Norwegian Mountains, Sogn og Fjordane
Svarstadveten (591m) and Hogden (601m), Oct 8 2011
+ Lodalen bike trip
To the main Hogden page (maps,
route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
Svarstadveten and Hogden
(Click for larger image)
Svarstadveten & Hogden:
This weekend was spent in the
Stryn - Loen region. Anne worked on
SNO's stand on the
Strynemessa
exhibition, but had the Saturday off. Our base-camp was the Loenfjord hotel
in Loen. After days and days of rain (and snow in the mountains), the weather
was improving - allowing us to do something nice outdoors. We agreed
to spend Saturday a) hiking Hogden in Stryn and b) biking the beautiful
Lodalen valley afterwards.
Hogden was a natural choice,
being the only mountain in the Stryn region that was not buried in snow.
Moreover, we had not been to the top before. We didn't know anything about any
routes up the mountain, but I suddenly remembered that my friend Arngeir had
visited this top earlier in the year. I went to his most excellent website
haramfjell.com and found a
good description of a round trip route across Svarstadveten and Hogden.
The route, as seen in Google Earth
(Click for larger image)
We drove to Vinsrygg (just
outside Stryn) and parked there. After 1,1km on the toll road to Lundasætra, we
found the forest path that took us up to Svarstadveten. We ran into some
snow above 500 meters, but snow would definitely not be an issue on this
hike. Had we headed up to Gryta, then things would have been different.
It looked like skiing conditions up there.
We reached Svarstadveten 12:05pm
- 50 minutes after leaving Vinsrygg. It was very nice to be up here. The
combination of the sun (which we had missed for quite a while), the snowy
mountains, the blue fjord and the drifting fog was just awesome. And then
I went nuts with black and white pictures. Go figure...
On Svarstadveten
(Click for larger image)
We moved on and followed the
marked path towards Hogden. After 0,7km, we reached a lake and felt that
the path was now going in the wrong direction. As such, we decided to continue
off-trail directly towards Hogden. After crossing some real boggy
terrain, we joined a path - probably the same we had been on earlier - just
before reaching the top of Hogden. And seconds later - 12:40pm - we
"celebrated" Hogden summit.
On top of Hogden
(Click for larger image)
As Arngeir had described, there was a path going east,
and we followed it. 0,5km later, we arrived at a viewpoint, where we had
first class view towards Stryn. The path seemed to end here, but I
remembered that Arngeir wrote "go left" here. So we did, and located the
forest path again. We followed the path until we reached the Lundasætra
road, and were back at the Vinsrygg trailhead 1:30pm - 2h:15m
after heading out.
Stryn
(Click for larger image)
Lodalen bike trip:
We returned
to our hotel in Loen and pulled our bikes out of the car. Our
destination was the road end in Lodalen - with high and mighty mountains
towering above. I had been to Bødalsætra a couple of times, but never
really paid attention to the valley itself. A bike trip would be the
perfect opportunity to do just that.
On the way to Lodalen
(Click for larger image)
"Road end" was a 21km
bike trip away from the Loenfjord hotel, and I was really looking
forward to every inch of it. One captures so many more details on a bike. As we reached Lovatnet,
we were surrounded by Hellsetefjellet, Høgrenningsnibba, Meleinsnibba and Ramnefjellet - all
new acquaintances to me. And "up the road" was Kjenndalskruna and
Nonsnibba. This was great! Just great! Anne felt right at home,
of course. This is
her "backyard"...
Along Lovatnet
(Click for larger image)
To
my surprise, there was a bit of traffic along the road, but I soon learned that
the Ramnefjellet landslide (1905) is still a significant tourist
attraction. We overheard someone mentioning that they couldn't see the boat
that the tsunami washed on shore (understatement). Then, Anne took charge...
Anne, explaining things
(Click for larger image)
Approaching
road end, Anne showed me the new Kjenndalsbreen glacier
access road, which got re-constructed under her supervision. The old road got washed away during a heavy
rainfall. This part of the valley was just crazy - with Kjenndalskruna towering
above like a monster.
Approaching Kjenndalsbreen
(Click for larger image)
What a fantastic
bike trip! And yet another 21km was awaiting - in the opposite direction. I'll
never forget the Kjenndalskruna view. I posted the below picture on
Facebook, and someone mentioned the north wall of Eiger. Not a bad comparison?
Kjenndalskruna
(Click for larger image) |