Mykletveitveten
  • Mykletveitveten
  • 1131 m
  • Primary factor 521 m
  • Location: North 60:36.368, East 006:06.075 (GPS on the summit)
  • Hordaland, Norway
  • Climbed February 11, 2007
  • Difficulty: YDS class 2.

Information:

How to get there: From Bergen, drive E-16 to Dale. Turn right and head up the canyon on a pretty narrow and (in winter) slippery road. The cliffs are vertical and the narrow road is virtually cut into the steep cliffs. Amazingly, this used to be the main road from Bergen to Voss and in fact, one of the most important roads connecting Bergen and Oslo.
After about 16 kilometer from Dale, you are at the trailhead. This is shortly after you pass Røydland. There is parking on your left side (in winter), just after the road crosses the creek. A small road heads sharply left just before this creek. This road provides access to the Alexander Grieg tourist hut (in summer). The road serves as a beginning ski trail in winter. This is the trailhead, location N60:32.045, E006:04.623, elevation 563 meter.
Route description: For a summer description, see the route and report by Arnt Flatmo.
From the parking, walk (on the road) back across the creek and take the track that follows the summer road uphill. This road will take you up just left of the Alexander Grieg tourist hut. From here, ascend further, the terrain may be a bit easier further west. As soon as you are above tree line, the terrain improves and you may continue north along gentle slopes. Stay west of the very dominating Hamlagrøhornet. Higher up, the terrain becomes more level and you can see the mountains further north. There are several variations to the route here, we skied down just left of lake Lonavatnet, before skiing south of Hardfjellet and in a north-east direction towards Mykletveitveten. Alternatively, ski further right and follow below the cliffs on the west side of Hamlagrøhornet. Contour around and follow the small, but very distinct creek that drains north-east directly towards the hut Lonaselet. Either way, climb Mykletveitveten from the south, first reaching the south-west shoulder, elevation 1075 meter. Ascend the main summit ridge from the western side and complete the climb by traversing the flat summit plateau to the main cairn that is located towards the north-east end. Note that you pass a smaller cairn that actually may be slightly higher.
If time permits, then climb Hamlagrøhornet on the way back. Again, there are several routes, one may cross south and traverse the connecting saddle between the two summits, or one may return back up along the creek above Lonaselet. In the latter case, it is important to start the climb before this route takes you below the steep cliffs facing west.
If you do climb Hamlagrøhornet from this side, then note that there are two summits, Såta and Hamlagrøhornet, the latter being 10 meter higher.
Comments: I did this climb with my son Pål Jørgen, age 17. We started from Bergen around 0900, Pål Jørgen will be 18 in less than a month, so driving practice is a high priority. Bergen had -6 C, the forecast for Hamlagrø was -15 C, thus we had dressed pretty warm. The weather looked excellent, not a cloud and the first bright rays of sunshine hitting the white slopes.
We were ready to ski about 0950 and headed up the road to the Alexander Grieg tourist hut. From there, the ski track went more horizontally to the left, serving a few other cabins. We did find a small track that continued uphill. As soon as we were above tree line, this track headed off to the right and we started breaking our own route uphill.
It was nice to ski and we crossed the main crest and skied downhill to an area slightly west of the lake Lonavatn. From here, the ascent of Mykletveitveten started. The hill was gentle, but the higher we got the more icy it was. In addition, we had a pretty strong wind hitting us in the face. As we got near the top, the wind turned into a stable gale and the ice got so bad that we had to leave our skis. Somehow, we succeeded to get up the final slope on foot and reached the cairn around 1340. I took a few quick photos, then we hurried off the main summit. There are actually three cairns up here, the main cairn, then another south-west and a third more directly south. We visited all three, the south-west one may actually be slightly higher. To get back down to the skis was easier said than done. Hard ice, and nowhere to put your boot. After a few tries, Pål Jørgen did what had to be done, sat down and started a controlled slide on his butt, using the ski poles to control the descent. I followed, and soon we were back on skis completing the descent.
We skied across the very special (small flat valleys) terrain to the Lonaselet hut where we had lunch. From here, an old ski track followed the small creek uphill to the western base of Hamlagrøhornet. There is a pretty distinct and natural route that runs along this side and eventually connects with a large gully called Kvanngjelet. However, as the west side of Hamlagrøhornet has a band of steep cliffs, we turned uphill as soon as the terrain leveled out. The route to the summit was straightforward.
We arrived at 1545. This summit was a lot less windy, but had a top section with the same, very icy conditions. Being less steep, we could still ski to the cairn. On return, we tried to find a route down the west side. This was a mistake and we traversed further north and descended in exactly the same spot where we had started the climb. We then skied nicely back down to the car, just as the sun dipped below the horizon, sending a few last rays to nearby summits. Arriving back at 1700, a very nice 6 hour ski trip had come to an end.
The parking lot was quite crowded, most of the huts in the area seemed to be in use. We had considerable traffic when driving home, stop and go from the Trengereid area and almost to Bergen. What was rather remarkable and quite disturbing: We did not see a single person from leaving the mountain cabin area near the Alexander Grig hut and until our return to the parking area. A beautiful Sunday, with blue sky and about -8 Centigrade. There were nobody out skiing in the mountains. I am still having problems understanding this. If this is a trend then soon our exceptional mountains will indeed be a very quiet place.

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