How to get there:
Drive E-39 north from Bergen. After passing the highest point above Romarheim, start
descending towards Matre, but exit right before you enter the long tunnel. Drive under
the Hwy. then turn right on the small mountain road that will take you along the
north side of lake Storevatnet (325m). Continue uphill to Gagnløysevatnet, but turn
left before you reach the lake. This fork is located at N60.85534, E005.62406, elevation
near 460 meter. Turn left and drive the short distance to the end of the road. There is
parking available.
Route description:
This route is a round trip hike visiting 3 summits. If only one or two
peaks are on your agenda, it should still be easy to use relevant parts of
this description.
Head up the valley, due north until you cross the creek coming from
your right (from the lake Meinsemdevatnet). Turn left (uphill) and proceed
to the summit of Gleinefjellet.
The summit has some antennas nearby.
There is also a hut,
most likely built when the antennas were established.
Next, head north-east and cross the narrow valley Snogjeldalen near its highest
point (far north). Continue south-east and descend into Kvernhusdalen valley following
a pretty obvious side-valley. Follow Kvernhusdalen (right) uphill until you may ascend
on easy slopes turning more north. Finally, follow the terrain north to the summit
of Gråsida, marked with a tall, nice cairn.
Retrace your route south, but stay on the main crest in order to reach the south end
of lake Kvernhusvatnet. Ascend more steeply to the summit of Setrefjellet.
The summit consists of a large boulder. Walk around to the place where the vertical section
is smaller. There are good handholds here. Still, to get up is a (YDS) class 4 move. Once you
gain the more gentle slope, the rest is easy.
Continue slightly south of west, then descend the broad ridge down to the small valley just west of
lake Meinsemdevaatnet. Follow this valley down to the place where you ascended towards Geinefjellet,
then back down to the road.
Comments:
My plan was to hike some lower peaks today, most likely without using my skis. It turned out
that neither Harald nor Knut Sverre could join me. I therefore changed my plan, in order to
visit some summits that they already had climbed. More likely, I would need my skis, thus I
took both skis as well as hiking boots in my car.
The side road had some snow banks, thus parking at the road fork was better today.
Looking around, there was little snow, but obviously, I would run into more higher up.
I was sort of mentally prepared for hiking, so I left the skis in the car and set out on foot.
I left
at 1045 and arrived at Gleinefjellet summit after 55 minutes. A short break, then onwards
to Gråsida. This route first crosses Snjogjeldalen near its highest point, then across
to and descending into Kvernhusdalen. Both passages went fine, but they were interesting as
it was hard to judge the steepness before deciding to descend. I arrived at Gråsida about
1:40 after leaving Gleinefjellet. Finally, I decided to incude Setrefjellet, despite a prominence
of 99 meter, just short of the 100 meter limit. The summit is on top of a large boulder
and most trip reports I had seen had not climbed it. After some looking, it became clear what
the best way would be. It is a class 4, short move, but vertical with good hand holds, but
no easy way to place your feet. Once up this first move, the rest is trivial since the
remaining slope is very gentle. I decided to take a rare selfie on top.
It had taken me slightly more than one hour to get here from the previous summit, then 10
more minutes to do the final 2.5 meter.
Descending was easy and I was back at my car in
another 40 minutes.
In summary, the route would likely have been slightly faster with skis, but then with several
points where the skis would have to come off, then back on. Walking was pretty nice, only a few
places where I suddenly would sink in deep.