A superb weekend in the Aurland region
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | norgeskart.no |
| 03.07.21 | Vargabreen | 1766m | 336m | Hold/Aurland/Ulvik, Norway | – | MAP |
| 04.07.21 | Høganosi | 1666m | 96m | Aurland, Norway | – | MAP |
Vargabreen (1766m), Jul 3 2021
Saturday: I was thrilled today. Anne and I had decided to drive up to the Aurland – Hol mountain region to visit Vargabreen – the 2nd highest top in the former Hordaland county. This was a top that I didn’t get around to do while I was living in Bergen (1998 – 2006) and as such – it was a priority!
The plan was to camp out and we were prepared to bike all the way from lake Vestredalstjørna by RV50. But when we got there, we noticed that the gate was open. We stopped a car coming down, and the driver told us that it was totally OK to drive until the road end. This would save us from 7,5km of biking – and a lot of uphill. This was totally a bonus!
I really don’t know what happened, but I freaked out a bit before the final hill and decided to park the car at 1440m. As we walked up this hill, I saw that it was totally fine to drive. It was just a 0,5km extra walk, so no big deal.
We walked along lake Store Vargevatnet (1432m-1410m) and picked a ledge at around 1480m that looked nice from a distance.
I enjoyed myself big-time! En route for a top I had been thinking about for so long, going camping and in brand new terrain!
We got to the campsite, put the tent up and figured we had found the perfect spot!
The time was only 3pm, so we decided to hike Vargabreen this afternoon. No point in spending hours at the campsite, doing nothing.
The hike started out by a near-accident on Anne’s part.
It was quite a bit of snow left, and now we were in the month of July…
It took us 1h:20m to reach the top (from the campsite), and now Vargabreen was IN THE BAG!
The official Vargabreen high point is located on the Aurland, Hol and Ulvik municipality border – formerly Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud and Hordaland counties. Now, Buskerud is part of Viken county and Sogn og Fjordand and Hordaland have merged into Vestland county.
The “strange” thing was that while I felt I was in brand new terrain, Flakavassnutane – Hordaland’s 3rd highest top – visited in 2005 – was only 4,9km away.
While up here, we decided (of course) to also visit the north top – also 1766m. It would be very annoying if the map authorities suddenly decided that the north top is the higher of the two, and we did NOT go there…
There were not too many mountains standing out in the horizon, but we definitely recognized Store Skagastøstind – Norway’s 3rd highest top – 90km to the north/northeast.
Once the north top was visited, we followed a route parallel to our ascent route until we were back on track at approx. 1580m.
Returning to the campsite was so nice. The spot was just perfect, with running water nearby.
Then it was time for dinner – freeze dried, yet mucho tasty!
After dinner, we had to choose who would sleep inside. Karma drew the shortest straw…
Time to call it a day…
STOP looking at us that way!!!
OK, I guess this tent is big enough for all of us…
Trip statistics: 9,9km, 450 vertical meters, 4h:20m
(incl. the walk to the camp)
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Samsung SM-G960F/Iphone 8) from the hike:
Høganosi (1666m), Jul 4 2021
Sunday: The weather was not great when we woke up on Sunday morning. Nothing like when I was out 4am on an … errand.
But at least it didn’t rain.
We rigged down the campsite and headed back to the car, but our stay up here wasn’t quite over yet.
The plan was now to hike Høganosi – seemingly a “bonus hike” from the road to lake Store Vargevatnet.
And it was all good when we headed out…
It got a bit steep after a while, but we found a good route up. “Good” as in – providing the rock was dry.
But then the weather deteriorated – rapidly.
The front hit us hard on our way up to the top, and we had to put more clothes on.
It was not pleasant at all by the time we reached the top. We didn’t stay a second longer than we had to, before turning around.
The “good route” was not so good now that the rock wasn’t dry anymore, but we’ve seen worse…
We had good clothes, but still got wet. And Karma got VERY wet…
But eventually, we were off the mountain and could cruise back to the car where dry clothes were waiting…
The rain didn’t take anything away from this GREAT weekend! Anne was particularly happy about us stopping in Aurland, visiting a cafe…
Trip statistics: 6,5km, 320 vertical meters, 2h:10m
(incl. the walk from the camp)
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Samsung SM-G960F/Iphone 8) from the hike:
