Folgefonna actually consist of three glaciers; the northern (26 Sq.Km), the middle (11 Sq.Km) and the southern (168 Sq.Km). The southern Folgefonna glacier is a plateau glacier, and is the 3rd largest of all Norwegian glaciers.

Due to the large size of Folgefonna S., there are a number of access points for visiting the high point (1662m). The majority of the access points are on the west side. The south and east sides of the glacier are steep and unforgiving. The two most popular routes to the glaciers are from Fonnabu (NW) and Tokeim near Odda (E). The route from Odda/Tokeim is described further down on this page.

Skiing across the glacier is a popular activity, and although long, not quite comparable to skiing across Jostedalsbreen glacier, Norway's largest glacier, and almost 3 times larger than Folgefonna. If you are skiing from Holmaskjera to point 1389 near lake Fonnavatnet (en route to Rosendal), then the distance will only be minimum 20Km (less than 200m vertical gain). However, getting to - and from the glacier comes in addition to the actual ski-trip, and is often the most strenuous part.

Folgefonna from the south

I had been wanting do to this hike for years, and this Easter, there was time to get around to do it. Last time I visited Holmaskjera was the summer of 2000, and hiking was excellent. This time, I expected snow from 600-700m, and expected a hard ski-trip up the mountain.

These days, it is quite easy to get to Odda from Bergen, thanks to the Folgefonna tunnel, connecting Rosendal and Odda. I left the trailhead at Tokeim outside Odda already 08:30AM. The trail towards Tokeimskardet valley is excellent. Even the forest part is great, and the skis never got tangled up in the trees. I ran into snow at about 600m, but left the skis on the backpack. Somebody had been hiking recently, and at this hour of the day, the snow in the tracks was hard. I was much obliged, as this would have been a cumbersome trail to ski. Deep "thunder" was roaring from the mountains as I headed up. It wasn't excactly thunder, but something falling a long way, making a lot of noise. Closer to me, a small avalanche of ice came crushing down from Tokeimsnuten, and as the trail crossed a large snow avalance area, I made a mental note to show extra caution. At the hut just before Tokeimskardet pass, I put the skis on.

When I arrived Tokeimskardet, the route up to the mountain looked much steeper than I remembered it to be. This valley was snow-free last time I was here, and the terrain seemed much more friendly back then. The safe route across the hillside was now just a long, steep hill of snow. Instead of climbing high at once and then maintain high elevation through the hillside, I skied deep in the valley, and then gradually began to climb. Halfway up the hillside, I felt far from comfortable. The plastic rings on my poles were way too small, and they went straight through the snow, causing me to lose balance (mental note: buy better poles). In addition, the light was totally flat, and I had severe problems reading the terrain. I had no desire to fall head-down towards the valley, and took the skis off. After one step, I was standing in a hole with snow up to my chest. I quickly decided that I had a problem. The snow was way too soft to carry my weight. But I concluded that at least I wouldn't be falling, and started the long and strenuous climb up the hillside.

Once I got above the large boulderfield, the snow got harder, and walking got far easier. I found the hillside perhaps even steeper the higher I got, and wondered how it would be like to come down when the snow was much softer. I decided to put those worries aside, and carried on. When I finally got to the pass at the bottom of Tokeimsnuten, a steep section postponed the plans on putting the skis on. Once above this section, at approx. 1200m, I pulled the skis out of the backpack and headed up towards Holmaskjera. I arrived the hut at 12:15PM. I was happy that I was ahead of plan, which was 4 hours to Holmaskjera, even if a winter climb is harder than a summer's hike. The summit was indeed windy, and I took shelter behind the hut. I could have gone inside, but I was only stopping for bisquits and a warm drink.

I left the cabin at 12:30PM. On my previous glacier ski-trips, I was always taken by surprise on how endless these plateau glaciers seem. But I was well prepared this time. The glacier summit was only 5Km away, and that would take a slow skier like me an hour or so. I arrived the summit at 13:45PM, after taking a lot of pictures along the way. I skied around until I found a point where I had level view in all directions, and defined this point to be the highest. Then I checked my GPS with a pre-programmed waypoint, and the device agreed that the highest point had been reached.

I left the summit 13:55PM. By now, the sun was in the process of chasing the clouds away, and it got quite hot in an instant. I skied down past the point where I put on the skis. I'm such a terrible skier, and was glad I was alone on the mountain, so I could get down in my clumsy manners without feeling too embarrased. I saw the ski-tracks from the person who had been up here recently. He (based on shoesize) had been skiing down slopes that I would never think of running down. It was clear that I didn't quite naturally belonged up here, this time of the year.

I took the skis off when I arrived the slopes above Tokeimskardet. The snow was much softer now, and I had to pay hard attention to every step. If I fell through, I would stumble forward. I would probably not slide very far even if the hillside was steep, but the snow was soft as butter. And as such, I could easily break a leg if I got stuck. But I got down safe and sound, and put the skis on further down the hill. Then I skied down on the trail below Tokeimskardet until it was simply too steep to make turns. The views towards the mountains across Sørfjorden were awesome. The mountains were shiny white, the sea was blue and the valley was green. Great contrasts. I kept a good pace down the trail and reached the car exactly 16:55PM, 3 hours after I left the summit. And thanks to the good infrastructure in this area, I came off the ferry at Gjermundshamn (on the Bergen side of the Hardangerfjord) at 18:15PM.

Roberta Dezao had taken the long trip from San Francisco to Bergen and was looking forward to see the country she had heard so much about. In one week she got more summit views than the average American tourist. During that week, we visited Livarden in Fana, Ulriken in Bergen, Fotasperrnuten in Kvamskogen, Holmaskjera on Folgefonna, Tverrbotntind in Jotunheimen, Runderabben in Stølsheimen and Skrott in Øystese. And prior to this we cruised around California, picking California county high points. It was truly a summer of hiking.

Roberta had practically never hiked mountains before, but showed no signs of wear and tear. I was very impressed with her endurance. Her hiking boots, which probably is perfect for a sunny day's hike to Mt. Diablo proved very inefficient when hiking on hard snow/ice. Some support was needed to avoid sliding all the way down to the lake below Tokeimsnuten. A father with three kids solved the problem by carrying them over, one by one. The weather was just too good to be true, and we were quite surprised by the inferno of wind at the Holmaskjera hut. We had severe problems opening the front door. Inside, Roberta grew immediately fond of the tourist hut concept, and wanted to sleep over. But as we had a reservation at Leirvassbu, we had to move on. And Troll did his part exceptionally well - walking the whole route - up and down.