Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions - Oksen, Ingebjørgfjellet

Norwegian Mountains, Hordaland

Oksen and Ingebjørgfjellet, July 7 2001

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.

Trip notes

Walking quickly, I reached Larsbu in 1h 45min, and 1 hour later, I reached Oksen. After a 30min break (yes, that's right) 1h 30 min later I was on top of Ingebjørgfjellet. Altogether, including rests and photo activities, the hike took me 6,5 hours. It would be wise to plan for more, because I was walking faster than average speed.

Amazing views, as the pictures hopefully show.

The trail was cleverly planned. A hike from 20m to 1241m has to be steep, but some "resting" stretches had been put in. Nevertheless, this is a strenuous hike, but without any airy moments. Lots of good running water above 700m. GSM coverage on top of Oksen. I didn't get an elevation reading on my GPS until 650m, due to the valley, I guess. The GPS indicated route length of 16,5Km, but that doesn't include the first 650m, ascending and descending, unless 2D mode gives accurate Km.

The sheep crowds was way too human-friendly. It was like they were screaming "hey, the icecream guy is here!". And they all came running. I was licked three times on my way up and two times down. Funny in the beginning, but when the sweat is gone, the sheep doesn't stop licking. They start biting.

On a warm summers day, bring a towel, and wet it in the streams. You'll need it to keep cool and to survive from massive bug attacks. I was inches away from a sunstrike, as I didn't wear sunscreen. But my towel probably saved the day.

[VENT] When I arrived Granvin, I wasn't sure how to get to the other side of the bay, so I asked a lady for directions. As her eyes concentrated -hard- I got a bad feeling. She told me to go through the Vallavik tunnel and then right on the first exit. I had a bad feeling, but followed her instructions. When I entered the tunnel - "Vallaviktunnelen, 7.5Km" I cursed that woman big time. It turned out that I was on the correct road when I stopped and asked. Well, I only blew 17Km all together.

Which was nothing compared to the A G G R E V A T I O N I had for those two German camping vehicles who held 50/60 Km/h from Norheimsund to Granvin - over 40km distance! Flashing lights and honking the horn didn't seem to give them a clue. It must have been 30 cars - PLUS - in the queue behind them. And it was impossible to pass. Last year I called the department of transportation and asked them to -please- put up signs in foreign languages to encourage slo-mo vehicles to let traffic pass. Their response was - a good idea - but that would deviate from the Norwegian roadsign standard. In Alaska (!) you get fined if you have 5+ cars behind you. I rest my case.

Moral: In July, coming from Bergen, drive through Voss. [/VENT]