How to get there:
We drove to the Hardanger fjord and took the
ferry across to Rosendal. From here, we continued
south and subsequently turned left (east) and followed
a road built in connection with hydro electric power plant
constructions. This road climbs to some (dammed) lakes and
passes through a tunnel just before it ends. We parked at a turnout
near the end of the road.
Route description:
The route climbs steeply between some rugged mountains and
enters the glacier mid-way up one of its southern fingers.
From here the route climbs, gradually levelling off until one
passes the highest point. We continued skiing to the DNT
self serve hut called Holmaskjaer.
The next morning, we continued skiing off the southern glacier and
into the fairly deep and distinct valley that separates the southern
and the northern glacier. The initial climb up on the northern
glacier was a bit steeper and the snow conditions were poor.
After the crossing of the northern glacier we turned back and
skied to the DNT self serve hut called Fonnabu. This hut is on the
southern glacier further west, overlooking the terrain above
Rosendal.
Comments:
I did this ski tour with my Ph.D. student
Eero Vainikko from Estonia. We had intended to ski the
entire glacier (first south then north), but upon the
discovery that there was no convenient way to hitch hike
back to the car we turned around after reaching the highest
point on the north glacier and skied back to the car.
Thus, we did a double crossing, first from south to north, then
from north to south. We had dense fog on our return ski across
the south glacier.
Resources:
Images
Folgefonnen seen en route to Copenhagen on July 8, 2004.
