Via-Ferrata Perunika
We start from Podstrana - Strožanac Gornji, Rudine street, we head to the end of it. There is a tourist trail take we take into north east direction (turn right), after 50 meters of ascent we cross a gravel road with hiking signpost, after another maybe 70 meters we land at a sketchy trail crossroad with board, benches and nice trees. There are multiple directions available from here, we follow the one that says via-ferrata, from here maybe 10 more minutes to go to its start.
Perunika via-ferrata route has 140 meters of elevation gain and takes something about 30 minutes to climb. It is located on south west face of Obloženica peak. At first we scramble a serie of ascending traverses cutting the face into southern direction. This part is quite bushy, easy, with maybe two exposed sections secured with additional steps. After about 15 minutes we reach the pillar and path gets more vertical and exposed. From now on climb is more exciting and more demanding, we cross the pillar, climb a low dihedral, land on slab formations to ease off a bit on a small plateau and then continue up ladder-like secured formations. Since we gain elevation pretty fast here it won’t take long before we see the cross to the left which marks that the fun is over soon. The end is marked with information board - climbing the via-ferrata downward is forbidden.
From the top of this culmination we can head to the nearby peak with church of Saint George - that is 800 meters away. If not then the fastest way to get back down is to head to the right to a small col between Obloženica faces and then descent along the face that we were climbing, circumnavigating a bit. On the way down we pass local climbing garden and after a while we land back at the sketchy trail crossroad and then back to the starting point. Whole path is partially covered with tiny rocks, watch out.
Warm temperatures around 18 degress, strong south-eastern wind (at least 40km/h) required additional layer of insulation.
Access and descent path are part of tourist trail, well marked and in good condition, passable. Quality of protection is satisfying, had no concerns about the safety.
Starting point reached by car - Rudine street.
This is probably the highest you can drive to get to via-ferrata with as little effort as possible. Rudine street in Strožanac Gornji has no parkings but there are couple of spots by the road that you can leave the car. However the drive here is the hardest part of the trip, I would say even harder that ferrata itself - is steep, bumpy and narrow (one car mostly). Be prepared for a bit of challenge, especially meeting car going into another direction and reversing into someone’s backyard etc. If you don’t feel like it the other option would be to leave the car by the church in Sita (as long as it is not Sunday ) and hike the rest.
If you travel here in the direction of Split (from south) be prepared for a traffic jam in d8 road, it took me 20 minutes to be able to finally turn right into Strožanac Gornji.
Links:Park by the road
Perunika via-ferrata feels easy, maybe not as much as via-ferrata Fortica but I think even for first-timers it would be ok. It is not technically demanding but there are couple of sligthly exposed spots - that’s the main difference between them. Rock is firm, also the protection is decent and placed abundantly when needed. There are also ladder like sections, all with metal steps with the highest of about 10 meters. Because of these my personal rating would be something around B difficulty of via-ferrata scale. Two last ladders felt a bit forced and redundant as they contradict the natural climbing line but I think they were added to prolong the climb a bit.
Links:Via-ferrata Fortica
Regarding climbing nothing special to add in here. There are no spots with brittle rock and ferrata line is designed to minimize possible people directly above us.
Outside of via ferrata you may traditionally (as for Croatia) want to watch out for nosehorned vipers. Ah yes, and ticks, I got one while cutting through the access trail.
ascent shoes, trekking poles, 20l rucksack, helmet, via-ferrata set
