A mountain with more than one name: Popluks, Paplukes, Popljuces… people can’t agree! Let’s stick with Popluks!
At 2569m it’s only a mere meter lower than Radohima (one of our favorite mountains in the Albanian Alps) but often overshadowed by Jezerca (2694m), located less than two kilometers to the north. The mountain is barely visible from either valley, but appears very prominent when climbing Qafa e Pejes or Qafa e Valbones.
Polpluks offers beautiful views in all directions but is often overlooked by hikers who most of the time only aim at Jezerca.
Crossing Popluks
Ascend
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2569 meter
1765 meter
896 meter
6.54 kilometers
difficult
about 5:30 hours
June 2012
The only appealing ascend route starts from Gropa te Bukura (“the beautiful bowl”), see separate trail (Theth – Gropa te Bukura) that links to this track. The route is circular starting from the “camp grounds” in the bowl, going up the valley between Jezerca and Popluks and returning on the talus field of Qafa e Lugut Valit, the saddle that connects Popluks with Maja e Alijes.
It takes by calculation (for average fitness levels) 5:30h return, or around 3:15h to reach the summit (one way). By mid of June we encountered lots of snow, which makes the ascent more difficult while the descend becomes a lot easier (one could easily ski down). As Lugut Valit is very gravely you may want to avoid this route after all snow is gone.
Instead of turning west you could also come down to Rragam (south east). This way serves as an alternative approach but is not recommended for filled with scree.
The highest peak is not visible until the very last part of the hike and hidden behind false summits.
Ascent UP&down
After arriving at the peak we descend on a similar route to Grope te Bukura.
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2569 meter
1762 meter
821 meter
3.09 kilometers
difficult
about 3:00 hours up / 2:00 hours down
July 2011
Starting point from Rragam, the daring route.
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2569 meter
1120 meter
1448 meter
6.84 kilometers
difficult
about about 5:45 hours up / 3:45 down
August 2012