Julian Alps: Podbrdo Trail Running Festival Marathon

This marathon route of the four municipalities is  organized annually by TD Podbrdo in cooperation with its partners. To some degree, this trail is routed around the upper part of the Baška grapa Valley - from the town of Podbrdo it ascends along the slopes of the Soriška planina Mountain pass in the east, crosses Mt. Kobla and continues to Mt. Črna prst in the north, descends to the village of Hudajužna in the west, and ascends steeply to Mt. Porezen towering above the valley on the south side. This all-day tour requires extremely good physical condition and endurance. It can also be divided into two parts: from the town of Podbrdo to the village of Hudajužna across Mt. Črna prst in the north and from the village of Hudajužna to the town of Podbrdo via Mt. Porezen on the south side. This anti-clockwise route is also the route of the annual mountain-running event, however, the hikers can do it in the opposite direction as well.

This route runs through the territory of four municipalities: Bohinj, Cerkno, Tolmin and Železniki. The competitors (and hikers) follow mule trails and mountain treks across the slopes of Mt. Črna prst and Mt. Porezen. The trail starts in the very center of the town of Podbrdo (altitude: 521 m). The new part of the route runs along the old road Podbrdo - Petrovo Brdo to the turn towards the Hoba Farm. At the bend beneath the house, the trail continues along the well-routed military mule trail beneath the peak called Kup. The first three kilometers of the route ascend to the Hoba Farm. Behind this farm, the route joins the trail to Mt. Kovce (altitude: 1230 m). From here, the route continues across the Vrh Bače Mountain pass (altitude: 1270 m) to Mt. Kobla (altitude: 1498 m). From Mt. Kobla the trail descends to the Kal Mountain pasture (altitude: 1362 m), and from there it ascends to the Čez Suho Mountain pass (altitude: 1760 m) just beneath the summit of Mt. Črna prst where the marathon reaches its highest point. The trail then runs along the longest marked descent (altitude difference: 950 m) across the Kalarsko Brdo Mountain pass (altitude: 985 m) to the village of Kal (altitude: 817 m). From here, it continues along the asphalt road to the village of Stržišče where, just behind the snack bar, you start descending across the meadows to the footpath towards the village of Znojile (there is 1 km of paved road before you reach the village). After approximately three kilometers of undemanding foothpath, the route reaches the village of Obloke (altitude: 620 m). From here, it descends to the village of Hudajužna (altitude: 361 m) where it reaches the lowest point of the marathon and continues along a long and demanding ascent (6,5 km; altitude difference: 1230 m) across the sections called Žetlc, Rovt, Durnik, Robija and Prehod to the hut beneath the summit of Mt. Porezen. From Mt. Porezen (altitude: 1636 m), the trail descends along the Slovenian Alpine Trail across Trtniška planina, passes the Robar Farm, and descends to the finish line in the town of Podbrdo.