Røysetoppen, Valdreshorn, Stølhaugen, Sep 12 2021

Autumn break, day 8

Overlooking Begnadalen from Puttekollen aka Valdreshorn

Index

Peak Height PF Municipality
Røysetoppen 204m 130m Hole, Norway
Puttekollen (Valdreshorn) 509m 207m Sør-Aurdal, Norway
Stølhaugen 915m 138m Nord-Aurdal, Norway

Continued from day 7

Sunday: It was time to check out from Langesund Bad, but first – a morning swim and then breakfast.

Karma doesn’t feel the need…
But Anne did…

It would a shorter transport leg today than last Sunday. We would go to Anne’s place in Sogndal and I would return to Sunnmøre on Monday evening.

We took E18 from Langesund and I was quite impressed about the motorway. It’s been many years since I drove here and it felt JUST FINE to go in 110km/h. Legally.

Near Drammen, we aimed for Begnadalen and Fagernes. That is, Anne opposed to driving through Fagernes, but when I reminded her that her car was parked at Leira I heard a “oh noooo” from the passenger seat. She had looked forward to being a passenger all the way to Sogndal and had completely forgotten about her car.

Røysetoppen (Hole)

Our route “across” Røysetoppen

It was time to walk the dog and Anne found that we combine walking the dog and get a new pf100 top – with absolutely no other effort than a short detour from E16.

The “top” is located on the peninsula between Nordfjorden and Steinsfjorden and peakbook.org calls it Røysetoppen. There is a health institution on the south side with the same name and maybe the hill goes under that name too.

On our way to Røysetoppen

We followed Skarpsnogata road and hiked from the northeast side of the hill. We didn’t find any path and had to cross the field. The harvesting had been done, though.

This is my kind of transport day. Let the dog do its thing and get a new pf100 while at it!

Very cool!

On our way back to the car we followed a visible path which just took us back to the field.

Heading back to the car

Trip statistics: 1km, 45 vertical meters, 17 minutes

Puttekollen / Valdreshorn (Sør-Aurdal)

Our route up and down Puttekollen

We were now in Begnadalen, en route for Leira outside Fagernes. We were looking for a more proper top that wouldn’t take all day. We found Puttekollen. Or Puttekøllen as the locals say. Or Valdreshorn – which feels just like too much – given the many fine and prominent Valdres mountains and peaks.

Puttekollen aka Valdreshorn

We found a toll road near Begna Bruk, which we followed up to Kverna and then some. When we found the forest road that we had planned to follow, we saw that another car had parked there and so we parked there too.

Karma wonders what adventures lie ahead of her…

It turned out that we could have driven this road and saved ourselves from 1,1km of walking. If that ever was a goal…

Hiking along a perfectly good car road…

We found a signpost and got on a forest path.

We prefer paths over forest roads any day!

After a short hike, we were on the forest ridge and could start looking forward to get another top.

The forest ridge ahead of us

And then pf100 top #2 for the day was in the bag!

On top of Puttekollen
View from Puttekollen
Begna Bruk

We took the same route down and were back at the car 1h:15m after leaving.

Trip statistics: 4,3km, 280 vertical meters, 1h:13m

Stølhaugen (Nord-Aurdal)

Our route up and down Stølhaugen

We eventually got to Leira outside Fagernes and Anne got her car back. We split company as I planned to visit Stølhaugen between Strondafjorden and Sæbufjorden and then we would meet up in Sogndal.

At Ulnes, I took road 2484 upwards. I was not sure if the forest roads near Stølhaugen were open for the public. Worst case was that I had to start at 700m elevation and get a few extra kilometers.

I chose the road on the southwest side of the top and I spoke to a local who said it was OK to drive there. There was a gate (open), and he promised no one would lock me in.

I parked at Plassastølen and chose a path that I saw on the map, just west of Mollestadbekken creek.

Our trailhead – at the highest point on the forest road

This was a forest harvest area and walking was cumbersome, but still easier than off-trail.

Aaarrgh!

I made a mistake and headed for point 912m instead of the 915m high point. I didn’t realize this before I got to the top. Yes, I should have paid more attention to the route.

At point 912m

The high point was 0,6km to the northwest and we just had to get going. The terrain was not fun and it was impossible to locate the exact high point. So, we went everywhere near the high point just to maximize our chances of actually having been to the high point.

Nominating a high point on Stølhaugen

We took a direct route to the disaster road we followed upwards and returned to the car 1h:19m after leaving. Which isn’t bad, considering this top was higher than 900m!

Heading back

Back at the car, we sat course for Sogndal. I was indeed happy about having visited 16 new pf100 tops in 8 days. A great autumn break!

Continued on day 9

Trip statistics: 4,5km, 180 vertical meters, 1h:19m

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