Raudaberget
  • Raudaberget
  • 1242 m
  • Primary factor 109 meter
  • Location: North 60.32002, East 005.86846 (GPS on the summit)
  • Hordaland, Norway
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 2
  • Attempted February 6. 2016.
  • Climbed February 28. 2016.

Information:


How to get there:
Drive E-16 from Bergen, then in the traffic circle at Trengereid, take the first exit onto Hwy. 7. Follow this road across to the Samnanger fjord, then leave the fjord and drive through a pretty long tunnel that exit into a traffic circle where Hwy. 48 runs south. Measure from this traffic circle. First, continue 1.3 kilometer along Hwy. 7. Turn right, leaving Hwy. 7, at this point. The road first runs parallel to Hwy. 7, then heads uphill. Follow this road (for approx. 2.1 km measured from Hwy. 7) as it climbs uphill. There is a small, signed area for parking on your left hand side before you reach the flat area with cabins (and another parking) higher up. There is a box with envelopes and a box to deposit, toll for parking is NOK 50 (2016). Park here, location N60.36529, E005.81802, elevation about 270 meter.
Route description:
Note: This is a decription of a winter route.
Take the forest road that starts at the parking area. Cross the bridge, then immediately fork right. This road heads south and climbs towards the lake Kikedalsvatnet with elevation 458 meter. However, the road ends at approximately 380 meter. Instead of following this road to the very end, head directly up a pretty nice slope and gain the local hill, elevation about 470 meter.
Continue in pretty open terrain across a few small meadows, you should pass a cabin that would be slightly on your right hand side. Keep the elevation as you approach a steeper hillside, a small, distinct shoulder marks the entry point. Continue on a climbing traverse through birch forest, a short stretch until you arrive in a small bowl with steep rocks above. Ski slightly downhill along a steep hillside, then traverse left as soon (and as high) as possible. You will soon traverse above a steep chute below you. Be careful here and evaluate the conditions, the crossing is only about 5 meter, but safety is essential.
Continue climbing uphill on a steep slope with many birch-trees. You are quite close to the creek coming down in more open terrain just ahead. The slope is steep enough for avalanches, but the forest will normally keep things stable (do evaluate!).
You should now emerge into a bigger basin, roughly at location N60.348, E5.823, near 600 meter of elevation. Proceed up (left) along a pretty obvious ridgeline that connects with a large hillside of moderate slope that will get you to the crest (horizon) of the main mountain ridge above.
Turn south and climb by point 974 on the west, then Jarlandsfjellet (1054m) on the east side. Continue slightly east of 1149 and 1152 to reach the broad, connecting saddle to Raudaberget. An easy, final ascent will get you to the summit cairn.
Comments:
February 6th. 2016. Tried to ski the route described by Arnt. Pretty complex, slow going. Quite a few cliffs to ski around. I started out as late as 1240 and after almost 2 hours of fairly complex routefinding, I reached the 700 meter level and thr terrain looked more skier friendly from here. However, in order to get home at a reasonable time, this was todays turn-around point.
To my great surprise, I met a man skiing my track uphill in the lower part of the hill. He told me that he was the local landowner, that he was very curious about my ski track and where it might lead. He also mentioned that it would be easier to ski up via the lake Kikedalsvatnet.

February 28th. 2016. The forecast called for a very nice day. Ingunn Lunde wanted to come along, she is a strong skier that also masters Telemark turns going steeply downhill in powder snow. I was excited and very happy that she would be my partner today.
We left her house around 0900 and we were ready to ski at 1000 after a nice drive. We followed the forest road, I thought it would go all the way to the lake, but it ended before an uphill step in the terrain. Soon, we were up at the cabin that overlooks the lake on its north side.
I had studied the map carefully and knew that the most critical section of this route would be to find a safe way up the lower, very steep section of birch forest above the lake. One could try to ascend from the south end of the lake, or one could traverse above the lake, then try to connect across a short but steepish looking section in the middle of the trees.
We tried the second option, it was nice avoiding to descend down to the lake. We made it across to the first small basin without much trouble. Unfortunately, there was no continuation up from here, steep cliffs everywhere. The only option would be to traaverse around the ridgeline below. The terrain here looked steep and uninviting. Still, it seemed worth a try. Ingunn seemed a bit reserved at this point. Well, such terrain is (sometimes) easier than it looks when you are right in the middle of it. I soon advanced to a spot where we needed to traverse across the top of a steep snow chute below us. Steep enough to be dangerous if anything would go wrong. I considered the snow and the possibility for a small, but dangerous snow avalanche. The snow seemed stable and I carefully made a short ascending line across to safer ground. Ingunn followed without much trouble. We were now in steep, but more straightforward terrain and we could see more level ground above us.
Soon, we were in a basin and could see the terrain above us. A distinct ridge led upwards and connected with a large snowslope that would get us to the horizon. We zig-zaged up in deep snow and I was happy that Ingunn would break trail almost all the way. Reaching the main crest, it was still some more uphill before reaching a more level section. The snow was easier to ski and the route from here fairly obvious. We truly enjoyed the fine weather, the nice snow and the fact that this mountain was only for us. We reached the summit at 1340, 3 hours and 40 minutes. A break and some photos, the view was fine all around. We could see people across on Kvitingen, however, a pretty deep and steep valley separates the two summits.
We left at 1355. There were several reasons to arrive back home in reasonable time. It was, of course very tempting to continue to the 1250 meter high Gavlen, about 1.5 kilometer from here. This mountain requires a full day to climb, now we could have climbed it by using an extra hour.
The return ski was pure delight, nice snow and easy terrain. We were back at the top of our ascent route to the main crest in seemingly no time. Here, Ingunn showed off and practiced her skills in making Telemark turns down the pretty steep slope. The skiing among the trees went fine and soon, we were back at the somewhat precarious traverse above the chute. An easy crossing now with a solid track. A few more turns down to the forest road and then arrival at the car at 1530 - not bad at all.
On the way home to Bergen, we stalled completely in a traffic jam due to an accident on the Hwy. above Trengereid. Obviously, we should have skied Gavlen, a much better alternative than being stuck in traffic.
Big thanks to Ingunn for coming along. She did most of the trail breaking uphill and displayed great Telemark style going back down. Very nice company on a near perfect day at the end of February.

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