Location: North 60.65566, East 005.85572 (GPS at the summit).
Vaksdal, Norway
Difficulty, YDS class 2
Climbed on October 25. 2020
Information:
How to get there:
Drive E-16 from Bergen.
Continue E-16 past Trengereid towards Voss. Continue passing Dale, turn left at
Bolstadøyri. There are two exits, the first is signed, a left turn immediately
after you pass under a small bridge. Continue along a more narrow road to locate
the signed road, 10 kilometer to Øvstedalen. Follow this nice dirt road as it climbs
in switch-back curves. At about 410 meter of elevation, a side road forks sharply
left. This is a private road and one should call 48006146 to ask permission for
driving (friendly man that most likely will say yes).
The road is called Tyssevegen.
This road is still in good condition, after about 4 kilometer, heading downhill, there is
a fork. Go right, this is uphill and cross a big river on a bridge. There is parking
on the other side on your left. This is about 4.5 kilometer since you
got onto this road. I was advised to park here and do the remainder of the road on foot.
This location is N60.64428, E005.89273, elevation about 205 meter.
Route description:
Continue along the road until it ends. On the last hilltop, just before the end of
the road, it would be just fine to park a few cars.
The road is actually quite good
all the way to here. The road ends in a small valley after a very short
descent, at location N60.64095, E005.86887, elevation about 240 meter.
Follow a clear trail that starts where the road ends. This trail descends somewhat
as it contours around the hillside and into a somewhat larger valley. Here, you arrive at
the old farm called Hermundsdalen.
The buildings here have been nicely restored.
The trail passes just above the buildings
and continues to the creek coming down the valley.
Ascend along the creek as long as the terrain is nice, then cross and continue the
ascent on the left hand side. There are small signs of an old trail, however this
is very vague and hard to follow. The terrain is reasonably easy to ascend, stay on open
areas mostly grass quite a bit higher (further left) of the creek itself. You will
then arrive at the Hermundsdalen mountain farm house,
a small building located
just below the Tofjellet mountain at location N60.64968, E005.86069, elevation
about 520 meter. From here, one may actually
see the summit cairn directly uphill.
Continue uphill, pick a route on the left hand side of the creek, but continue
to follow it until just below the final slopes of the mountain. Ascend along
terrain with vegetation, avoiding smaller cliffs on the right side. Finally,
when below the more steepish cliffs near the top, traverse right until you
locate a gully with grass that leads uphill. Follow this gully until it
tops out. The final few meters is now going left to quite
an impressive cairn. Comments:
Today, Norway went to winter time, ie. the time was moved one hour back.
Still, after a nice Sunday breakfast, it was pretty late before I left Bergen.
Along the way, I called the number that I found on the "private road sign" yesterday.
The guy was most friendly and told me that I could drive the road, but that he preferred
if I parked right next to the bridge across the big river.
I left my car at 1145 and walked along the road.
I soon noticed that this
road was extended beyond what was indicated on the map. In fact, the route
now became clear. I should traverse to Hermundsdalen, then follow the clear
trail on the map serving the mountain farm higher up. I quickly came to
Hermundsdalen, impressive how the buildings here had been restored. The trail
from here up the mountain farm, however, should not have been marked on the
map any more. It was gone for all practical purposes.
I arrived at the mountain farm shortly before 1300 and continued uphill along
the same creek. High on the slope, cliffs guard the summit. I decided to try
a pretty direct asault on the left side. This involved a short passage of
easy (YDS) class 3 scramble, then an easy stroll to the cairn.
I was there at 1330, too many clouds to enjoy a good view, but I could
see back down to the mountain farm and onwards down Hermundsdalen all the
way to the fjord.
Leaving at 1340, I decided to look for a better route further left (when
facing downhill). Sure enough, I quickly discovered a grassy gully running
downhill. The return hike was smooth and I was back at the car by 1520. It had
been raining on and off all day and I was pretty wet on my return.
