Gråsida

  • Gråsida
  • 855 m
  • Primary factor 162 m
  • Location: Masfjorden, Norway.
  • Location: North 60.88805, East 5.64153 (GPS at the summit)
  • Climbed 7. May, 2022.
  • Difficulty YDS class 2

Information:

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.
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.

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