Norwegian Mountains

Våganipen, 819m

Mountain area : Søre Fusa
Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Fusa
Maps : 1215-III Fusa (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary factor : 716m
Closest villages : Sævareid, Baldersheim
Hiked : Feb 2002, Nov 2003
See also : Grønlinutane
See also : Lukefjellet
See also : Steinen
See also : Petter's Våganipen page
Vaaganipen seen from Ottanosi trail

Våganipen seen from Ottanosi trail

Introduction

Våganipen is located in Søre Fusa, and is a very prominent mountain. It is the highest mountain between Gjønakvitingen in the north and Ulvanosa (Uskedalen) in the south. It is also the highest mountain on the mainland south of highway 48 (Eikelandsosen - Mundheim), in addition to being higher than any mountain in the Sunnhordland region, which includes Tysnes and Stord. On your way from Eikelandsosen to Mundheim you get the mighty steep Våganipen east face in view when you drive along lake Skogseidvatnet.

The views from the summit are extensive. You see the Folgefonna peninsula from north to south and all the way up to Vassfjøra above Ulvik, in addition to the high peaks in the Kvamskogen area. Bergen is hidden behind the Sveningen and Gullfjellet massif, but you have most of the Sunnhordland region in view from the summit.

The main paths to Våganipen run from Markhus and Haga/Baldersheim. A variety of routes can be chosen from these starting points. In addition to the route from Haga/Baldersheim, an off-trail route from Henanger is described on this page.

Primary factor:

Våganipen (M711: 819m, Ø.K: 818,66m) has a primary factor of 716m towards the higher Tveitakvitingen (1299m). The saddle is found near Uglhus in Mundheimsdalen. The high route continues across Daurmålsegga and Tåkenuten. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 105m contours on the high route, but not 100m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 103m. This ranks Våganipen as #11 in Hordaland, based on this prominence/independence metric.

The nearest higher summit is Våkefjellet (823m), 11,12Km to the north-east. The nearest higher summit with a higher primary factor is Tveitakvitingen (1299m/856m), 16,84Km to the north-east.

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.

Access common to all trails

From Bergen, follow highway E16 towards Oslo. At Trengereid, exit right onto highway 7. Follow highway 7 down to Samnangerfjorden, pass Bjørkheim and then two tunnels before you exit right on highway 48 (Tysse/Rosendal). At Kilen, approx. 35,4Km after you turned onto highway 48, exit right onto highway 549 towards Sævareid/Baldersheim.

Haga - Våganipen (summer/autumn)

Difficulty : Class 1
Exposure : None
Comments : Long hike
Distance : Approx. 5,8Km to summit
Time : Approx. 2,5-3 hours to summit (w/o pause)
Starting Elev.: Approx. 80m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 750m

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

See "Access common to all trails above".

From Kilen, follow highway 549 approx. 13Km and exit left just after a short tunnel. Follow the gravel road and pass a few houses Approx. 1,1Km after you turned onto the gravel road, you reach a cemetery. Park here.

The route

From the cemetery, you see two forest roads. Follow the one to the left. This road is also a 4WD road, but I suggest all hikes should start from the trailhead. The forest road climbs rapidly, to the border of steep. After you've reached the highest point of the road, the road descends some. If the melting season, you might have to cross a little stream crossing the forest road. A trail seems to go up to the left here, but that is not your direction.

About 1,5Km from the trailhead, you reach another trail junction. You will see a few signs. One of them points towards Vågenipen. Exit the forest road and hike left on a forest trail approx. 150m until you reach the top of a hill (Markhusskardet). Then turn 90 degrees to your right, and locate a narrow forest trail that climbs steeply, marked with red paint on a tree.

Note that if you're looking for a short route up to Markhusskardet, then start from Markhus. Refer to the Helleknappen page for information about this trailhead.

The forest trail might be very wet, so be aware. The trail climbs steady upwards in north-east direction. Soon the trail joins with another trail (coming up from your left). After a while you get above the timberline and on the Dyrfjellet mountain. You cross over a series of plateaus before the trail (red paint on the rocks) ascends to the summit plateau. If it is foggy, these plateaus never seem to end. A proper cairn with a trail register marks the summit.

Henanger - Våganipen (summer/autumn)

Difficulty : Class 2
Exposure : None
Comments : For those who don't need a trail
Distance : Approx. 3,6Km to summit
Time : Approx. 2,5 hours to summit
Starting Elev.: Approx. 25m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 800m

Map of the area
Map of the area
(No Javascript)
Detailed map
Detailed map
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Access

See "Access common to all trails above".

From Kilen, follow highway 549 approx. 4Km and exit left when you see the "Sævareid Kapell" sign. Park by the Chapel.

The route

Note: This route is excellent for those who like to hike off-trail in the terrain. If you bypass the obvious obstacles, this route is quite easy.

