Medvednica

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Nature park Medvednica

Medvednica is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. The highest peak, at 1,033 m, is Sljeme, a name often used to refer to the entire mountain.

The name Medvednica can be translated as "bear mountain", and there are other toponyms on the mountain using the kajkavian dialect term medved (bear, standard Croatian "medvjed"), notably Medvedgrad, a medieval castle on its southwestern edges.

Most of the area of Medvednica is a nature park (park prirode), a type of preservation lesser than a national park. The area of the park is 228.26 square kilometers. About 63% is covered with forest.

There is a winter sports center on the northern slopes towards Sljeme. The center has hosted three women's FIS World Cup slalom races, in January 2005, January 2006 and January 2007, known as the Snow Queen Trophy. There are plans that the men's slalom will take place there in February 2008.

The winter sports center consists of one chairlift for three persons and two T-bar lifts. Equipment for producing artificial snow has been added, and because of that the skiing season has been prolonged to more than four months.

There are three ways to reach the mountain: by car, on foot (there are numerous mountain paths) or by gondola lift, which starts from the former village of Gračani. The cable car has run since 1963, and takes four people, with a 23 minute journey time.

On Medvednica there are dozen of mountain huts for traditional one-day trips in the mountain. Because of its proximity to Zagreb, Medvednica has many visitors, especially during weekends. Among the most popular sites is the Veternica cave with a 2,622 meters long main channel.