Bygdaåsen

  • Bygdaåsen
  • 336 m
  • Primary factor 106 m
  • Varaldsøy, Norway
  • Location: North 60.11830 East 005.99190 (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 to a fork where you find a large parking area when going right. This is location N60.12383, E5.99577, elevation near 203 meter. There is a sign here informing about a large barlind tree.
Route description:
Walk back and cross the main road. Ascend along the ridge keeping slightly right of the crest in the beginning. Gradually follow the highest ridge, continue until it is natural to turn the upper end of the small valley on your left. There is a second valley that may be turned in a similar way. The summit is now up left, ascend on the left side then turn up towards the highest point. The summit is located next to a tree.
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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