, ressembling a pass, you find some grassy spots, one is large enough to put up a small tent. On the other side of this small pass, there is the large bottom of a rocky valley down under and before you (to your east). On the left hand (north) of this pass you see a steep stone-field which can be used to find your way into the south-west-flank of the mountain. I put a small stone-pile here at the beginning, others which I found there already, are following. Inside the flank you continue going up by heading to the east until you reach a "corner", which leads you to turn left. After this corner the south-face of M. Jezerces with its typical traversal lines appears before you. I advise you to put some additional stone-piles for your orientation on the way back, because in this chaotic system of rocks and caves in the west flank of M.Jezerces it is very easy to get lost in the case of fog or mist. After reaching the south-face you will use the lower ledge which is grassy and quite comfortable. After a few hundred meters, you find a rocky couloir before you, which leads upwards. I did not try to to cross the couloir for changing to another ledge on the other side, but I followed the couloir upwards by easy scrambling, until to the west-ridge. From here you you can find your way through the rocks by heading upwards and to the left (means to the north). Not too far from the summit you find some red spots, apparently belonging to the northern route. Generally: I would say, that this climb should only be attempted by experienced and orientational highly skilled mountaineers. Technically it is relatively easy, I had to use my hands just a few times for a short moment. The problem is the orientation. Sudden weather-changes and the complete lack of marks after the Qafa-pejes-pass make it worse. I started at a cristal-clear day, at night happened a thunderstorm and the next day there were clouds and mist. Forget about doing it in one day. The difference in altitude is totally around 1900 mtrs, depending from where you stay in Theth. I will be thankful for any comments or corrections of this addition.