Self-sufficient ultra trail run VOLVEL

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

We will inform you in time about the pick-up points and the exact time of the organized bus transport from Maribor to Slovenj Gradec. The buses will drop you off in the immediate vicinity of the start at Piknik plac Krevh, in Troblje near Slovenj Gradec, where there will also be an INFO stand. You will hand in your bags there, which will be delivered to your destination in Maribor. There will be toilets, changing rooms, a buffet with coffee, tea, water and other beverages at the meeting point. The start time is scheduled at 07:00, but minor time deviations are possible, which depends on transport and the arrival of runners from other places. You will be informed in time you about the official start time.
Immediately after the start, a good two kilometer climb awaits you on a macadam road, where you will first join the mountain memorial trail of Jože Šišernik. Following it, you will soon reach the first station with water - Koča pod Kremžarjev vrhom and join the SPP. Soon, you will reach the Partizanski dom, where you will be able to top up your water after a very steep climb, and a little further on, the third station with water, Grmovškov dom, under Veliko Kopa awaits you. At this point, you will have covered the first 10 km and a good 700 m of ascent. After Grmovškov dom, a 2.6 km gentle ascent to the highest peak of the Pohorje - Črni vrh (1543 m) awaits you, followed by a kilometer of steep descent to the next water station, Ribniška koča. It is highly recommended to fill up your water supplies here, as the path to the next station, which will take you over the beautiful plain of Jezerski vrh and the marshy area of the Lovrenški jezera, is a good 10 km long with 500 meters of ascent. The fifth stop with water is Koča na Pesku, where there will also be the first time stop. The limit when you have to leave the station is 6 hours after the start (if the start is exactly at 7:00 a.m. you have to leave the station at 12:59 p.m.). You will already have a good 32 km behind you at this point. The 6 km long path to Klopne vrh is a little more complicated in terms of orientation, and the ground is swampy and interspersed with streams, drains, etc. Just below Klopni vrh, where the Koča na Klopnem vrhu used to be, is a farm, where your next, seventh stop with water will be. Here you will also be joined by runners from the shorter track - JEZERNIK, who will start from Lovrenc na Pohorju, expectedly at 10:30. To the next station - Koča Šumik, in the first part you will run mainly on soft, moss-covered and sometimes swampy ground, followed by a descent on a macadam path, which is combined with a forest path. In this part, you must strictly follow the markings located on the forest path. The latter runs almost parallel to the macadam path. For violation of this rule, the race director will assign you a time penalty in accordance with the rules of the competition. The path from Koča na Klopne vrh to Koča Šumik is a little more than 6 kilometers long. After visiting the seventh water station, you will go down the macadam path for a good kilometer to Jelenska Peča and join the mountain path Lobnica - Bajgot, which is managed by the Ruše Mountain Associaction. We will not measure the time for this part. Those who will climb Bajgot the fastest (2 kilometers and 220 meters of ascend of technically very demanding terrain, where steel cables are installed at some points) will be awarded by our project supporter Red Bull Slovenia. The section that will take you past the two waterfalls Mali and Veliki Šumik is located in the Šumik primeval forest by the Lobnica river. The destination of the section will be at Bajgot at an altitude of 1050 m above sea level, where your eighth water stop will also be. Since it is a natural spring (below Kurji vrh) and very clean water, you can quench your thirst right in Lobnica. From Bajgot, you will climb again to the highest peak of the eastern part of Pohorje - Žigartov vrh (1347 m), and from there you will descend slightly all the time to the next point - Areh. At Ruška koča there will be a ninth stop with water and a second time stop. You must leave the point within the time limit of ten hours after the start (if the start is at 07:00, you must leave the station no later than 16:59). At Areh, we will also stock you with salt tablets and magnesium. Medical staff will also be available to treat your possible wounds, examine your psychophysical condition, etc. The length between Bajgot and Areh is just over 7 kilometers, and you will have one km less to the next, tenth water station, Mariborska Koča, where there is also a monument to the founding father of SPP - Ivan Šumljak. For the last few hundred meters towards the cottage, you will be running on an asphalt road, keep to the left edge of the road so that you can see any oncoming vehicles. Traffic here is very rare, but safety should be the first priority. From Mariborska koča, you will descend a little along the asphalted path, then soon turn sharply left again into the forest and climb slightly all the way to the Lookout tower, where you will turn into the forest and follow Rozka's learning path down to the Church of Sveti Bolfenk at Zgornja postaja pohorske vzpenjače. The eleventh water station and a wonderful view of Maribor awaits you there. The finish line is only separated by a steep descent along the undulating and root-strewn Šumljakova path to Radvanje, where the start of the Slovenian mountain trail is located. At the foot of Pohorje, the last station with water will be waiting for you, and from there you will only have to run another 3 kilometers on a rugged forest path. In this part, you will have to be very careful about your orientation, as the path is poorly marked and intersected with a multiple other paths. Therefore, we will provide additional signaling on this section.