Mali i Sukes

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Mali i Sukes in Winter

Summary: Mali i Sukes could well be the "houseberg" of Burrel, if the gaze of ambitious mountaineers would not wander off to Mali i Dejes. Mali i Sukes is the northern exponent of the wild mountainous area that stretches roughly (in west-east direction) between Tirana and the Macedonian border, and (in north-south direction) between Burrel and Elbasan. The area is sparsely inhabited and rather difficult to access.

Mali i Sukes is high enough to be on the wishlist of any ambitious hiker in Albania. With 1717 Meter, it is higher than Dajti Mountain, and also a close match of Mali i Skenderbeut (near Qafe Shtame). Most importantly, it offers a completely new perspective into the Mat River basin.

Mali i Sukes has been subjected to much deforestation, and many logging roads criss-cross the mountain and surrounding area. We do not know whether the logging continues. It makes Mali i Sukes an objective for the winter season, when snow thankfully covers the damage.

The Drive to the trailhead: The road to Gurra e Vogel is now asphalt for the first 5 kilometer from the turn off from the Burrel - Klos highway. From then, a 4WD vehicle is strongly advisable. There is short stretch from the center of the Gurra e Vogel that is particularly bad. From there, the road up into the valley to the trailhead of Mali i Sukes has been upgraded in late 2013. The road is exposed and subject to rockfall and winter damage. You may chose to try to drive to the end of the road, or park before (as we did) and walk the rest.

Maximum altitude:	874 meter
Minimum altitude:	209 meter
Cumulative height:	670 meter
Cumulative length:	11.36 kilometer
Difficulty	easy
Time:	45 minutes
Date of this record	January 2014
Download GPS info:	Sukes trailhead

The climb: The first 20 minutes of the hike are on a road, which you may drive as well. The trail is on well visible paths or logging roads, until a height of 1220 Meter. From there, we chose our own track through the snow. In summer, you may select a slightly different route. Keep the general direction and you are unlikely to get lost.

Maximum altitude:	1717 meter
Minimum altitude:	789 meter
Cumulative height:	931 meter
Cumulative length:	5.86 kilometer
Difficulty	moderate
Time:	4.5 hours (in snow)
Date of this record	January 2014
Download GPS info:	Mali i Sukes

General location and approach: Near Burrel. The turn off is along the Burrel-Klos highway.

Other Information: The Martanesh area is of much interest to the offroad fan. Consider the Trail from Tirana via Shengjergj to Klos, the Arber road from Tirana via Xiber to Klos, or the Qafe Shtame road connecting Kruja and Burrel - all to be done in summer only.

Many other smaller hikes are possible from the trailhead.

Mali i Sukes in January, from the turn off from the Burrel-Klos highway

Mali i Sukes is most dramatic when seen from Gur i Bardhe, which is along the road connecting Shengjergj in Tirana district and Klos. A 4WD vehicle is required for this road.

The backside (western side) of Mali i Sukes, seen from the summit Mali i Papatit. Mali i Papatit can be reached from the Arber road - another difficult road connecting Tirana and Klos.

Homestead along the road to the trailhead of Mali i Sukes

You have to head for Gurra e Vogel, which means the small spring. There also is Gurra e Madhe (the big spring). In January, the small spring looks impressive enough.

View back to Mali i Dejes (see separate trail description)

The road to the trailhead has been restored and upgraded in late 2013. It is quite exposed.

We did not drive to the end of the road, as there was a lot of rockfall and winter damage. However, from the place where we parked to the actual road end is only a 20 minute walk.

The canyon below the road to the trailhead

One has to cross many streams during the first kilometers of the hike

Hiking Mali i Sukes. In the far distance is the snow covered Mali i Munelles (see separate trail)

View towards Mali i Henzit (1607 Meter), which connects to Qafe Shtame.

The summit area of Mali i Sukes ahead. It doesn't look like it, but another 500 Meter to climb.

At waypoint 08 - a summer camp for the shepherds.

The summit area - but still another 150 meter to gain.

On our way back, following our own tracks

After beautiful weather for most of the day, clouds were closing in

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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