| Flæfjellet from
Eikedalen (ski) Flæfjellet |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but getting up towards the summit from the saddle can be a little steep.. | ||
| Drinking water | No access to drinking water during winter. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (March 2010). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park by trail head (at ski-centre). | ||
| Start height | 453 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 510 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 5.1 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Bergen drive east on road E16. When you get to the E16/7 round-about by Trengereid follow signs for road 7. Drive some twenty-odd km along road 7 and turn left when you see signs for Eikedalen ski-centre. Follow the road all the way up to the ski-centre's car park. Park here.
Start skiing by following the right-most piste, heading directly north. When you get above the piste either continue up the gulley or stay above the gulley on the right hand side. Whatever route you decide to follow you should aim for the saddle between Grøet and Flæfjellet. When you've reached the saddle turn right and find your best way across to the summit.
The descent is best done by reversing the ascent route.
I was spending the whole week at our factory at Hagavik, and this time I had brought my skis. This Wednesday Eric (a French consultant) and I decided to head for some ski-able mountain straight from work. I have learned that if skiing a new mountain area it is a good idea to look for ski-centres, since this is likely to offer good parking and easier access to the mountain. Hence my eyes fell on Flæfjellet, the mountain above Eikedalen ski-centre, the ski-centre closest to Bergen.
We left work a little after 16:00 and arrived Eikedalen an hour or so later. As we arrived the ski-centre it started to snow heavily, but by the time we had changed into hiking gear the precipitation had stopped. A bigger concern than snow or sleet was the very poor visibility, but I had plotted some key way-points on my GPS so we new what direction we should head.
Finding our way up to the saddle between Grøet and Flæfjellet was easy enough, since we were able to follow a distinct gully all the way from above the piste. But by the time we got to the saddle the visibility was down to a few tens of metres, and it was soon going to get dark. Because of the close to zero visibility we were not able to find any suitable places to ascend from the saddle and decided to ascend from the saddle point. This proved too steep for skiing, but by using our skis as steps we were able to make it up the 5-6 metres to flatter terrain. From here we proceeded towards the summit, guided by my GPS.
After having claimed the summit we immediately turned around for the descent in order to get as far down as possible before complete darkness. Getting back down to the saddle was easy enough, following our ascent tracks. But down the gully from the saddle we had problems seeing anything. What made navigation acceptable was the fact that we knew we just had to stay inside the gully. With a mix of side-stepping and one-turn-at-the-time we eventually made it down to the piste, and from here it was fine skiing thanks to the artificial light from the ski-centre.
Back at the car we quickly changed into dry clothes before heading back towards Os. Somewhere along road 7 we stopped for dinner (burger and Coke), and this probably saved us from being caught in a police speed control since we had reduced our speed in order to locate the exit for the cafeteria.