SW Maraslottet

  • SW Maraslottet
  • 1012 m
  • Primary factor 100 m
  • Location: North 60.82729, East 006.11533 (GPS)
  • Location: Vaksdal, Norway.
  • Difficulty: YDS class 2
  • Climbed: April 24. 2022

Information:

How to get there:
Drive Hwy. E-16 to Evanger. This is about 20 kilometer from Voss in the direction to Bergen. Measure from the exit to Evanger. Cross the narrow bridge and continue left. Drive 12.2 kilometer, going uphill, make a sharp left direction Eksingedalen. The road crosses a local mountain pass before descending to Eksingedalen. The road is narrow and there may be quite a bit of snow, so drive carefully. At kilometer 23.4 you are down in the valley at a place called Nesheim. Make a right turn here. Continue to kilometer 28.9. A smaller, dirt road forks left going up Norddalen after the main road crosses a river. This road is normally closed in winter. Park on the right side of the main road immediately before the bridge. This is location N60.83110, E006.19854, elevation 505 meter.
Route:
This description is a round trip loop visiting 6 summits, ie. no detailed route description to the individual summits.
Start along the river on its left side, pretty easy to reach the lower end of the gentle slope extending all the way to the summit of Eggane. From Eggane, descend north-west. There are some steeper cliffs that must be circumvented by first keeping a bit left, then descend more right. Continue down the valley (SW) to Martastølen and onwards about 300 meter. Then ascend the nice slope south of Storhaugen. Traverse west above steepish terrain in order to turn the ridge extending south-west from Storhaugen. From here, easy to the south end of lake Øvre Blåvatnet (852m). Ascend nice slopes to the peak named SW of Maraslottet.
Head north-east in a nice, small gully, descend east of Maraslottet and ascend directly towards Blåvasshorhgi, then follow a natural passage right before a final ascent to the summit.
Continue directly nort, keep left as you descend to the saddle south of Trollahorgi. Ascend left, then more directly. The final slope is close to 30 degrees, consider possible avalanche danger earlier in the winter. The summit has a nice little cairn. Descend north to the south face of Belaskardhorgi. This face is steep, consider the conditions here. The summit plateau is again quite big. Looking back towards Trollahorgi confirms that it is indeed a bit higher.
In order to reach the 1117 point on the high plateau called SW of Hundeggi, one must cross the main drainage. Ski in a nice big arc to the west before gliding towards the dam of lake Askjelldalsvatnet. With consolidated snow, one may descend steeply along the top of the local ridge directly west of the dam. The creek in the gully on your left is not suitable as it has a very steep part. Alternatively, continue north along easier slopes and turn the lake (if drained) on the north or cross the lake if it is not drained. Ascend the broad vally going east to lake 920, then continue uphill heading east to reach the plateau.
The summit is again on a pretty large, mostly flat area.
Finally, to complete the trip and get back to the trailhead, ski down the south-west broad ridge having Kvanndalen down on your left. Near the bottom, keep left and find your way down to the north-east corner of lake 764. There is a cliff band extending west. From here, stay well south of the river to follow Kvanndalen down to reach the road in Nordalen. Follow this road the last, short stretch back to the main road.
Comments:
I did this trip with my friend Harald. We left his place in Bergen already around 0700 to maake maximal use of the good weather. We started shortly after 0835. We skied a nice loop visiting the peaks Eggane (0955), SW of Maraslottet (1120), Blåvasshorgi (1205), Trollahorgi (1310), Belaskardhorgi (1400) and SW of Hundeggi (1550), before skiing back down to the car arriving around 1645. It was quite a long way up to the last summit and we realized that a return ski to the car was our next priority in order to be back home for dinner in a reasonable time. Back home at 1900. The weather was just suberb. Almost no wind and bright sunshine. Close to perfect spring skiing conditions.