Kvamsfjellet

  • Kvamsfjellet
  • 694 m
  • Primary factor 105 m
  • Osterøy, Norway
  • Location: North 60.61967, East 005.64745 (GPS on the summit)
  • Difficulty: YDS class 2
  • Climbed: March 16, 2014

Information:


How to get there:
Drive from Bergen towards Oslo along E-16. After Arna and the Arnanipa tunnel you will soon see the long suspension bridge across to Osterøy. The bridge is a toll road. Continue through the tunnel and follow signs to Lonevåg. From Lonevåg follow signs to Tysse. As you drive down into Tysse, look for a small, paved road that turns right before the river. Look for a big pipeline that comes down from the right, the road climbs up before (on the right side) of this pipeline. Continue up along this narrow, winding road until you locate an old white power station building right next to Osvatnet (75m). Another pipeline serving this power plant comes steeply down the hill just behind the building. Park here. This location is N60.61330, E005.60404, elevation about 75 meter.
Route description:
The route starts directly from the parking, there are signs down by the road. First, climb a long metal staircase directly from the signs. Traverse left on a good trail and pass under the big pipeline that serves the power plant with water. The trail soon turns uphill and there is a second staircase. Now, the trail climbs gently directly under vertical cliffs and will reach the small valley called Kupene. There is a trail fork here. Høgafjell is right, while Tyssesætra is left. This trail is more difficult to follow, in particular in winter when there is snow. However, the route heads all the way into this small, flat valley, then climbs out as it heads more left following a small drainage. Near the top, you arrive at a small hut, Tyssesætra.
Contine uphill towards what seems to be a shallow col, but move more right just as you cannot gain much more elevation. The terrain is gentle uphill, then a bit more rugged with minor cliffs. Higher up, you should be able to locate a pretty distinct gully that cuts uphill and provides passage. Follow this until you reach a small lake and more flat terrain. Continue just beyond the lake, then cut left and ascend pretty easy terrain to reach the (pretty large) summit plateau. Continue north-east, locate the small cairn that marks the high point.
Comments:
After saying goodbye to Anne and Arnt, I headed out for yet another Osterøy summit. It takes about one hour to drive to Tysso, the weather was far from good. I started out at 1140 and everything went fine until reaching the trail-fork where Høgafjellet goes right and Tyssesætra left. I immediately lost this vague trail since there was about 5-10 cm new snow that had fallen just last night.
I realized that this was a piece of bad news, since it was unclear exactly where the route went. I had no map, my GPS did not have a map and I did not even load the coordinates of the summit into the GPS unit before departure. In fact, my GPS still believed that it was at Reunion, far south of the equator. This last fact was quickly fixed and I made a waypoint and activated tracks in order to (as a minimum) find my way back.
Fortunately, I came across what looked like a small trail higher up in the hillside. Following this, I soon arrived at Tyssesætra. From here, I sort of knew that I should head uphill, turning more right. It was foggy with a mix of snow and rain, very limited visibility indeed. Higher up, I did notice that the terrain was more rugged with many cliffs. Fortunately, as I searched for a way uphill, I noticed that I was at the lower end of what looked like a big gully cutting uphill. It was filled with snow and was just steep enough to still be comfortable to walk. I quickly gained elevation and arrived at a small pond. The ice was possibly not safe as I walked along its edge. Here, the terrain was higher both left and right - which way to go? Intuition told me that the summit most likely, still would be left. Advancing up there, I arrived at what looked (in the fog) like a large summit area. There were many small humps and absolutely unclear where to find any highest point. Staying on the same line as I had ascended, I suddenly discovered what looked like a tiny cairn a bit further ahead. Sure enough, this was definitely a small cairn. I had arrived at 1345, so a bit more than 2 hours.
I worried slightly that there might be a bigger cairn somewhere, but decided that there was no point in searching as I could not see any promising direction. My GPS showed that I had reached the proper elevation, close to 700 meter. I took a waypoint in order to check my location upon arrival back home. After 5 minutes, I headed back down. This was now easy as I could follow my footprints. I was soaking wet as I reached my car by 1450, thus only one hour for the descent.

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