Kaldafjellet (Kaldanuten)
  • Kaldafjellet (Kaldanuten)
  • 1411 m
  • Primary factor 301 meter
  • Location: North 60.73554, East 006.73904 (GPS at the summit)
  • Voss, Norway
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 2
  • Climbed January 28. 2018.
  • Visit (no summit) by DNT trip January 12. 2020.

Information:


How to get there:
From Bergen, drive Hwy. E-16 to Voss (about 100 km), then continue past Vinje (traffic circle) to Oppheim. Continue along the left side of lake Oppheimsvatnet, still on E-16. From the location where you leave this lake, drive about 1.5 kilometer more, then look for a road forking right with a sign reading Brandset. Take this road, continue straight (uphill) in a couple of road forks as the road climbs higher on the right hand side of the main valley. About 1.5 kilometer after the last fork, you will find a parking area on the right hand side of the road. Immediately thereafter, the road crosses a small creek on a bridge, there is a gate here. Just park at the parking lot, this is the tarilhead, location N60.77831, E006.70009, elevation about 570 meter.
This area is a military range, if there is military activity, then check the route with some authorized person in order to avoid conflicts. The military seems quite friendly and helpful co-existing with outdoor activities.
The larger mountain plateau is named Kaldafjellet, while the highest point is named Kaldanuten.
Route description:
From the trailhead, ski directly towards Grånakken, 813 meter. Ascend on the right (west) side and continue south to point 1014, ascending a bit on the right (west) side. Continue to ascend the broad ridge passing right (west) of point 1292. From here, one can ski directly towards the 1411 meter cairn.
Note I: This mountain can also be skied from Reimegrend in Raundalen, this is a somewhat longer, but equally attractive route.
Note II: An alternative route, particularly nice for skiing down, runs a bit further east of the route described above. This involves a pretty continuous hill with about 500 meter of vertical, the slope touches on 30 degrees. With visibility and slightly better avalanche conditions, this variant is recommended.
Comments:
I organized and led this trip as a Bergen Mountaineering Group outing. After the normal, late cancellations (most likely due to a miserable forecast), we were a group of 11 leaving Bergen at 0800.
The trip had been planned for Manfjellet near Øystese, however the forecast called for strong gale, heavy precipitation, mostly in the form of rain. Thus, I changed plans and postponed Manfjellet until February 25th. The decision to ski from the trailhead above Brandset was based on a few observations: 1) this trailhead is higher, so less trouble with rain. 2) the forecast was slightly better here compared to Voss.
We met in Bergen at 0750 and departed on schedule at 0800. The road was partially messy due to the large amounts of rain in the preceeding 12 hours.
We were ready to ski shortly before 1100. Lots of new snow and quite a bit of trail breaking in the beginning. The terrain is really nice, the trees are sparse and the slope very gentle. Higher up, the wind was more noticed and we also had a pretty heavy snow shower. Gradually, the white-out became pretty absolute and careful navigation was required. We arrived at the summit at 1310, a bit more than 2 hours, quite a good job by everybody.
We spent about 15 minutes up by the cairn in order to get the skis ready for downhill.
Skiing down was nice, but pretty slow at the upper slopes due to the lack of any visibiity. We were back down in roughly 1:30.
Thanks to all participants and to Fredrik Brun for doing an excellent job as trip co-leader as well as official photographer.
January 2020 trip:
Bergen Mountaineering Group in DNT had an organized trip to this mountain on January 12th. 2020. This trip was moved here due to a mild winter with more rain than snow in most locations near Bergen. The forecast for the day was pretty bad, gale wind and snow with complete whiteout conditions at higher elevations.
We left Bergen at 0810 and arrived at the parking a bit late since one of the cars did not easily get up the hill on the final small road ascending beyond Brandset. They suceeded at last, but needed both pushing and to go backwards (having front wheel drive). We were ready to ski around 1100.

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