Søtefjellet

  • Søtefjellet
  • 767 m
  • Primary factor 104 m
  • Os, Hordaland, Norway
  • Location: North 60:18.978 East 005:32.772 (GPS on the summit)
  • Difficulty: YDS class 1
  • Climbed February 26, 2012.

Information:

How to get there:
Drive south from Bergen on E-39, towards Os. Just after lake Kalandsvatnet and a short stretch of the road with speed limit 80 km/h, look for a road going left with the sign "Hausdal 10". Take this road. Drive slightly beyond the small place named Fjelltveit. I drove slightly further than the trailhead in order to find parking. There is parking off the road on the left hand side for about 2 cars. Park here, location N60:18.629 E005:30.253, elevation about 67 meter.

Route description:
From the parking described above, walk back on the main road about 200 meter. Your trailhead is the first small road that goes left (when walking south). Cross the first small hump and follow the farm road as it descends to the south end of lake Samdalsvatnet. Cross three different creeks, then ascend gently along the road to lake Ulvvatnet. Here, the trail forks, take the left fork that runs on the north side of Ulvvatnet. Continue a bit east, the trail then turns more north. With snow on the ground one may loose the trail in this area. Make sure that your path runs by location N60:18.207 E005:30.921, elevation about 115 meter. Head more right and get all the way across to the creek that is coming out from a small gorge ahead and on your right.
Ascend the ridge that rises just left of the creek. There is a small, but quite visible trail heading uphill. This trail stays on the ridge and provides a nice route up to Søtefjellet.
Higher up, you will see a reflector that serves the local mobile phones in Hausdalen. The trail continues along the highest crest and climbs more steeply a short stretch, before the terrain levels out. There are several fairly large cairns along the way. Continue to follow the ridge uphill until you arrive at the summit named Søtefjellet, about 760 meter, and marked by two small cairns. However, the highest summit is across a small col further east. This summit is marked by a pole with a mail box. Unfortunately, the lid is missing and the summit register is completely soaked and frozen.
Comments:
I tried to ski this summit a week ago via Sveningen, but the wind was just too strong. Since then, we have had mild weather and rain. Thus, skiing was out of the question and I decided to hike this mountain along its south ridge.
I parked along the main road and started hiking at 1055. The route was nice and I quickly gained elevation. I took a short break by the reflector, then continued uphill. I finally ran into snow, but the recent mild weather followed by the cold temperature this morning had created an icy, solid surface. I put on my crampons and continued to the summit. I quickly realized that the nearby summit across to my right (east) was most likely the highest point and headed across to it, arriving approximately at 1315. The nice morning weather was about to end. I took a few pictures before heading down. The hike down was pretty straightforward, I was back at the car around 1455, altogether a nice 4 hour hike.

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