Blådalshorga, 1302m ("Bukkanut")

Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Kvinnherad
Maps : 1214-I Rosendal (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary Factor: 352m
Hiked : Aug 2005
See also : Brattagrød
See also : Kvitafjellet
See also : Melderskin
See also : Kvannto
See also : Folgefonna S.

Blaadalshorga seen from Inste Laurdalstind

Blådalshorga seen from Inste Laurdalstind


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Introduction

Blådalshorga is the 12th highest independent mountain in Kvinnherad kommune, and although the mountain very much stands out from the terrain, it is not sharp and wild like the "Rosendal alps" or the Ulvanosa massif. But still, the mountain is not the type that attracts the average hiker. There are no paths, and unless you are used to finding your own way up a mountain, you can easily run into awkward situations on Blådalshorga. Possibly of the sort that attracts skiers who like a rough run down a mountain, and you will find them on Blådalshorga.

On the other hand, Blådalshorga is very accessible as you can park the car and directly ascend the mountain. The routes are quite straightforward; either you follow the north ridge and solve whatever "problems" that may appear, or you can hike alongside the mountain on the east side and not run into more problems than what the boulder offers.

Blådalshorga translates to "Blue Valley Peak". The suffix "horga/horgi" normally denotes a rounded mountain with steep faces, and in this region alone you will find Sandvasshorga, Kvanngrødhorga, Sandahorgi - to name a few. The mountain is also known as "Bukkanut" - ("Buck peak") and this is the name that was on the summit visitor register in 2005. More surprisingly - the visitor register was named "Tullingboka" ("The fool's book"). I have no information about this peculiar name of a summit register.

The views are excellent and you see most of the significant Rosendal mountains, as well as mountains into Rogaland county. Yes, you will see powerplants, powerlines and paved roads. Perhaps not quite compatible with the beautiful surrounding landscape. On the other hand, this mountain region has changed from being remote to very accessible for everyone. In my humble opinion, it is important that communities have access to areas like this. If you want true wilderness, you don't have to look very hard in this country.

Primary Factor

Blådalshorga (1214-I: 1302m, Ø.K.: -) has a primary factor of 352m towards the higher Folgefonna glacier. The saddle is found N of Midtryggen, E of Blådalshorga. Ref. the 1214-I map (20m contours), you cross the 960m contours on the high route, but not 940m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 950m.

Over a 10-minute period, I measured (GPS) the summit (top of cairn) to be approx. 1310m. I am quite confident that the summit is higher than 1302m.

Trail descriptions:

Notes: Class ratings are in reference to YDS. Click here for more information.

The trails described below are not necessarily the *easiest* trails to this mountain.

Lake Blådalsvatnet - Blådalshorga round trip (summer/autumn)

Difficulty : Class 2+ to 3 (YDS)
Exposure : No
Comments : Off-trail. Rough terrain
Distance : Approx. 5Km round trip
Time : Approx. 3 hours round trip
Starting Elev.: Approx. 750m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 550m

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 (Oslo). At the Trengereid junction (approx. 25 minutes from Bergen), turn right onto highway RV7. When you arrive Bjørkheim by the Samnangerfjord, drive through two tunnels, and turn right onto highway RV48 (Tysse/Mundheim/Rosendal) shortly after the second tunnel.

Follow highway RV48 to Mundheim by Hardangerfjorden and turn right towards Gjermundshamn (RV49). Take the Gjermundshamn - Løfallstrand ferry. Sometimes this ferry makes a stop at Varaldsøyni island. Allow 2 hours for driving from Bergen to Gjermundshamn, and dialing 177 (Norwegian short-dial for traffic information) or checking hsd.no for ferry departures might be a good idea. Onboard the ferry, you may also obtain the ferry schedule in the cafeteria.

From the Løfallstrand RV48/RV551 junction, turn right towards Rosendal and drive 8,4Km (pass Rosendal and Dimmelsvik). Turn left towards Omvikdal/Åkra/Matre and follow this road 9,9Km. Turn left towards "Blådalsvatn" and follow this road 3,1Km (along Lake Fjellhaugvatn). Turn left towards "Blådalsvatn" and drive 14,6Km. You have just driven through a (the only) tunnel and you have now a parking area to your right.

The route

Ascent via the north ridge

Follow a vague path from the parking up to 800m elevation where the path fades away. Start by hiking "alongside" the mountain (cliffs up to your right). Very soon (920m elevation), find a passage that takes you onto the north ridge. Head up to the top of the first hump (approx. 1090m elev.) and solve problems along the way.

On the way to the upper ridge, you are facing steep cliffs. Seek right, and "around the corner" you will find a good place to get back on the ridge. The ridge consists of massive slab areas, and unless you enjoy minor scrambling, routefinding can become a challenging task. Gradually seek northeast until you are above the steep cliffs towards the east. Proceed up to a small valley at approx. 1250m elev.

The route up from this small valley is perhaps the most awkward part of the route. You will have to look for a way straight up. Harder when the slabs are wet. Once above this problem, you have only broken and rough terrain ahead of you up to the summit. For complementary views, seek towards the second high point, 160m towards the south.

Descent alongside the north ridge

The descent route is easy to follow. Descend along the north ridge all the way back to the trailhead. You have steep cliffs up to your left throughout the descent. The terrain is boulder, and saying which route is the best is a subjective matter.

