Trail head and parking by Almeland.
Start of path to Solbakkefjellet.
| Solbakkefjellet from
Almeland Solbakkefjellet |
| Estimated net time | 2-3 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Nothing reliable along the route. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route, but a bit patchy in the valley a little after trail head (April 2010). | ||
| Parking | Room for one or two cars at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 115 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 440 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 8.2 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Bergen drive south to Nesttun, and then road E39 towards Os and Stavanger. Approximately 6 km from Nesttun, while driving along lake Kalandsvatnet, turn left where signed for "Bontveit". Drive 1.2 km along this road and turn right onto the road "Almelandsvegen". Drive across the small bridge, and turn right immediately after the bridge. Drive another 200 metres along this gravel road until you see a forest road forking off to the right. Park here, making sure you don't block any other vehicles.
Start walking by following the forest road uphill. After approximately 600 metres the forest road turns right and starts to descend a little. Less than 100 metres later the forest road makes a sharp left, while another forest road continues straight ahead. You should do the sharp left turn. Walk 150 metres down to where the forest road starts to climb again, and turn right onto a slightly smaller forest road. Follow this road 700 metres east and south, until you've reached a small plateau. Turn left here onto a path through the forest.
Follow this path north and north-east another 700 metres, up to a plateau out of the forest. Then descend a little and continue on the path, now marked with red-and-white ribbons, all the way to the summit. This latter part crosses some boggy sections, but all except one can easily be bypassed. The summit is marked by a concrete cairn as well as a nice proper cairn. Note that there are uncertainties regarding what point is the highest, where the cairn is located or some couple of hundred metres further north, but if you make it to the cairn you should rightly be allowed to claim the summit.
The descent is best done by reversing the ascent route.
Another day working at our Hagavik factory, and another opportunity for a nice evening hike. This Thursday didn't produce the same fine weather as the previous days, but there was no reason why a hike wasn't on. I decided to do Solbakkefjellet, but cannot give any other reason for this than "because I hadn't been there". But who needs to give a reason for some fresh air and a bit of exercising?
After a quick stop back at my hotel in order to change into hiking gear I found my way to Bontveit and trail head, thanks, as so often, to Arnt's first class instructions, and soon I was on my way along the gravel road towards Almeland. After a couple of hundred metres of easy running I started to think about the route, and something was wrong! I stopped and pulled out the print-out of the route description, and immediately saw that I should have follow the forest road from where I parked, and not the gravel road. Read the instructions properly, if that's what you're relying on ...
Well, back to the car, and then up along the forest road. From then on it was plain sailing during the rest of the ascent, but during my ascent the weather deteriorated considerable and while at the summit it started to snow. Yes, snow not sleet, despite the car showing 7°C at trail head. And it was a bit windy. This made me quickly put away any thoughts of heading across to the potential other summit candidates, and instead I started my descent after a few rounds with the camera.
The snowing soon stopped, but a few minutes after I reached the car it started to rain, and while driving back to Os it started to pour down. Good to be inside a car, and even better to be back at the hotel and a hot shower.