Location 60 deg. 3.573 min. north, 6 deg. 9.623 min. east
In Hordaland, Norway
Difficulty: YDS class 3.
Climbed May 5. 2002
Information:
How to get there:
This mountain is located in Kvinnherad, a small
community east of the Hardangerfjord. This area has
some of the most alpine peaks in Hordaland, between the
fjord and the glacier Folgefonna. From Bergen, one
can drive in about 1.5 hours to Gjermundshamn where
a ferry crosses to Årsnes (previously Løfallstrand) in Kvinnherad.
Continue north for 12.3 km to the small community Ænes, sharp
right turn up a hill. Drive straight ahead on this small road until
you find a small white church. Park there. Route description:
The map has a single trail indicated leading to Gygrastølsvatnet,
however, there is a better way. As you hike from the church, you will
see a nice rack with mail boxes (see also picture below). Take the
dirt road that heads out just on the left side of this rack. Follow this
small road to its end where it gradually transforms into a trail that
heads uphill. This trail will run into another primitive road higher up
and just left of a small river. Turn right on this
road and cross the river and find a red (ring)
marked trail that goes left just a few meters after the river.
This route takes you west of Svartaberget, it is not marked on the
map, but clearly the best and most direct way.
Follow this trail further upwards, in the beginning on the right side
of a small creek, then up and eventually leaving the forest behind.
You should continue uphill aiming for the ridge on the right hand
side of the basin that extends up towards the summit.
The ridge climbs gently to the point Skrunten (1046m) on the right
hand side. From this point, the slope gets steeper and an iceax and
crampons may be needed in the spring. The snow is of moderate steepness,
about 30 degrees with a couple of shorter sections near 45 degrees.
The climb tops out at about
1300 m and reveals a narrow ridge before the final summit. This ridge
is class 4 with considerable exposure. There are basically two moves,
the first is a vertical drop off a cliff, the flat ridge which has been
at least a couple of meters wide until this point is only about
30 cm wide at the bottom of this drop. The vertical drop is about
1.5 meters and as you lower yourself down you know
that you end up at an extremely
narrow rock with near vertical drop on both sides. The exposure on
the climbers right is a very steep rock face while the left side
is a steep snow slope. There is a narrow crack that may be helpful,
in particular for smaller people and kids, slightly to
the right, we all made use of this crack when climbing in the
opposite direction on return. This passage is technically simple,
but could scare people that are not comfortable with heights.
The ridge quickly becomes more reasonable, the narrow section is
only a couple of meters.
The second class 4 (YDS rating) move is getting off the ridge and onto
the final summit ridge. Climb left and up on good rocks, while checking for
a few loose ones. After this move, the climber can stroll onto a very
nice summit. There is an alternative approach from the east, this
involves downclimbing into a saddle in the form of a fairly
distinct ridge, however both the down climb as well as the climb back
up towards the summit are more on a slope than on a ridge. This route
may be a bit more difficult, depending on the season, when we were
there the route had steep snow, exposure and limited opportunity for good
belays. Comments:
I did this climb with my son Pål Jørgen, age 13, and
my friend Arnt. We saw no tracks or traces of other climbers,
perhaps this was the first ascent in 2002. It is safe to assume that the
true summit is climbed relatively seldom. We started at 1115, the weather
was just fantastic, warm, blue sky, no wind. This scenery, with spring
arriving in the lower regions, the mighty blue Hardanger fjord and winter
still holding its grip on the higher peaks is something a climber must
experience, words cannot easily capture it all. We decided to use a rope
on the final summit ridge, the vertical drop on the ridge was higher than
the reach of Pål Jørgen, he used the crack for climbing both ways. With warm, sunny
weather it was just a pleasure to spend some time along the final section.
We reached the summit around 1600, spent considerable
time on photography and the view before returning the same route. We had
planned to perhaps traverse and climb down along the north ridge, but
the initial traverse of the saddle that separates the summit from this
ridge would have required considerable time since steep snow dominated
and few rocks that might serve as belay points could be seen. We were
back at the church at 1845, a total of 7:30. The return across
the ridge was again quite easy, but required some time since we
continued to use a rope, similarly, the upper snow slopes are
steep and requires care and attention when descending. Thereafter,
the return hike was quite fast on good snow, then the red ring marked
trail.
Note that the elevation 1339 meter that can be found on many maps refers to
a trigonometric reference point on the east side of the col connecting
Gygrastolen to the east side. The elevation 1345 is listed on one of
the maps from the Norwegian map service. One also can spot the 1340 meter
contour on current maps.
Gygre was the name of certain women in old Norse mythology that lived
in Jotunheimen, the most famous mountain area in Norway. The story tells
that such a Gygre once decided to block the southern side of the
Hardanger fjord by pulling the large island Varaldsøy across. However,
she lost her grip and fell backwards making the distinct basin below
the Gygrastolen (the chair for the Gygre). Unsuccessful in her first attempt,
she then jumped into the fjord in order to block it,
but the fjord was too deep so again she failed and the fjord remains open.
Resources:
Images
Gygrastolen as seen from the ferry. September 13, 2009.
Start of the trail. Hike along this road until it
ends, note the mailbox rack on the right. The summit
can be seen high up to the left.