Høgafjellet

  • Høgafjellet
  • 1020 m
  • Primary factor 337 m
  • Location: North 60.81129, East 005.92405 (GPS on the summit)
  • Climbed November 24, 2013
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 2

Information:

How to get there:
From Bergen, drive E-39 to Romarheim and turn right on the road signed for Modalen and Dale. Continue past Modalen and through the long tunnel that connects to Eksingedalen. Turn left immediately after you exit the tunnel. Drive about 10 kilometer from the tunnel. You should, for the first time, see the church located in Eksingedal, this is just beyond a small place called Flatkvål. Just after a gentle downhill and a left curve, there is a turnout / meeting place on your left. Park here, this is the best trailhead parking. The location is N60.78452, E005.95445, elevation about 280 meter.
Route description:
From the trailhead, walk back up the road to its highest point, just a few hundred meter. Locate a gate (open?) on your right and follow a nice trail uphill. The trail eventually crosses the creek, then continues uphill on the left side. First through spruce forest, then birch.
Next, climb left and follow the ridge uphill more or less north as you gradually leave the valley on your right side. The terrain is a bit rugged with several small cliffs and points where one needs to descend a few meter. Cross the last mini-vally that separates the highest part from the approach, then ascend the final slope. Continue a bít more left and locate a very nicely built cairn.
Trip Report / Comments:
A late start from Bergen (party on Saturday), thus I did not start hiking before 1300. Days are short at this time of year, but looking at the map, this hike looked quite easy. I knew there would be snow and this would be my first ski trip in a new winter season.
The trail up the lower part was quite good and climbed the hill in nice, zig-zag turns. I started skiing just below the saddle at a small meadow. Still, this had taken about 45 minutes. The skiing ran into a fairly rugged terrain, several smaller cliffs and distinct gullys that ran across my line. The weather turned into near white-out conditions with "flat light". This condition makes it very hard to judge the size and steepness of small uphill and downhill sections. Care must be taken to avoid any unpleasant surprise! Thus, my progress was way behind schedule and I was not happy when arriving at the top of what looked like a pretty deep mini-valley, about 500 meter before the summit. I realized that I would fall badly behind and not even make dinner at the agreed upon time, back in Bergen.
After a moment of hesitation, I still decided that it was worth the effort and trouble to complete this climb, given that I now was only 500 meter away and 100 vertical meter below. Completing the last stretch, I arrived at the summit at 1530, 2.5 hours. It would soon be dark, fortunately, I carried a strong head torch. The summit cairn was nice and well built, unlike the weather that turned into a strong gale with violent spin-drift. I got busy getting my heavy duty mountain jacket on, cold fingers, I quickly decide not to take any picture. I left at 1540 and descended very carefully back down to the mini-valley. Climbing back up could only be done on foot. Finally into slightly more friendly terrain. I needed to use my torch light by now. Somehow, the conditions got better, the light from my head returned a more reliable picture of the terrain. I could make good judgements and ski downhill without any fear of falling of an unexpected cliff. The wind also died away. This dark (night) section of my trip was certainly the highlight of this climb. I skied back down to the saddle, took the skis on my backpack and hiked descended back down to the car, arriving there at 1730.

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