Via Ferrata Kotlovi

Grade

C

Cable length

160 m

Vertical gain

82 m

Approach

50 min

Crossing

1 h 30 min

Descent

—

Signed a/b/c — the route mixes all three, with C the hardest sections.

The highest via ferrata in Bosnia & Herzegovina, in a cauldron-shaped wall below the summit of Bjelašnica and finishing at 2056 metres. 160 metres of cable for 82 metres of height difference, crossed in about 90 minutes, with a 50-minute approach.

Officially opened on 15 October 2023 by the Via Ferrata Sarajevo association with support from the Sarajevo Canton tourist board, and not listed in the national catalogue. The route is signed a/b/c: the C sections are fitted with rungs throughout, so they go without much trouble.

Three ways in. By car up the technical road to the parking area, then on foot across the slope. By the six-seater chairlift from Babin Do, then down the slope into the Kotlovi basin. Or by Josipova trail, a wooded route in for anyone who would rather walk.

From the basin the start is reached on the red-marked trail that begins at the Babin Do chairlift parking. Where the path branches for the via ferrata the waymark becomes a red circle with a yellow centre, with the occasional diamond marked F hanging in the vegetation. A wooden shelter on the right of the basin makes the obvious rest stop before the final climb.

That final pull from the basin to the cable is the hard part of the day, and takes more out of you than the route itself. It climbs steep ground through a sea of loose stone where footing shifts, and the grass alongside is treacherously slippery when wet. Follow the marked stones carefully.

The exit climbs left to the summit of Bjelašnica at 2067 metres, then follows a winding path to the top station of the Babin Do chairlift. From there you can walk down to the Olympic village, or ride the lift back — a return ticket covers both directions. A red-marked trail also drops back to the basin, but it is steep with loose rock underfoot.

Altitude, not grade, sets the season here. The views take in Visočica, Igman and Trebević.