Siggjo

  • Siggjo
  • 474 m
  • Primary factor 474 m
  • Location: Hordaland, Norway
  • Location: North 60:55.700, East 005:27.143 (GPS at the summit)
  • Climbed November 2, 2008
  • Difficulty YDS class 1

Information:

How to get there: This mountain is the highpoint on the island Bømlo. From Bergen, drive south on E-39 to Halhjem, continue by ferry to Sandvikvåg north on the island Stord. Drive south on E-39 and cross a large suspension bridge (more than 1000 meter), then make an immediate right towards Bømlo and cross a second large bridge (998 meter long). As you drive north along the main road, you will see the mountain on your left side. Continue until you see very clear signs for Siggjo Parking and pull into the nicely made parking area on the left side of the road. Park here, this is the trailhead, location N59:45.475, E005:18.987, elevation about 80 meter.
Route description: Start out along the very visible trail that leaves the parking area. However, after only 50 meter there is an unsigned trailfork. A pretty nice trail continues straight ahead, gently uphill, while a second trail runs into some dense trees on your left. Take the left fork into the trees. Follow the trail a short while and it will run into a small dirt road. Make a right onto this road. Continue along the small road as it makes some curves uphill. Higher up, the route leaves the road as it forks right onto a very clear trail. There is also a sign here saying Siggjo. From this point, the trail ascends pretty sustained until you reach the summit area. The trail is well maintained, a couple of wooden bridges in order to avoid crossing a few small gullies, then a chain handrail (completley unneccesary) along some very slightly steeper sections. There is a pretty large hut as well as an antenna near the summit. There is a slightly lower north summit with a cairn. The summit itself is very close to the antenna with two nearly equally high rock points.
Comments: This was a pretty ordinary November Sunday with slight rain, but a forecast that promised a bit of sunshine in the very south-west of Hordaland. Thus, I had agreed with my son Tor Erling, that we would drive south and explore this island that neither of us had ever visited.
We left Bergen around 1000, then missed the turnoff for Stavanger and ended up driving across Fanafjellet. This worked out just perfectly, as we made the ferry with only 2-3 minutes to spare. The new, gas-powered ferries had not been tested by us before. The crossing was completed about 15 minutes faster than previously and the ride was nice and smooth. The road along the east side of Stord has also seen significant improvements, it now has a pretty high standard the entire way. We crossed the two big suspension bridges and we were pleased to see the good signs pointing to the Siggjo parking lot. There were 4-5 cars there already, but still plenty of available parking.
Leaving the trailhead at 1205, we headed gently uphill along a clear, big trail. We did notice the trail that forked left into the dense trees, but it looked pretty obvious that our trail was the correct one. However, gradually the trail became smaller as it made its way around what looked like a north ridge of the mountain. Eventually, the trail more or less vanished leaving only minor tracks heading uphill. We continued uphill, but it was now pretty obvious that we had lost the trail and that our exploration of the area would be much more thorough than previously anticipated.
Finally, near the last ridge, we merged into the proper trail and then continued rather quickly to the summit area. We first visited the north summit, but realized that the summit near the big antenna was likely the proper high point. We went across, but the promised sun was absent and a slight drizzle made us start the descent after only a brief stop. We had arrived at 1315 and left around 1325. The trail back was easy to follow, we even paid attention and left the small road in order to cross through the trees connecting back to the parking area. We were back around 1400, then went to explore the island of Bømlo in order to find a place for lunch.
Upon reviewing the spot were we lost the correct trail going uphill, we still could not see any good reason for picking the left fork. A sign telling that the Siggjo trail goes left would certainly be in order here.

Resources: