In Osp you can choose from camp VOVK and hostel and apartments POD KOSTANJI. In camp VOVK you can also get good food on weekends and busy days. In nearby Črni Kal you can find ROBIDA hostel next to a restaurant.  If you don’t mind driving a couple of minutes, there are also nearby hostels XAXID and OCIZLA in vicinity, and restaurants like ŠVAB in Hrastovlje, SOČERGA near the border, Mahnič and Tonca in Kozina and even more options in Koper.

We would definitely recommend staying in these climber-tested establishments:

VOVK CAMP

POD KOSTANJI 

OCIZLA HOSTEL 

BEST SEASON You can climb here almost all year round, only the biggest cold and heat can be uncomfortable. Bigger problems are dampness and the lake, which are not common in the summer.

SUN & SHADE The deeper you go, the more shade  Luknja has. Otherwise, the left routes are in the sun at noon. Srnjak gets less sun, but a bit more in the morning.

RAIN Luknja is, unlike Srnjak, almost completely under the roof and you can climb there in rain and wind. The only problem is if it gets wet or even worse – if a lake fueled by Osapščica river forms under the wall. In this case you‘ll need a cayak or raft, but you will at least skip the cruxes in the beginning of the routes.

STYLE & ROUTES Routes in Luknja are mostly endlessly long endurance pieces on good holds in overhang. Be prepared for athletic climbing, innovative rests, 3D labyrinth between tufas and mushrooms and an occasional nasty crux. You need to get used to climbing here. Srnjak offers easier vertical routes with sharp holds and small footholds in the lower grade range. But the routes here are quite long as well.

GEAR & SAFETY All the routes are perfectly equipped and mostly new. In Luknja there are many pre-placed QDs, which are changed often. The rock quality in Luknja is good, except if some tufa breaks, so never stand under a climber. On the edges the quality drops quite a bit, and also the whole Srnjak is still a bit crumbly. Because of the length bring at least 70 m rope, and for the longest routes even the 80 m – because of the overhang it is usually enough. You will also need at least 16 QDs. Take care of your gear as it deteriorates faster in the sand! Bring a helmet to Srnjak, because there is the path to Babna above you.

KIDS & COMFORT Approach can be a little exhausting, but the space in Luknja is ideal for children – a huge sandbox – just don’t let them play under clim­bers! We would not advise visiting Srnjak with kids.

BEGINNERS Here you’ll mostly be belay slaves. You have a couple of nice routes though. 2/5

ADVANCED Whole Srnjak and epic, long, continuous sevens on the left side of Luknja – what more could you want? 4/5

THE BEST  You will not think this is paradise only if climbing here is extremely your anti-style. Otherwise, the routes are considered a bit soft. 4/5

HISTORY Climbing in Luknja was developed last in the area, although the climbers visited it at the very beginning, when they were aid climbing the Big Wall in the 80s. According to the verbal history (and phoenomenal notes from Bor Štrancar) the first visitors here were cavers from Trieste, soon followed by the alpine climbers, like the old legends Cergol, Giberna and Silich. They were joined by Slovenians in the 80s. The wall, which was climbed only by using aid, was in the beginning known as extremely hard and even the experienced climbers had to bivouac here. The Spider‘s roof was at that time, with its 190 meters, the longest traversed roof in the world. The people who traversed it were mountaineering legends Silvo Karo, Janez Jeglič – Johan and Franček Knez in 1984. Some (more sport/free climbing enthusiasts) were cynically joking, that this ascent changed the area into „a shit in the barn“ and that they should extend the route about 900 meters deeper into the karst cave. The most interesting repeat of the route followed three years later, when Držan/Slabanja climbed the route even „without stirrups“. Anyway, apart from some other beginnings of aid climbs, Luknja was soon completely abandoned – but such were the times. Even in Mišja at that time there were only three aid routes. Then climbing progressed and surrounding walls were filling with harder and harder routes every year. When climbers started to run out of space to bolt in Mišja, the old legend goes, that Matej Sova and Klemen Bečan bumped into Uroš Perko, who told them: „I don‘t understand you, lads, hanging in this Mišja day in and day out, while in the neighbouring Luknja there is future awaiting with blank walls, f*ck!“ So they went. First they extended one already bolted project, which became Bitka s stalaktiti, then each of them made his own project on either side of the wall: Revolucija and Halupca. And nothing was ever the same. Today Luknja is on a good path to become the crag with the most hard and the hardest routes in Slovenia.

NOTES  Here too all the limitations and rules of conduct apply as in the whole Osp area. In Luknja it is forbidden to develop new routes without a permit from the Alpine association.

SPECIAL WARNING! The small tufas in Luknja are different from those in other crags. Because they are tufaceous, they are very porous and get soaked with water fast. When they are dry, they are very strong, but if water is dripping from them, it also dissolved the binding materials inside, which makes them much more fragile, like a wall without mortar. Because this are good holds, it is possible to climb even wet routes, but the risk that the tufa will break is, also according to experiences from last couple of years, much higher. Let’s leave aside the danger for the people under the wall, here the most important is preservation of the wall and especially routes – many have in time already become harder and just a break or two separate them from making a 5-star route unclimbable or having a nasty bouldery crux! So absolutely refrain from climbing, grabbing or stepping on wet mushrooms and tufas! We understand that it is annoying, when you drive from far away and your project is dripping wet. But climbing in nature also has such limitations. Your decision to ignore this warning is even more unethical than chipping artificial holds. Luknja has a relatively long dry period, some routes are also less critical and besides, there are Osp, Mišja peč and Baratro nearby.