Base-camp Selhamar
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Hundeggi | 1190m | 140m | Vik i Sogn, Norway |
| Storehaugen | 1054m | 104m | Vaksdal, Norway |
| Bjørnshaugen | 1106m | 36m | Vik i Sogn, Norway |
| Nipane | 1143m | 213m | Vik i Sogn, Norway |
| Raudberg | 1143m | 133m | Vik i Sogn, Norway |
| Tindafjell | 1251m | 101m | Voss/ Vik i Sogn, Norway |
Saturday: Anne and I were to spend this weekend at the Selhamar DNT hut in Stølsheimen, together with our friends Mara and Jannike, and their kids Isis and Storm. The weather forecast looked very promising and I looked forward to get myself 4-5 new tops, all surrounding Selhamar.
The gravel road from RV13 (Vikafjellet) to the parking by lake Kvilesteinsvatnet is approx. 23km, but it felt like twice the distance. The road wasn’t THAT bad, but bumpy – as gravel mountain roads tend to be. On the positive side, I had never been here before and really enjoyed heading into a “weekend adventure”.
We met the others at the parking. They were ready to head towards Selhamar and we would catch up with them later on.
The route to Selhamar was quite nice. First, along a gravel road, then along a nice path across a ridge. 4,2km altogether.
When we got there, the others found their rooms while I wasn’t so sure what to do. There are two cabins, and dog owners and dogs can stay in one of them. I had hoped I could have the dog in the room, but this was not allowed here. There was a room by the entrance with 3 crates, and as I had spoken with two girls while paying the road toll, I learned that they had two dogs and were heading for Selhamar. Moreover, I wasn’t sure if any of the crates were already taken. Then and there, I decided to head back to the car in the evening and sleep there.
HUNDEGGI, STOREHAUGEN, Sep 7 2019
But first, I wanted to go hiking. We agreed that I could do a hike on my own, then we would get together and hike later on.
I took Karma and headed for Hundeggi. We followed a path southbound for 1,2km until we reached the Torvedalen/Trefall fork. Here, we went left and followed the Torvedalen route upwards.
The path was marked and easy to follow, albeit quite wet in places.
The route to Hundeggi was ~2,7km and when I left Selhamar at 2pm, I had hoped we would reach the top within the hour. That was not a bad guess, as the time was 2:57pm when we stood by the summit cairn.
We hurried back down, as I assumed the others would be ready to go hiking by now.
We met the others close to the bridge by Selhamar. They had got tired of waiting and had expected me back already. The plan was to go to Storehaugen and we decided to do a round trip hike. So, we continue up back to the Torvedalen/Trefall fork, but this time continued on the Trefall route.
After a while we had to start thinking about getting off-trail and get to the dam by lake Vassøyna. That was NOT a pleasant off-trail walk (bush, bush and bush) but finally we made it to the dam.
Here, Jannike, Mara and Isis decided to return to Selhamar along the path along the lake. Anne, Storm, Karma and I continued towards Storehaugen.
We followed a gully upwards, which Storm found exciting.
After a short ascent above the gully, we were on the REAL top of Storehaugen. Storm liked this mountain and thought that the name “big hill” wasn’t a proper name. Although it wasn’t exactly alpine, I certainly agreed with him.
We took a different route down, enjoying the nice wiew…
Autumn in Stølsheimen, in good weather, is always nice…
Back at Selhamar, the others had started preparing Taco evening and soon it was time for dinner!
After dinner, the two girls with the two dogs hadn’t arrived yet, but I was quite happy with returning to the car and wished the others a good night and possibly goodbye. At first, I had planned to return to Selhamar to join them for brekfast, but as my hiking goals for the next day would start by the car, I didn’t want to hike 8km+ just for breakfast. Anne could catch a ride with the others back to Sogndal. And if I met them, that would be a bonus.
The evening hike back to the car was nice. The sun soon disappeared and it was almost dark when we returned to the car. I sat down with half a bottle of wine and my latest Jack Reacher book before calling it a day.
Trip statistics: 21,6km, 980 vertical meters
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 8) from the hike:
NIPANE, RAUDBERG, Sep 8 2019
Sunday: I woke up at 6am, but didn’t feel like getting up just yet. I was quite cold after spending the night in my summer sleeping bag. These types of sleeping bags never live up to their promised and I regretted not bringing my down bag – fully tested in -30 deg. C. on the Greenland icecap.
But after a while, I got the JetFuel going and after a couple of hot chocolate drinks, I was ready to start the day.
Karma and I left the car 8:04am and headed up straight up the ridge leading to Bjørnshaugen. From here, I had a good view towards my goals – Raudberg and Nipane.
The terrain was more fun than I had first thought. There are some pretty steep west-facing cliffs and getting into the valley between Bjørnshaugen and Nipane called for some route finding.
The ascent up to Nipane was straightforward and by 9:03am, I reached my new top #90 in 2019. Only 10 more until I had reached my annual goal. And perhaps the count was 92 before calling it a day?
From Nipane, we continued along the ridge towards Raudberg. That mountain looked intriguing, as it was not obvious that I could get up where I planned to go. But first, I had to find a way into the pass between Raudberg and the ridge we were on…
It was easy to get up to the small plateau below the summit, and I was very curious about the final pitch. If I hadn’t brought a dog, I would have gone scrambling all over the place. Very fun terrain!
The final pitch went well too, and we could celebrate the summit of Raudberg!
We continued southbound – aiming towards the route between the parking and Selhamar. When we reached the Selhamar path, we had 2,1km ahead of us before returning to the car.
TINDAFJELL, Sep 8 2019
The time was only 10:34am, and I assumed the others would sleep long and have a late breakfast. So, I decided to aim for Tindafjell. This would surely be the longest hike of the weekend – certainly more than 10km. I decided to cut down the walking distance by biking the 1,7km to the dam.
From the dam, I continued on foot, along lake Kvilesteinsvatnet. I was happy to find a path here!
The path led us up to Valmyrane, a large meadow which was dry and allowed us to head straight over it.
I was a bit uncertain about where the best route would be, and I was also uncertain about where the top was. So, I had to pull out the GPS and get a bearing towards the summit. But it wasn’t as simple as heading directly towards the top. We had to go where the terrain would let us.
We then arrived at a lake at approx. 1100m, and I had the summit ridge ahead of us.
After ascending grass and slabs, we entered a small valley where I could the summit a bit ahead.
By 12:16pm, we stood on top of Tindafjell, and my peak count was now #92. 8 to go. Certainly doable!
Also fun was that the nearest peak was Grøndalsfjellet (1375m), 2,9km to the northeast. This is a peak I visited in October 2002, when I was collecting Hordaland county tops. Back then, tops in Sogn og Fjordane county was of less interest. This autumn, I had on several hikes been close to Hordaland peaks I visited 16-17 years earlier. It feels like a lifetime ago…
We returned the same way, hoping that the others hadn’t left when we got back to the car. If they hadn’t I planned on waiting for them.
They hadn’t left. Actually, they arrived ~10 minutes after we reached the car. We then drove to Vangsnes to catch the ferry to Hella. Then Storm caught the lucky straw and got a ridge to Sogndal in a totally awesome car…
This was a brilliant weekend. Spent with good friends, 5 new mountain tops, 43,5km of hiking, nice weather and a part of of Stølsheimen that I hadn’t been to before.
Trip statistics: 21,9km, 980 vertical meters
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:
