Location: North 59.85961, East 007.01011, (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed March 30. 2014.
Information:
How to get there:
Locate highway E-134 connecting Haugesund (south of Bergen) with
Telemark and Oslo. The main tunnel (more than 5 kilometer long) on this
mountain crossing is called Haukelitunnelen. A good starting point is the
turnout at the west end of this tunnel. This turnout is at location N59.83919, E006.98871,
elevation about 1090 meter.
Route description:
From the trailhead, do not cross the road, but climb the slope that starts out
from the summer road, you will then cross over the tunnel and gain the area near
lake 1144. From here, you see the south summit (1567m) of Stavsnuten. The route
will climb natural passages on the south side, thus ascending to the small col just east of point
1441. From here, one can ski up the ridge to gain the south summit at 1567. Now, follow the main
crest, first a gentle descent, next pass on the right side of the small top in order to
gain the last saddle before the final slopes leading to the summit. There is a nice ramp
(going left to right) that may be skied up to the flat summit plateau. Finally, proceed across
to the summit cairn.
There is a steeper alternative climbing 200 vertical meter just east of the south summit (1567m).
This may be a good line to ski back down when the snow conditions are favorable.
Comments:
This was a very nice Sunday morning. The first morning of daylight savings time,
thus few people at breakfast 0730, as of yesterday this was 0630. I bumped into
a couple from Germany, just before breakfast. They had skied from Finse and arrived just
yesterday. This morning, they had failed to catch a bus, part of a complex scheme to travel
back to Geilo. Since this wasmy destination today, I offered them a ride. Good to have a big
car, they had a full sled, backpacks, skis and more. We agreed that I would do my planned
morning ski climb, then return and pick them up.
Thus, I parked on the west side of the long Haukeli-tunnel at 0845. The snow had been
wet yesterday, but now the temperature read -5 Centigrade. I waxed with violet klister,
then got going at 0850. The snow was hard and icy, just as expected. Still, I made good
progress and the skis had good traction. Finding a good route was not too hard, some close
looks at the map before leaving paid off today. I summited at 1050, a very nice summit and
incredibly good weather. No wind and bright sunshine. A very nice mountain landscape
all around. I stayed until 1105, then started back down.
Skiing down the upper part required some caution as the slopes were very hard and
icy. Lower down, the sun had already made a soft top layer and I enjoyed a series
of nice turns ending at the final, flat area just above the E-134. I was back at
my car shortly after 1200 - noon, then returned to pick up the German couple for
a very scenic drive to Geilo.