Norwegian Mountains

Bjørnshiklanten, 817m
Ulvedalseggene, 845m (Sogn og Fjordane)

Mountain area : Matrefjellene/Stølsheimen
Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Masfjorden
Maps : 1216-IV Matre (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary factor : Bjørnshiklanten: 127m
Primary factor : Ulvedalseggene: 95m
Closest villages : Matre
Hiked : June 2004
See also : Brydalsfjellet
See also : Årsdalsryggen
See also : Dukefjellet
Bjørnshiklanten seen from Ulvedalseggene

Bjørnshiklanten seen from Ulvedalseggene

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Introduction

These mountains are found in the western outskirts of Stølsheimen, and just west of the Matre - Ortnevik road. The mountains in this area are rounded and gentle, and you will also find numerous lakes up here. No distinct mountains will immediately catch your attention until you look north, across Sognefjorden, and find the characteristic Blægja and Kvamshesten mountains.

Bjørnshiklanten is located in Hordaland Fylke, Masfjorden Kommune. Ulvedalseggene is located in Sogn og Fjordane Fylke, Høyanger Kommune. The Gulen, Høyanger, Masfjorden tri-Kommune border is found 2Km northwest of Bjørnshiklanten. You can visit these two mountains on a fairly easy hike, described further down on this page. Since the terrain is quite easily traveled, you may extend the hike to incude nearby mountains, such as Svadfjellet, Dukefjellet and Skorvane. See the Årsdalsryggen page for mountains on the other side of the Matre-Ortnevik road.

Primary factor:

Bjørnshiklanten's primary factor towards the higher Dukefjellet is 127m. The saddle is found on top of Bjørnshidalen, where the 700m contours meet. The saddle height is interpolated to 690m.

Ulevdalseggene's primary factor towards the higher Skorvane is found north/northwest of Ulvedalseggene. The saddle is found just west of lake Høgetjørnane where the 760m contours meet. The saddle height is interpolated to 750m. Although this gives a primary factor of less than 100m, it is fair to regard Ulvedalseggene as a separate mountain, as the Skorvane summit is nearly 3Km north of Ulvedalseggene summit.

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.

Stordalsvatnet - all summits round-trip (summer)

Difficulty : Class 1
Exposure : No
Comments : Easy terrain
Distance : Approx. 10,2Km round-trip
Time : Approx. 4-5 hours round-trip
Starting Elev.: Approx. 520m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 650m

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

Soon..

The route

Go towards the "Kringla" trailsign. Follow an almost invisible path up to the phone lines. Head southwest under the phone lines until you reach a more distinct trail. Continue on this trail ("T" trail) until you can see lake Hellersbotnsvatnet. Then leave the trail and proceed off-trail up to Storefjellet in northwest direction. The initial section is the most cumbersome section on the entire route.

From Storefjellet summit (not considered as an independent mountain on this web page), you have good overview towards Ulvedalseggene. The Ulvedalseggene cairn is 1,15Km (direct line) towards the northwest. The terrain is quite gentle.

From Ulvedalseggene main cairn at 839m, proceed to the 845m high point, which is 555m (direct line) further north/northwest. The high point is only marked by a few rocks. On your way towards Bjørnshiklanten, proceed to another marked point, 520m (direct line) to the west. This point is not marked on the map, but has a larger cairn (a few rocks) than the high point.

Bjørnshiklanten summit is now 2,4Km (direct line) further southwest. Maintain a southwest direction all the way, but adjust for the terrain on your way down to lake 675m. The water level will determine where you can cross. Then proceed up to Bjørnshiklanten summit (817m), marked by a tiny cairn (a few rocks).

Descend eastbound towards lake 633m. Once you have the lake in view, you must switchback down the grassy hillside. Once down by the lake, follow the "T" trail back to the trailhead.

Trip Report June 26 2004

Hiking was not actually on the agenda this Saturday, but once other tasks had been completed, I decided to take a drive up to the area around lake Stordalsvatnet. I had never been on the west side of the Matre-Ortnevik road, and figured it was high time. I had seen the area from my hike to Årsdalsryggen, and remembered it to be a bit dull. Why not check if this was really so.

