The Jakupica Massif 
 

Highest point: Peak Solunska Glava (2540m) Location: The Jakupica Massif consists of five interconnected mountains: Jakupica, Dautica, Karadzica, Goleshnica and Kitka. It is located among the Vodno Mountain and the Drachevo suburb near Skopje in the north, the city of Veles in the east, the Babuna Mountain and the Pelagonia valley in the south, and the river Treska in the west.

Approach: There are many alternative approaches to this massif, but the most frequently used are the ones:Skopje – Drachevo – Preslap, from where you can walk or go with a terrain vehicle (in summer) to the “Kitka” (1350m) and “Karadzica” (1450m) mountain lodges. From there different routes through this massif are possible.Veles – Bogomila to the villages Nezhilovo or Papradishta from where, also by walk or terrain vehicle (in summer), the “Cheples” mountain lodge (1445m) can be reached. It can be a starting point for several different routes.

Possibilities:On the Jakupica massif, precisely below the peak Solunska Glava, the biggest cliff in Macedonia is located. With its height of 650 m and width of 2 km, it is one of the biggest on the Balkan Peninsula. It is a real challenge even for the most experienced alpinists. The approach is pretty complicated. In summer, from the streams of the river Babuna through the couloirs, and in winter because of the avalanche danger, alternative approaches are chosen. The cliff as an alpinist object is not used enough. There is only one fully protected route: “Centralen Solunski Kuloar” (The Central Thessalonica Couloirs) and several routes climbed in dry weather. In winter, there has been only one attempt so far, which was unsuccessful because of the bad weather conditions. In winter, down the flow of the rivers Babuna and Chepleska, there are frozen waterfalls and couloirs which offer good possibilities for ice climbing training. Hence, it is obvious that Jakupica massif has ideal facilities for alpinism and trainings for alpinist expeditions. Apart from this, there are also ideal facilities for speleology, ski-hiking, etc.