Peak 18 | Rudoka-e-Madhe, Kosovo | 2658m | 13th June 2019
- Adam Stevenson
- Jun 13, 2019
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 21, 2019
Quick Summary
• Starting point - Arxhena Hotel
• Route taken - Via Brod (path BHA K4)
• Total ascent - 1150 m
• Total length - 22.4 km round trip
• Total time for climb - 8½ hours
• Expense - #Low
• Equipment - #StandardHike
• Difficulty - #Level3 of 5
• Enjoyment - #3stars of 5*
Kosovo's high point for me was just a massive series of questions I had that followed into loops of unclear answers. It started off after completing my hike to the top of Đeravica a couple of days earlier. This is the mountain that is listed in tourist information booklets as the tallest in Kosovo. However it didn't take much digging to suspect that this wasn't entirely true.
During my hike of Đeravica, a local resident confirmed what I had been reading online as we were making our way up to the summit. That Đeravica isn't actually the tallest but infact Rudoka is. From what I understand - up until recently Rodoka had been located on the Macedonia side of the boarder. However due to a new agreement the slight boarder was boarder was moved slightly so the summit is now jointly shared between he two countries. Making it the new highest for #Kosovo by a difference of 2m!
Added to all this confusion is that Kosovo is still not recognised by the UN as a country which meant by definition of my Guinness World Record attempt, both of these peaks weren't technically necessary for me to even do. However I wanted to stay away from as much of the political debates as I could.
There was relativity little information on this mountain. At the time of writing even the basic online information such as a Wikipedia page or a location on Google maps don't exist.
I arranged to met up again wit Santa and Kim that had joined me on the previous two mountains. They had been a welcome piece of company in what would have been some very lonely and isolated mountains.
I had managed to find some information on the hike that stared on the Macedonia side but not much from the Kosovo side. Then I was told by Santa that she had found some information for a trail on the Kosovo side that started at Hotel Arxhena. We stayed there the night before the hike.
Just like the other Kosovo one, the majority of this is just some grassy verges.
We made the mistake of following the river to the left and through the valley. The trouble is that eventually this trail seems to just disappear and we then had to cross over and up a steep overgrown embankment.
Kim had brought the drone on this one so we stopped about half way on this big rock and had a bit of a play around with it.
We passed three Slovakian's about an hour away from the summit.
This had been a long ascent, over 12 km each way.
By the end of it we were all shattered. However I was scheduled to meet a group for my next hike in Tirrana that night. So we set off towards the Albanian boarder.
Tags
Comments