Village Staro Selo – Mountain Hut Ljuboten – Peak Ljuboten

Ljuboten, magical and always ahead of us. It is the first and most striking peak of Shar Mountain from the north side and always worth a visit. Although it is not the highest peak of Shara, due to its features and because of its separation from others, it is the most striking point of Shara mountain and one of the most beautiful peaks of Shara. Because of its pyramid shape, and because of its visibility from all sides and from greater distances, many epithets have been used for Ljuboten.

And of course there is the mountain lodge Ljuboten – the oldest mountain lodge in Macedonia, built way back in 1931, and now freshly renovated and renewed – a combination that we simply could not resist, we chose a weekend when we will do this tour.

However, Ljuboten and Shar Mountain in general are known among mountaineers for their unpredictability, strong winds and lightning-fast changes in weather conditions. We carefully followed the weather forecast in order to choose a climbing day with moderate weather conditions to take good photos. On the last winter ascent of Ljuboten, where visibility was 2 meters, strong wind, blizzard and temperature of -15, photography was not an option. With a bit of luck, we hit the right day.

Tour
The tour starts from Staro Selo (40 km from Skopje on a well paved road). Here we have two options:

1. Staro Selo – PD Ljuboten – 6.5 km hiking trail (tracked dirt road) that takes us about 2.5 hours, and then another 4 km to the top (+ 3 hours) but with a significant height difference. Our recommendation: if you are accompanied by children, it is best to divide this trail into 2 days with an overnight stay in the mountain lodge.
2. Staro Selo – PD Ljuboten with an all-terrain vehicle (4×4), refreshments at the lodge and climbing the Ljuboten peak in one day. Caution: the paved dirt road is in fairly poor condition and challenging for most off-road vehicles.

We decided to go up to the mountain lodge with an all-terrain vehicle, spend the night in the lodge, and climb Ljuboten the next day – a real adventure. The trail from the lodge to the summit starts just behind the lodge and is well marked – you don’t need navigation devices as the markings are frequent and easy to spot. The forest ends with the mountain lodge and we follow a mountain trail to the very top, where the winter marking begins. Large parts of the path lead through rocky and stony ground – be careful with children because of slipping. 2 km before the summit, we move along the very ridge where the path narrows while high chasms stretch on both sides: we recommend very careful movement with children. We spend our last strength and arrive at the top – a magical panorama of Skopje, Vodno, Jakupica, Shara. There isn’t much space at the very top, and we don’t recommend lingering because it’s a favorite hiking destination and doesn’t gather more than 20 visitors.

If you are experienced in winter climbing, our recommendation: only with an organized hiking tour and a certified guide. Ljuboten is a rather unpredictable peak, and safety always comes first.