Komovi, the three Koms between Bjelasica and Prokletije

The Komovi are the mountains you keep seeing from all over Bjelasica, three rocky peaks rising above a high pasture. The Kolašin tourist board calls them one of the most impressive massifs in the Dinaric Alps, running 40 km between the Tara and the Lim, with the Prokletije to the south. For me they’re the best mountain in Montenegro if you want a proper summit without the logistics of the Prokletije.

Three Koms and a plateau

Above a plateau averaging around 1,900 metres stand Kom Kučki, 2,487 metres according to MONSTAT, Ljevorečki, 2,469 according to the tourist board, and Vasojevićki, 2,460. The tourist board links the massif’s history to the katun life of the Vasojevići and Kuči, who lend their names to two of the summits. The national tourist board presents Andrijevica as the starting point for climbers, and mentions there what it calls Europe’s highest place of worship.

The massif doesn’t belong to a single municipality. According to OpenStreetMap, Kom Kučki falls within Podgorica and Vasojevićki within Andrijevica, while it’s Kolašin tourist board that publishes the most detailed route descriptions.

Kom Vasojevićki, the first summit to try

Every climb starts on the Štavna plateau. For Vasojevićki, the path leaves the last katun huts, crosses a long scree slope and thin pine wood and climbs a grassy slope to the Verina previja saddle at about 2,260 metres. Then comes an exposed stretch beneath a rock face over a hundred metres high, followed by easy grass to a broad summit topped by a concrete pyramid. The tourist board warns you to keep away from the right-hand edge, which drops several hundred metres.

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Kom Kučki and Ljevorečki, for the experienced

Kučki is a different proposition. The path shares the first 1.8 km, passes the Jankova voda spring and crosses the largest scree in the Komovi, about 350 metres, to a 2,171 metre saddle. Then comes a 3 to 4 metre rock step, more scree and the summit ridge, 50 to 60 metres long and 1 to 1.5 metres wide, with loose rock and sheer drops on both sides. The tourist board rates it as one of the most dangerous passages in Montenegro’s mountains.

Ljevorečki has just one route to the top, with a final section that needs hands. The board suggests leaving your rucksack and at least one pole behind first.

Round the Komovi, and where to sleep

If summits don’t appeal, a circular route loops the massif with about 750 metres of ascent. It passes the Ljuban plateau, Crni izvor, where the Crnja river rises, a shelf at 2,107 metres below Rogamski vrh and the Carine katun at 1,870 metres. From the Kolašin side, a 16.1 km section of the CT-1 mountain transversal links the Trešnjevik pass with the Vranjak katun.

For a bed, Eko katun Štavna has wooden cabins on the plateau and the Martinović eco katun sits at 1,702 metres. The national tourist board also suggests trying homemade yoghurt with blueberries and wild strawberries at a katun. Before you go, see the guide to Biogradska Gora National Park, on the far side of Bjelasica, and the one on the Prokletije, the neighbouring range to the south.

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