Trip Report Aug 19 2005


After a very rewarding start of August (my summer vacation), which had included a bunch of mountains in northern Norway, fine peaks such as Eggjenibba and Hornindalsrokken and the main goal for 2005 - Store Skagasølstind, I was on my way for a grand tour around Lake Ringedalsvatnet on Hardangervidda. My dog was spending his summer vacation with my mom up north. Everything was settled for "getting on" with the Hardangervidda mountains.

Everything - except for a bad foot, which got increasingly worse by the day. When I arrived Folgefonnhalvøya, I decided to drive towards Rosendal rather than heading towards Ringedalsvatnet. I didn't risk ending up with a non-functioning foot on the middle of Hardangervidda. Instead, I decided to go camping by Lake Blådalsvatnet. I had only recently "discovered" Blådalshorga when I visited Inste Laurdalstind back in June and saw Blådalshorga dominate the southern part of Kvinnherad.

I stopped in Rosendal to pay a visit to Kåre Eik - one of the leading mountaineers in this region. I met Kåre on my way to Melderskin back in October 2000, but it wasn't until 2005 that we started to email each other. Kåre has my full respect. Whenever I confront him with a steep and - possibly impossible (unsecured) route - he's done it. Gygrastolen traverse, Bjørndalstraversen, Geitadalstind directly from the valley. You name it - he's done them. I very much enjoyed my visit, but it was time to move on.

The plan was to stay in this area a few days and "do it all". I wanted to start with Blådalshorga, which had captured my attention a few months earlier. Kåre had told me where to go, and I followed¨ his instructions. He didn't mention anything about any routes, so that would be all up to me. On the way up Åmvikedalen/Myklebustdalen, there was a slight delay while waiting for a car being towed back onto the road. Apparently, he had to stop for a cat. Yeah, right. The nearest house was several kilometres to the north. When the road was clear, I drove up to Blådalsvatnet and found the spot that Kåre had mentioned, shortly after the tunnel.

I left the car 14:45PM and had a steep and big mountain ahead of me. I got on the north ridge fairly quickly and found the mountain to be "scrambling heaven". Dry rock and good friction. Once on top of the first hump, I had to figure out how to get on the upper part. A steep and long cliffband blocked the way, but after seeking alongside the cliffs and passing "a corner", I found a good route upwards. I headed gradually back to the ridge above the steep east face and ran into another minor problem (slabs) at 1250m elevation. There was no apparent way around, so I headed straight up. It was not difficult scrambling, but there was not many routes to choose between.

I reached the summit 16:10PM and had familiar mountains to the north and to the west, and everything else was quite unfamiliar. I understood that I was looking at the higher Etne mountains that I still hadn't been to, and got a feeling that I have "a whole lot of work" ahead of me in that region. The GPS reported continously 1310m, to the point where I was convinced that the map height (1302m) had to be too low.

I headed over to the other top and concluded that the two tops were (roughly) equally high. I continued north and descended parallel to my ascent route, but below the north ridge. Some snowfields allowed fast progress down the slopes, but in general, the boulder on this route was more tricky than the firm, dry rock on the north ridge. I was back at the car 17:00PM and decided I had time to visit Brattagrød before looking for a campsite.

Trip report continues on the Brattagrød page.

Pictures from the Aug 19 2005 hike:

To Blådalsvatnet

1. Laurdalstind above Rosendal (216KB) 2. On the road up Aamvikedalen (131KB) 3. A slight delay .. (380KB) 4. Hillarsfjellet (259KB) 5. Fjellhaugen (227KB) 6. Geitadalstind (213KB) 7. Hillarsfjellet (610KB) 8. Sandvasshorga (181KB) 9. Blaadalshorga (444KB) 10. Blaadalshorga (414KB)

Ascent

11. On the way upwards (216KB) 12. Veranuten seen on the way up Blaadalshorga (529KB) 13. View down to the road (356KB) 14. Friendly slabs (186KB) 15. Blaadalsvatnet (551KB) 16. The upper ridge (329KB) 17. The upper ridge (374KB) 18. Looking for a route to the upper ridge (259KB) 19. View down the valley (269KB) 20. Scrambling terrain (310KB) 21. Scrambling terrain (331KB) 22. View down the ridge (352KB) 23. Folgefonna seen from Blaadalshorga (367KB) 24. View down the ridge (283KB) 25. Zoom towards the glacier (259KB) 26. Folgefonna seen from Blaadalshorga (600KB) 27. Bjorndalstindane seen from Blaadalshorga (276KB) 28. Awkward point (207KB) 29. Above the awkward point (245KB) 30. Summit is close (232KB) 31. Blaadalshorga summit (109KB)

Summit views, wide lens panorama

32. Blaadalshorga panorama, part 1/2 (1048KB) 33. Blaadalshorga panorama, part 2/2 (1027KB)

Summit views, 50mm panorama

34. North view from Blaadalshorga (1010KB) 35. South view from Blaadalshorga (677KB)

Descent

36. Upper part of my descent route (187KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

1. Brattagrod summit views, part 2/2 (1233KB) 2. Lakes below Veranuten (450KB) 3. Blaadalshorga seen from Veranuten (616KB) 4. Kvinnherad mountains (192KB) 5. Kvinnherad mountains (250KB) 6. Blådalen region (443KB) 7. Blådalen (568KB) 8. Southern Folgefonna glacier (395KB) 9. 85mm zoom view from Helgedalsnuten

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