Location: North 60.71043, East 005.82372 (GPS at the summit).
Voss, Norway
Difficulty, YDS class 2
Climbed on October 31. 2020
Information:
How to get there:
Drive E-16 from Bergen.
Continue E-16 past Trengereid towards Voss. Continue passing Dale, but then turn
left at Dalseid, onto Hwy. 569, signed for Romarheim.
Note when crossing the fjord (from left to right) at Straume. Continue about 1.6 kilometer
from this bridge and locate a small road that forks uphill (right), signed for Hesjedalen.
Take this road. Immediately after crossing the bridge at lake Vikavatnet, turn right and
continue about 400 meter where you will find parking on your right hand side (oppsite
a house). This is before the road crosses the river. This location is at N60.67817, E005.79478,
elevation near 100 meter.
Route description:
Continue along the road crossing the river and passing a couple
of houses. A tractor road then curves left and runs into the
Øyadalen valley. There is a sign (left) for a shortcut just
as you approach one house, this is pretty wet and not in good shape,
but may perhaps improve with more use.
The tractor road ends beyond lake Træsvatnet where a bridge
crosses the river. You will then very soon arrive near a red hut,
Dalastølen. The trail forks here, the shortest route contines
uphill just right of the uppermost building. It is well marked.
The other trail runs up along the main river to lake Gavvatnet.
After a sustained uphill, the trail arrives at a small river crossing.
Continue to follow the trail, close to lake Stølsvatna there
is a fork, going right connects to lake Gavvatnet. Continue left to
the mountain farm Hesjedalensstølen. Continue north and
gradually cross right in order to ascend grassy slopes south of
the Geitafjelli summit area. There is a nice passage connecting
to the summit area avoiding cliffs as well as patches with
(larger) rocks. You will enter a small valley with a litle
stream, then move more north to the summit.
The summit is marked with a tiny cairn. Comments:
I had climbed Midtnovi and there was still time for
a second peak. Geitafjelli is located directly across to the east. The face looked
steepish, but with a promising break just south of the summit. I headed more or
less directly there, a few ups and downs brought me to the base of the hill. Just as
guessed, a (YDS) class 2 route worked well, a few zig-zags to avoid steeper slopes.
The trek across to this summit took
35 minutes, arriving at 1430. After another 10 minute break,
I descended initially the same way, but then on a down-sloping traverse towards the
Stølsvatna lake. This brought me
to the Hesjedalsstølen mountain farm.
Since I had plenty of time, I decided to explore the alternative trail via
lake Gavvatnet. First, passing
the Øyastølen mountain farm, then
descending to Gavvatnet with a good view across
to Gavvasstølen buildings.
The trail descended more steeply next to the river
down to Øyadalen.
In this way my loop hike would get me back to
Dalastølen. On the way there, I met the owner of Øyastølen.
He was out looking for a single missing sheep. He would be happy
to give away the meat to whoever could find it, a clear dedication to the
animal well-being.
The rest of the hike was easy and I was back at my car by 1650, the daylight was
about to leave.