Location: North 60.21221, East 005.79405 (GPS on the 589m cairn)
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed June 15, 2013. (missed the 591 HP)
Information:
How to get there:
From Bergen, first drive E-16 towards Voss, take Hwy 7 (right) that forks from
the traffic circle at Trengereid. Drive to Samnanger, then through the long tunnel
that will exit at the river Tysseelva. Take Hwy-48 going right here. The sign will
say Eikelandsosen and/or Mundheim. Continue until you arrive at Eikelandsosen, after
a downhill you cross a small bridge all the way down by the fjord (the center of
Eikelandsosen is still a bit ahead.) Measure from here as you continue along Hwy. 48.
Roughly at kilometer 3.6, as you are heading uphill, there is a small sign pointing
right, that says Rød. Take this small exit that forks off the main Hwy. approximately at
kilometer 3.9. Immediately turn right again. Now follow this small road as it gains elevation,
stay straight at kilometer 4.2. Drive through a small farm and more steeply uphill.
Just as you approach a small building, turn right,
you will see a trail-sign on the small
house. The road is rougher now, one may find
parking for one car near a fork where a tractor
road heads steeply up left. If you see people on the last small farm, consider asking about
where it is best to park. I parked at location N60.23662, E005.80092, elevation about 185 meter.
Route description:
Continue along the forest road and cross a small creek. Just beyond this
crossing, a short cut goes up and off to your left. Follow this more
or less along a vague trail until you get back onto the forest road. Turn
left and follow the road until it ends on a small, local plateau. A small trail
continues, there should be a sign
saying Røafjellet. From here, the route
is marked with red paint on trees and rocks. The trail is often hard to see, but the
red paint is pretty consistent. It is fair to say that this is more a route marked with
red paint rather than a trail. Continue uphill with the creek on your left. There is a fence,
the gate is pretty high upon your right. The route levels off on a meadow. Continue along the
right hand side, then cross the creek at the end of the meadow. Another uphill and then the
trail traverses on the left side of a small pond.
Next, a new meadow before yet another
uphill. The trail sort of curves around a bit to the left, fairly flat, before coming to
a small, local col. A trail runs downhill, however, the red marked trail bears to the right
and traverses into a broad gully, then heads steeply uphill and into this big gully that
becomes more distinct higher up. You have cliffs on the left side. Continue uphill, then more
level. Note that the route turns left and climbs out of this small, local valley. You now gain a
ridge and can see the mountain across
a small valley. The route runs directly downhill to the
end of a small pond at the bottom. Continue up on the opposite side along a reasonable route,
the cliffs are steeper further right. Follow the red marks on gradually easier terrain and
gain the small cairn at
this (north-east) side of the summit plateau. You will see the main cairn
to the south-west. This cairn is marked
as 589 meter.
Note however, that the highest point on the
map is marked about 100 meter further south-east.
Comments:
I left the car shortly after 1330, quite optimistic as I had discovered a trail sign
with my destination. This should imply that there would be a trail all the way to the
summit, while I had been prepared to navigate without trails on this trip.
Heading uphill, it soon became evident that this was more of a red marked route rather than
a trail. The red paint was pretty easy to find and I made good progress. Somehow, I missed the
marker that showed how the trail would exit from the gully. I ascended up to the ridge and
without seeing any red paint, decided to traverse left and cross the valley close to
its saddle. This worked ok and I arrived at the big summit cairn at 1515.
After 15 minutes, I hiked over to the smaller and clearly lower cairn across the
summit plateau. I considered making a loop to see the steeper face, but decided against it.
This was a bad decision in light of my discovery back home that a point across in
that direction may actually be about 2 meter higher.
I left at 1530 and followed the red marks more accurately as they crossed the small valley and
led me back to the ridge where I had "lost" the route while ascending. I was back at the car by
1630, so one hour on the return.
