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Ascent of Velika Rudoka on 2018-06-24

Climber: Robert Garneau

Other People:	Solo Ascent Only Party on Mountain
Date:	Sunday, June 24, 2018
Ascent Type:	Successful Summit Attained
Motorized Transport to Trailhead:	Car
Peak:	Velika Rudoka
Location:	Kosovo/North Macedonia
Elevation:	8727 ft / 2659 m
Ascent Trip Report Ha! I wouldn't follow my route if you can help it! The map I downloaded offline wouldn't open when I got to the trailhead, so I went by memory and by using a good old-fashioned compass. It was a grey-out so I didn't have the benefit of visual markers which made for challenging route finding. Climbing from the Macedonian side, I found the drive up from Sanokos to be straightforward enough, 9 km on narrow but nicely paved road, followed by 4 km of dirt road that was smooth enough for my rental car. At that point the dirt road steepens and turns to slippery mud with deep ruts; wouldn't recommend it for a car. There are nice places to camp at this site and a sign points to Rudoka. The 1st hour takes you to above the treeline and a couple of sheep pens. 9 or 10 dogs came at me which woke me right up. Above that the red & white trail markers (there is no "trail", just open grassy meadow) are so random and far apart as to be useless. In the dense fog, I was unable to locate the "Black Lake," so I remained on the crest of the ridge, which took me north of Rudoka and an inadvertent traverse of the 3 peaks that run east-west above the Black Lake. A brief 30 second clearing once I reached the border allowed me a glimpse of the summit marker (with binoculars) to the south and an hour's hike led me to the summit. Whew!