Montenegro: Bandijerna (2409m)

Prokletije, the wildest mountains of Montenegro have slipped out of our grip, however, we were still saving the best for the last - Durmitor mountains in the North. We slept in Žabljak (1450m), which is said to be the highest town in the Balkans. Disregarding rich Russians monopolizing the atmosphere, its really a nice place to stay.


We packed our backpacks early next morning and started climbing towards the South. After passing the Black lake, turning West and leaving M. međed (2170m) and Savin kuk (2313m) behind us, we reached a very cozy bivouac (marked with red). Because the day was still young and the batteries were highly charged, we quickly jumped on M. previja (2200m), descended into the next valley and finally climbed Bandijerna (2409m). We were rewarded with a glorious view of the whole Durmitor region and perfect skiing conditions.

We spent a comfortable night in the bivouac, which is built extremely efficient. It only has about 10 sq. meters of space, however, 6 people can easily socialize and sleep there. Next morning we climbed V. previja (2145m) and tried to attack the ridge towards the North. Exposed terrain and strong morning sun forced us to stop below Južni vrh (2285m) and return back to the pass. We then skied towards Lokvice, where we tried to dig-out another bivouac (marked with orange), which was surprisingly locked. After a lot of sunbathing and doing nothing, we descended directly towards the lake.

This is how we ended our Balkan ski-touring adventure. But not to forget that Balkans can offer a lot more.. and we are almost certainly coming back - Bolgaria, Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia.