Brar North from PeV

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Brar North Summit from PeV

Summary: Mali i Brarit is the source of endless delight. Mali i Brarit has been the mountain to which we returned most frequently, and which we enjoyed every time.

From the west, Brar Mountain can be climbed from either Brar village or Priske e Vogël - or PeV in case you wondered.

The normal route to the plateau and either of the summits of Brar is one of the best mountain paths (if not THE BEST mountain path) in the vicinity of Tirana. For instance, check out the following trails to Brar Main summit and Brar Mountain Pass (with return on the Arber road).

For our ascent of the northern Summit of Brar we selected a new trail, that leads more direct from PeV to the grazing areas on the plateau, and then reaches the summit via its northwest ridge. The path is quite exciting, and ingeniously laid out into the rocky west face of Brar. A few spots make you wonder whether you'll ever get out of it, just to reveal a new twist and turn until you reach the plateau.

For the return hike, descended south until we reached the trail that leads to the pass between the twin summit of Brar Mountain.

For this hike we picked the most hazy day of 2013 (so far), so the images are not what they could have been otherwise. But it didn't take away from the hike!

The Drive to the trailhead: From Kamez (Tirana) to Priske e Vogel. A regular car will do except for the final hundred meter or so in the village itself, for which some extra ground clearance might be required.

Maximum altitude:	371 meter
Minimum altitude:	66 meter
Cumulative height:	310 meter
Cumulative length:	11.8 kilometers
Difficulty	easy
Time:	40 minutes
Date of this record	May 2013
Download GPS info:	Drive to Priske e Vogel

The Hike: The trail between the "soccer field" to the summit and down to the path between the two summits is a light buhwhack.

Maximum altitude:	1237 meter
Minimum altitude:	375 meter
Cumulative height:	868 meter
Cumulative length:	7.73 kilometers
Difficulty	moderate
Time:	6 hours
Date of this record	May 2013
Download GPS info:	Brar North from PeV

General location and approach: Brar Mountain is north of Dajti, und unmistaken with its twin summit.

Other Information: Water is scarce in summer.

The twin summit of Brar Mountain on the east side of Tirana, seen from the village of Petrele

The twin summit of Brar seen from the road Tirana - Lezhe. Left of Brar is Gomnit Mountain, and to the right is Dajti Mountain. This hike climbes the left (northern) summit of Brar.

Newly planted olive trees are carefully protected against damage from livestock

The trail does not seem much used, in places. Although it is climbing the steep west face of Brar, is it never really much exposed.

First view of the (northern) summit of Brar Mountain

At the soccer field. Dajti Mountain in the distance.

At the summit. The northern summit might be lower than the southern (main) summit, but it has the views.

On the northern summit of Brar. The view goes to the southern summit and - behind it - Dajti Mountain. There are various opinions of which of the two Bar summits is higher. Regardless, the northern summit has generally the better views, while the southern summit is heavily wooded but has a quite dramatic view of the Dajti north face (see separate trail for a hike to the southern summit)

Springtime on Brar. As there is no trail to the Brar summits, we almost felt sorry for having to step on the flowers

Following the trail that leads to (or comes from) the pass between the two summits.

Cliffs of Brar Mountain. The summits are not in sight

Back in the olive groves of Priske e Vogel

Priske e Vogel, with Gomnit mountain in the background.

GPS and trailmaps: The map and trailinformation is generated by , based on GPS information collected from the actual hike. Waypoints can be downloaded to a GPS device from Wikiloc. If necessary, use GPSBabel to convert GPS data to different formats. For more hike descriptions by Palmtreetreeproduction, browse this website or visit Wikiloc and search for "Palmtreeproduction". You may also find nearby trails from other authors.

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