The gravel roads to the cabins were not outlined on the map, but when I saw the "Kringla" trailsign, I expected that I had found the trailhead. We were on the way 14:55PM, and by 14:56PM, I was out of a trail. Less impressed by the trail quality, I decided to follow the phone lines. A trail might just surface. It did, and I followed it for a few minutes until I chose to go off-trail and walk directly up to Storefjellet. Troll was definitely not in hiking mood, and just seemed "out of it". Perhaps it was the warm weather. He surely knew what was coming, but didn't act as usual - "... I hear a voice, but have no clue where it is coming from. I'll look the other way and see if my confusion will disappear". Even if I bend down, and stare in his face, he will continue looking other ways, trying to figure out who's talking. But not today. Today he was just staring. I put the backpack down to the ground, and he ran to me as if it was raining chocolates from the sky.

On Storefjellet, I caused panic among the local sheep, quite taken by surprise. I sat down for a while. Perhaps they would get used to my presence, and over time, accept me as a natural member of the flock. After a few minutes, the "tribe leader" came to check me up. Troll - not able to see the sheep, and being stuck in the backpack - whined when he heard bells jingle. Another strike of panic came upon the flock. More time went by, and the flock came back. This time, I had turned the backpack, so Troll could see what was going on. The flock crowded around Troll, curious and frightened at the same time. Following was a sequence of whine, panic, reassemble, whine, panic, etc. Eventually, the flock was too close for Troll's comfort, and he uttered a profound "Grrr". The flock vanished before the second had passed, and I didn't bother waiting for them to come back.

I arrived the Ulvedalseggene main cairn 15:55PM. The cairn was quite prominent, and I wondered why they had built the cairn here, and not on the high point, a few hundred meters away. I kept on going and collected the high point and one additional point with a small cairn before I headed towards Bjørnshiklanten. The low amount of water in the reservoirs caused the lakes to look like craters. Indeed, not a very pretty sight.

I reached Bjørnshiklanten summit 17:30PM. I checked if Troll was in the mood for leaving the backpack, but he wasn't. This was surely not one of my top hikes. A moody dog and a dull landscape with "craters". I suspect the number of cabins near lake Stordalsvatnet took away some of the feeling on "being in the mountains". I had no desire to extend the hike any further and headed down to the "T" trail. 18:45PM, the hike was over. On the way down to Matre, I talked to some other hikers and learned about good routes to Blyfjell and Klavefjellet. The valley down to Matre is spectacular, and a car trip up here is worth while.

Pictures from the June 26 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.

Important note: Exposure setting was wrong when these pictures were taken, and are of very bad quality. I have yet chosen to release them, as they still will provide an additional level of information.

1. Lake Hellersbotnvatnet. I left the trail here (178KB) 2. Lake Stordalsvatnet (222KB) 3. We were being watched (107KB) 4. Views from Storefjellet (433KB) 5. Views from Storefjellet (587KB) 6. Cairn on Ulvedalseggene (125KB) 7. Views from Ulvedalseggene (830KB) 8. Ulvedalseggene cairn seen from the high point (401KB) 9. This rock marks Ulvedalseggene high point (214KB) 10. Lake Krokavatnet (486KB) 11. Lifjell seen from Ulvedalseggene (115KB) 12. Blaegja/Kvamshesten seen from Ulvedalseggene (95KB) 13. Dam at lake Kvanngrodvatnet (193KB) 14. Troll after 5mins of walking (137KB) 15. Approaching Bjornshiklanten (292KB) 16. Perfect blend (207KB) 17. Views from Bjornshiklanten (371KB) 18. Bjornshiklanten cairn (171KB) 19. View towards Glennefjellet (396KB) 20. T Trail below Bjornshiklanten (265KB) 21. Ulvedalseggene cairn in view (122KB) 22. Lake 670m 23. Lake Hellersbotnvatnet (247KB) 24. Passing Storefjellet (229KB) 25. Lake Hellersbotnvatnet (145KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

1. Brydalsfjellet summit panorama (50mm, part 1/2) (1367KB) 2. Brydalsfjellet summit panorama (50mm, part 2/2) (1498KB)

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