Mali i Snojt

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Mali i Snojt, and the abandoned town of Bize

Summary: We are not too sure about the correct name of this mountain, in the hinterland of Tirana. While it seems to be close to Tirana, it takes almost two hours to drive there. The mountain may be more impressive from the distance than when it is right in fron of you, but then it sits in the broad valley of Bize town, where we were told that strawberries and mushrooms are plentiful. The loop hike is a sort of bushwhack (especially on the way down), but we enjoyed it very much.

Maximum altitude:	1851 meter
Minimum altitude:	1233 meter
Cumulative height:	664 meter
Cumulative length:	more than 7 kilometers
Difficulty	moderate
Time:	5 hours
Date of this record	June 2011
Download GPS info:	Mali i Snojt

General location and approach: Mali i Snojt is near the abandonned town of Bize, which is to east of Dajti mountain, across the valley of Shengjergj. There is a direct rnew and easy road leading from Dajti mountain to Shengjergj, (asphalt), and the once notorious track up to the Bize plateau is easy but it is better to go with s high clearance vehicle. A little longer is the the road from Dajti over Qafe Mole, along Mali me Gropa, past the turnoff (in a hairpin) to Klos. Continue the main road until a junction where the road to the right leads to Elbansa, and the left road leads to Bize.

Other Information: Bize is an abandonned town with a permanent military base. We passed the village many time, and it is usually very quiet. At the time we climbed Mali i Snoijt, a bunch of soldiers were firing life ammunition in hot pursuit of a fictitous enemy. A little further on, they were attacking one of the abandonned buildings. The officers in charge were very helpful, and assured us that we were perfectly safe climbing the mountains of our desire and indeed we were.

Because of the military exercises, we did not park close to Mali i Snojt, but in the town of Bize.

There is no trail, marked or otherwise, up to the mountain. The hike is a bushwhack. The way up is pretty easy. We decided to cross the summit and descend via the ridge leading to the smaller mountain east (slightly more difficult than our way up). The bushwhack became more serious. More importantly, the valley between the two mountains is full of dolines (holes), making it a fairly tedious undertaking. Eventually, we emerged on a road and met our original trail. This being a "balloon"hike, you have to addd another 2 or so kilometers to return to the town of Bize.

While all this may sound rather disorganized, it was quite interesting. For a shorter hike, and if there is no military action going on, park close to the mountain, hike up on the grassy slope avoiding any trees as much as possible, and return the same way.

Mali i Snoijt - the pyramid that can be made out from almost everywhere in central Albania. Here seen from Mali i Fagut (see separate trail)

Mali i Snoijt as seen from Kraste (near Bulquize)

Bize is an abandonned town in the middle of nowhere. It is mainly used for military practice (which should not deter anyone from climbing it)

We climbed it - in spring - on the left horizon (South-West ridge) and descended on the right horizon (North-East ridge)

Sending last messages before the rush to the summit

View back to Bize. Because of military activity, a track somewhat closer to the mountain was closed for cars, so we parked in the (abandoned) village and walked from there.

Nearing the summit. Mali i Snojt has very many dolines (holes) some of which are quite deep.

The little twin brother of Mali i Snojt. Originally we had planned to climb it, too. But we got lost in the shrubs.

Going down the North-East ridge, a little more challenging than the South-West ridge which we used to climb up.

Fighting our way down, past dolines and through the brambles

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