UKC

I'm thinking of climbing either the Dibanova or Skalaška smer on Špik next year, and was wondering if anyone had climbed on that face or stayed in Bivak pod Spikom.

On the climbing front I'm most interested in how loose the face is. I have climbed in the Dolomites a few times and don't really mind a bit of loose rock but have had some bad experiences & don't really want to climb 900m of gravel.

On the hut front. Is a payment or local club membership required to get hold of the keys?

As an aside, I found a video of the bivy hut - it looks really good: youtube.com/watch?v=1mvcWeYK5xo&

In reply to davidbeynon:
This is eastern Julian Alps, aka the very definition of choss.
Lower part right after the Dibona ledge is IMO worse, higher up the rock gets a bit more compact, with some chossy sections. Also, if you run into very loose terrain you are probably off the route anyway. Note that definition of 'very loose' is also very loose and subjective
Bring a hammer and pitons (soft steel knifeblades, small angles) and know how to place them.
Also the wall is huge and route finding can be tricky at times. Start early!

I'm not sure about the required membership, but the overnight fee was 5£ a few years ago. Anyway, any alpine association membership card (BMC, OeAV, DAV, PZS) should be good enough to get the key, but I doubt the key lady will even ask.

Hope this helps.

In reply to Zgemba:

That is very helpful, thanks! I never think of taking pitons in summer so I will need to get myself a peg hammer.

I am currently favouring the Dibanova smer as most of it seems technically easy so it should be possible to climb quickly. Having said that I'm not convinced I will be able to hit the 6-7 hour guidebook time.