Norwegian Mountains

Husafjellet, 372m*

Mountain area : Straume
Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Vaksdal
Maps : 1216-III Stanghelle (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary factor : 114m
Closest villages : Straume
Hiked : Feb 2004
See also : Storenipa
See also : Tofjellet
See also : Storfjelli
Husafjellet seen from the road

Husafjellet seen from the road

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Introduction

The primary feature of this low forest hill located above Straume, is the exceptional view down to Straume. When you look down from the top plateau, you have almost 300m free fall down to Straume ahead of you. A nice place to sit down and enjoy the everyday life from a bird's perspective.

The hill is easily accessible. The road to Dyviki takes you half way. Then follow a ridge route (some off-trail) all the way to the top. In addition to a good view towards Straume, you also get good views towards Bolstadfjorden (south and north), Hesjedalsnovene, Skarddalsfjellet and Norafjella.

Height and Primary factor:

Husafjellet has no height on the M711 map or the 5m contour map on Norgesglasset. The upper contour on the 5m map is 370m. I have interpolated the height to 372m.

Husafjellet's primary factor towards the higher Skarddalsfjellet is 114m. The saddle is NE of Husafjellet, and the 260m contour (5m map on Norgesglasset) define the saddle. The saddle height is interpolated to 258m.

Trail descriptions:

Note: Class ratings are in reference to YDS (Yosemite Decimal System).

Note: The trail described below is not necessarily the easiest trail to this mountain.

Straume - Husafjellet (all seasons)

Difficulty : Class 2
Exposure : None
Comments : Forest road and off-trail
Distance : Approx. 2,4Km to top
Time : Approx. 1 hour to top
Starting Elev.: Approx. 50m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 320m

Map of the area
Map of the area
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Detailed map
Detailed map
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Access

From Bergen, follow highway E16 towards Oslo. From the Bergsdalen junction at Dale, follow highway E16 for 2,8Km and exit left onto highway 569m. Follow highway 569m for approx. 6,1Km. You have now just passed the bridge across Bolstadfjorden and arrived Straume. Exit right when you see the "Dyvik 2" sign. Follow this road for 400m and find parking.

The route

Follow the road towards Dyvik. Although this road can be driven in summer, I suggest you park near the "Parkering" sign. Follow the road to the highest point. Follow the road as it descends for 170m and exit left. You will soon see a cliffband up to the left that you should bypass on the right.

Once above the cliffband, the rest of the route is rather obvious. The general direction is more or less northbound. At this point, you might see a forest trail that takes you up to the 260m contour where you enter the center ridge. Follow the center ridge all the top. This is perhaps a class 1 route, but I have graded it class 2, as there is a lot of juniper bush to fight up the ridge. In other words, the ridge is not easily walked, although there are no steep parts or other difficulties.

Trip Report Feb 07 2004

The rain was whipping the windows when I woke up this Sunday morning. I decided to stay indoors and spend the day doing various useful stuff. By 11:00AM, I wasn't able to kid myself anymore. I called Sverre Langhelle at Straume and asked how the weather was in those parts. I got to know Sverre at a previous hike to Tofjellet, and now I stop by whenever I'm in the neighbourhood. The high mountains were fogged in, but I decided I could go for one of the low forest hills near Straume.

The weather on my way to Straume was downright bad. It was snowing heavily at Vaksdal, although the snow melted as it hit the road. The fog was 100m above sea level. But I had experienced earlier that the Straume weather could be quite different than the Vaksdal weather. Sure enough, the Straume weather wasn't all bad. I stopped by and chatted with Sverre before Troll and I headed up the road towards Dyvika 13:35PM.

When it was time to leave the road, Troll had to take the free ride in my backpack. There was no way he could walk in that terrain. High bushes, holes in the ground, and partly deep snow. The route up the hill was quite obvious, and even if it was both raining and snowing, the view was good. We reached the top 14:35PM, and while Troll was enjoying his (partly earned) lunch-box, I was enjoying the great view down to Straume.

We didn't stay long on top. I was soaking wet, and Troll was shivering. Probably because he wanted more lunch. Dachshunds are shiver experts. "You're embarrassing yourself", I told him, and sure enough, the shivering ceased. We returned to the car 15:15PM, and I rang Sverre's doorbell to tell him about the hike. He had been out catching a marten ("mår" in Norwegian) in one of his traps. He then did a trick on Troll, pretending the marten was alive. Sverre had expected that Troll would back off. But as it happens, this family of creatures is exactly what dachshunds are meant to terminate. And Troll caused no shame to fall on his kind, running straight into the marten's face.

The weather had started to clear up when we left Straume. But once back on highway E16, it was pouring down. At Vaksdal, it was still snowing pretty dense, but the snow didn't hit the road. As such, staying with the speed limit (I have to say that) worked fine. But suddenly, just after one of the Vaksdal tunnels, the snow *did* touch ground. Entering a couple of cm with splash in 80Km/h took me and the car by quite a surprise. But we lived to tell...

Pictures from the Feb 07 2004 hike:

Move cursor to read notes, and click on the images to see full version.
Some of the thumbnails may have been cropped to fit the format.
Pictures are presented in the order they were taken.

1. On the road to Dyviki (155KB) 2. Heading up the Husafjellet ridge (142KB) 3. On Husafjellet ridge (94KB) 4. Solid winter below 300m after 1 week of rain (206KB) 5. View towards Norafjella (191KB) 6. On top of Husafjellet, approx. 372m (231KB) 7. Straume seen from Husafjellet (294KB) 8. Straume and Bolstadfjorden seen from Husafjellet (120KB) 9. Storenipa seen from Husafjellet (168KB) 10. Illebruni and Hesjedalsnovene seen from Husafjellet (153KB) 11. Eagle above Illebruni (53KB) 12. Hesjedalsnovene seen from Husafjellet (258KB) 13. Bolstadfjorden seen from Husafjellet (174KB) 14. Skarddalsfjellet seen from Husafjellet ridge (260KB) 15. A piece of ice on the Dyviki road (157KB) 16. Husafjellet seen from Straume (138KB) 17. Husafjellet seen from the road (170KB) 18. Husafjellet seen from the road (88KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

1. Panorama from Kvamsnovi (259KB)

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