Fusafjellet

  • Fusafjellet
  • 665 m
  • Primary factor 579 m
  • Location: Next to the village Fusa, Hordaland
  • Location: North 60:12.141, East 005:39.656
  • Difficulty: YDS class 1 (along the trail)
  • Climbed December 19, 2004.

Information:

How to get there: Drive from Bergen to Os, this is Hwy E-39 towards Stavanger. Make a left in Os and continue about 5km to Hattvik, where there is a ferry crossing to Fusa. From the ferry, drive south-east, then north east across a small hill and down closer to the sea. There is a sign here pointing right indicating the old post road (Gamle Postveg). You may find parking here, or continue around the next small bend on the road and make a right. You may drive up this road about 500 meter where there is a good parking area on your left. The trailhead down by the highway has location north: 60:12.182, east: 005:37.774, elevation 20 meter.
Route description: A normal summer route to the summit of Fusafjellet is well marked by signs and most likely a (YDS) class 1 hike.
This description covers our actual hike in late December. A primary goal was to visit the subsidiary peak Langnuen (526 meter).
Follow the old post road uphill, then flat on the left of a meadow, until it starts descending. Leave the post road here and follow a trail signed for Fusafjellet uphill to your left. Higher up, leave this trail and traverse right. The objective is now to enter the distinct valley Øykjadalen that climbs to the saddle separating Langnuen from Fusafjellet. The terrain is rugged, either climb up and traverse above the cliffs or descend a little and traverse below the cliffs. As you arrive in the Øykjadalen valley, Langnuen is straight ahead, up a pretty steep slope. One may follow the valley to the saddle, or as we did, ascend south of Langnuen, then follow the south ridge up to the summit. Easier and less steep terrain by keeping a bit on the east side. Langnuen has three summit points, additionally there is a lower trigonometric point, 492 meter, separated by yet another distinct valley to the south-east. The middle and the northmost point on Languen are the highest, both estimated at 526 meter. The northmost of the three summit points has coordinates north: 60:10.930, east: 005:39.924.
From here to Fusafjellet, first descend to the defining saddle, elevation 433 meter. This saddle is located at north: 60:11.037, east 005:39.914, thus Langnuen has primary factor 93 meter. (OK with 300 feet rule, just misses the 100 meter rule.)
From the saddle, continue uphill to the north, pass east of point 577, the across Vetlehorga 625 meter and onwards to Storehorga, 665 meter and the summit of Fusafjellet. There is a cairn and trigonometric point at the west side of a short summit ridge.
From the summit, either descend along the trail, or (as we did), descend south-west in the direction of Bogafjellet. This direct descent ends with a fairly steep, but not difficult slope between sprouse trees to find a farmers road near Ørnabrotet. From here, a short hike down the road and back to the trailhead. The route as described here had difficulty YDS class 2+.
Comments: I made this late December hike with my friend Arnt. His dog Troll also came along. We started from the trailhead near the highway at 1030. The traverse in order to climb Langnuen from the south, was a bit rugged, but not difficult. The ascent of Langnuen along its south ridge was fun and we arrived in good style at the summit. Arnt carried Troll in the backpack, thus had an extra load which suited me well as it kept the pace down at a level that I had a chance to keep up with.
It was a bit windy and quite winterly on the summit, so we continued to inspect and measure the defining saddle. Continuing to climb Fusafjellet, the weather took a turn for the worse. First fog, which made orientation more difficult, then deeper snow, sometimes covering water holes with unsafe ice, then an increasing wind. As we neared the summit, Troll had to be put completely inside the backpack in order to give him maximum protection from the wind. The wind continued to pick up and by the time we reached the cairn, it was full gale with storm in the gusts. The trip had taken us 4 hours to this point. Lunch got cancelled and we took a careful compass bearing in order to get off this hostile place as quickly as possible. The wind was now hitting us more directly on, snowdrift that was unpleasant to get in the face increased our motivation to descend. The snowdrifts were deep enough to cause delays, a few places I more or less had to "swim" to get across.
Fortunately, the wind decreased quickly as we descended and soon conditions were back to a more normal December hike with snow. We came directly down to Ørnabrotet and were soon back at the car, soaking wet. The trip took 5 hours, quite a good day only two days before the darkest day of the year.

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