The Statkraft-cabin, seen from a few tens of metres below trail-head.
The route to Fugleleikhøa from the mountain road.| Fugleleikhøa from
Statkraft-cabin Fugleleikhøa |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties. |
| Drinking water | Unknown. |
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (November 2009). |
| Parking | Room for a few cars around trail head. |
| Start height | 1088 metres |
| Vertical metres | 315 metres for the roundtrip. |
| Trip distance | 5.3 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
The Statkraft-cabin, seen from a few tens of metres below trail-head.
The route to Fugleleikhøa from the mountain road. |
On road E136, approximately 5 km north of Bjorli, exit where it is signed for "Brude". Follow this road 1.7 km until the road forks. From here follow the right leg, going uphill. Drive another 6.4 km along the mountain road, and you will see a cabin on the left hand side of the road. A few metres after the cabin you can park along the road.
Start walking by following the mountain road north, for 1.0 km (after approximately 350 metres you pass the stone cabin Johanhytta on your right). Then turn left (north-west) and aim for the summit of Fugleleikhøa. The summit is marked with a cairn, and there is an old trigonometric point laying at the ground.
The descent is best done by reversing the ascent route.
We were spending this late November week-end at one of the Rolls-Royce cabins at Bjorli, with the intention to kick off the skiing season. Unfortunately the only snow that could be skied was the artificial snow at the ski-centre, and the snow here was in places more like ice than snow. However, my family set off for the slopes, while I decided to bring my snow-shoes and take on Fugleleikhøa.
The most difficult aspect with this hike was the driving to the trail head; because of snow that had blown across the mountain road I had major problems in a couple of places, and when I got to the Statkraft-cabin (the name "Statkraft-cabin" is a name I have invented, as I assume the cabin in question is owned by the Norwegian power company Statkraft) I didn't fancy driving any further. Apart from from the fact that the amount of snow on the road was tricky, it was also far between safe places to park the car, so when I saw the available place to park the car just after having past the Statkraft-cabin I decided to play safe.
The weather this Saturday was fine in terms of wind and temperature, but the visibility was for most very poor. But having got this far, the poor visibility wasn't going to stop me from "getting some fresh air". And besides the visibility was never so poor that I couldn't see the summit.
After a short stop at the summit, in thicker fog than during my ascent and descent (very typical for 2009!), I made it back down to the car in just under half an hour. Back at the car I had some concerns both about getting the car back on the road and also the drive back down to road E136, but everything turned out well.