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The Summit of Korabi, Highpoint of Albania

Summary: Korabi is the highest peak of Albania, with 2764 Meter. It is also the highest peak of Macedonia. It is on the list of all those with an ambition to climb high mountains, or to scale the highest points in each country they visit. Korabi has a "primary factor"or prominence of 2169 meter, which means one has to walk down for 2169 meter before being able to hike a peak that is higher than Korabi - - which is another way of saying that Korabi is a big mountain. There are many routes up to Korabi, though the mountains is mostly climbed from the Macedonian side, which has more organized hiking and mountaineering activities than Albania presently has. We opted for the traditional Albanian route via Fushe Korabi and Panair (both are flat grazing grounds and good for camping), and opted for an overnight near the spring at Fushe Korabi. It still makes for a long summit day.

Maximum altitude:	2764 meter
Minimum altitude:	1265 meter
Cumulative height:	1514 meter
Cumulative length:	13.12  kilometers one way
Difficulty	moderate
Time:	2 to 3 hours to Fushe Korab, and a long day from there to the summit and back to Radomire
Date of this record	February 2011
Download GPS info:	To Korabi Summit

General location and approach: Korabi is on the border to Macedonia, and is reached from the Albania side from the village of Radomire. Radomire is about half way along the road between Peshkopi and Kukes. Turn off in Ceren for Radimore. It might be difficult to find the right trail out of Radomire (it is the main cattle trail to Fushe Korab), and it might be worth asking several times or paying attention to the coordinates.

Other Information: Fushe Korabi is a grass plain several kilometers long. There is at least one spring, after about the first third of the plain. Local sheperds advised us to stay in their enclosures because of wolves and bears, but we we preferred on the plain. In fact, Korabi sheep dogs are known to be particularly aggressive, and it is advisable to take some trekking poles. Ideally, meet the sheperd before you meet his dog.

Panair is another delightful plain, with horses, sheep and of course sheep dogs. You know Panair when you see it. Several trails may lead from Panair to Korab, and we understand that most of them head for the Macedonian border where one meets red trail markings to the summit.

GPS and trailmaps: The map and trailinformation is generated by www.wikiloc.org, 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.

Google Earth: You may also view the trail in 3D by clicking "view in Google Earth" when on Wikiloc. You need to have Google Earth installed on your computer.

Images: Click the button at the end of the page to view the slides in full screen