Veten

  • Veten
  • 475 m
  • Primary factor 130 m
  • Varaldsøy, Norway
  • Location: North 60.14019 East 006.00581 (GPS on the summit)
  • Difficulty: YDS class 2
  • Climbed April 23, 2022.

Information:

How to get there:
From Bergen, drive to the ferry at Gjermundshamn and take it across to the island Varaldsøy. Once on the island, drive north on the paved road. Keep right at the first fork, then go left and enter a dirt road in the next fork (in a right curve on the road). Continue north to the second lake (Vetla Svartavatnent) on your right. Find parking there at location N60.13647, E005.99611, elevation about 285 meter.
Route description:
The well marked trail descends near the end of the lake, then ascends steeply on solid rock. The trail is well marked. Higher up, the route crosses a couple of small ravines. Overall a quite pleasant trail to a nice viewpoint.
Comments:
It was a very nice Saturday and Harald suggested Varaldsøy since he had tickets to the football match between Brann and Sogndal in the evening. I still had three peaks to visit on this island, while Harald needed all 4. I had visited the island highpoint more than 15 years earlier.
We first hiked Veten, a nice dry trail and about 25 minutes from car to summit. Next, we climbed Sandvikehorgan leaving the car in the same location. This trip took about one hour each way including a nice stop at the summit to take in the spectacular views. The trail was wet and partially covered by snow.
Our third summit of the day was the local hill named Bygdaåsen. This hill has no trail, but plenty of animal tracks and the hiking was easy. The round trip time was just about one hour.
We now had about 2 hours before the last possible ferry departure if Harald should make it to the football match. By the time we got to the trailhead, less than 2 hours. I told Harald to do some trail running, while I looked for a place to park the car.
After parking, I walked up the farm road. First, looking at the information sign at the trailhead. Quite informative, in Norwegian, German and English. What surprised me was the fact that the normal hiking time to the summit was stated as 3 hours in Norwegian (quite reasonable), while the English and the German text estimated one hour only. You would need to run very fast indeed! I continued uphill to about 400 meter of elevation, then turned around and drove back up to the trailhead in order to be efficient in case Harald would return at the last minute. However, I soon spotted him up on the farm road. He returned with about 15 minutes to spare for the ferry. A 5 minute drive and no problem catching the ride.
Harald made his football game which ended in a draw 1-1, a big disappointment for the home fans.

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