The Slovene name Veliki Stol, meaning 'great chair', is derived from the visual appearance of the mountain, especially when seen from the east.

The Stol massif stretches from Žirovnica in Slovenia to the Austrian market town of Feistritz im Rosental in the north.

A first mountain hut south of the summit was erected by the Austrian Tourist Club in 1883 and called Valvasor Refuge.

Today there are numerous routes to the summit from Feistritz on the Austrian side via the Klagenfurt Lodge (Klagenfurter Hütte), built in 1906, as well as routes from Žirovnica in Slovenia, where the Prešeren Lodge (Prešernova koča), opened in 1910, stands below the secondary peak of Mali Stol.

Both refuges were burned down during World War II by Yugoslav partisans to prevent them from being used as base camps by Wehrmacht soldiers.