Pass the chapel on the left hand side and cross a small stream further down. Head upwards and locate a vague path that will lead you into the forest. Up to your left is the ridge leading to Stegane and down to your right is the stream from the forest. The terrain is easier towards the left. If you reach cliffs, then seek left to bypass, unless you an obvious route upwards.

Once above the cliff section, the terrain gets increasingly easier. You can either seek left and pass Stegane with views towards Sævareidfjorden or stay in the valley leading to the Stegane/Middagshaugen pass. Your choice. When you reach this pass, then turn right and look for a way up towards the eastern side of Middagshaugen. Facing the steep hill towards Middagshaugen, there are significant cliffs to your right, so a diagonal traverse up to the left is the best choice.

If you took the optimal route, you arrive a meadow at the east end of Middagshaugen (Vardastøl on the 5m detail map). Ahead of you is the Våganipen summit ridge, elevation 500m. Cross the meadow and head upwards. The ridge (Våganipshjellane on the 5m detail map) offers a splendid ridge walk with great views. There are no parts on the ridge that offer any sort of difficulties. It is simply a pleasant walk. Down on your left you have the steep drop towards Henangerskardet. The summit is marked by a proper cairn and a summit register.

Trip Report Nov. 9 2003

My friend Petter and his 14 year son Pål Jørgen had scheduled a hike to Våganipen this beautiful Sunday in November. I had been to Våganipen in 2002, but had no impression of the summit or the views due to miserable weather. I had done a proper hike to Grimsnuten the day before, and felt for something lighter. I told Petter that I wanted to come along for this hike.

Petter had chosen the north ridge as the ascent route. This route had the potential of being possibly steep and cumbersome, and I chose to let Troll stay at home. He was clearly tired after the Grimsnuten hike. We left the trailhead at Sævareid Chapel 11:10PM and headed up the ridge towards Stegane. Last time I visited Våganipen, the hike began next to a cemetery. And there was of course a cemetery next to this Chapel also. If this mountain had been a steep and dangerous one, this "setting" might have been a candidate for bad fortune.

I had been on far worse forest hikes, and found the terrain much less complex than I had expected. The forest from Stegane to Middagshaugen was steep, but problem free. I was in a creative mode, and given that I had no dog to carry around, I had hoped for a somewhat more challenging ascent. Soon we were on the main ridge leading to the summit. PJ and I played around with some cliff climbing, in lack of other challenges. We reached the summit 13:00PM and found the views simply breathtaking. This was clearly my playground, as I knew most of the summits in the horizon. I was disappointed when no summit register from last year was around. Not even a register from 2003. Only a piece of paper to sign our names on. We looked towards Vesoldo where Petter and PJ had been one week earlier. They had struggled in deep snow on the way to the summit, but now Vesoldo was snow-free. In one week, 200-300m of snow had melted away. Just amazing for this time of year. After spending 30 minutes on the summit we decided to head back down. PJ and me played around with some more cliff climbing. It's quite fun when you know you won't die if you fall down. Near Middagshaugen we met a guy who was looking for sheep. He had one sheep left on the mountain, and he had battled this sheep earlier that day. The sheep won. While heading down, we discussed one person's chances with a sheep that has decided to spend some quality November time alone on the mountain.

Back in the forest, we didn't pay very high attention to our ascent route and earned a variation of the route. This variation had the promise of some potential problems due to high cliffs. But we always found a way around the most tricky parts. We were back at the Chapel by 15:05PM, nearly 4 hours after we started. It was yet another fine day in the mountains.

Trip Report Feb. 17 2002

It was one of those days you have to gamble. The weather forecast promised clouds, rain and some sun inbetween. I chose to stay away from the larger massives, as they would probably stay fogged in. Våganipen was a better choice, just south of the large Kvamskogen massif. From the highway, I saw that Våganipen was clear of fog, and praised my abilities as a weatherman. However, when I reached the trailhead (after asking around), the fog was omni-present and it rained heavily. I decided I was not too clever after all. But I did guess that it would stop raining within 15 minutes. And it did. And not one more drop of rain during the entire hike.

But the fog was a bitch. As I entered the forest, the trail was easy to follow at first, but it got harder when snow covered the trail. On the mountain, I saw no trace of the trail and just headed in what appeared to be an obvious direction. The mountain plateau was endless. I knew I was on the right track, but couldn't believe how long this mountain was. The fog and the snow became one, and I kept falling over and over again because I misread the terrain. At last there was a steep section where I had to walk in the deep snow, as the rock was impossible to walk on, due to ice. After 2,5 hours we arrived the summit cairn. Troll hit the backpack just before the final climb, and ate his lunch-box in record time. In fact, the box flipped upside down, and he still continued eating....

It started to clear on the way down, and by the time I reached the forest, I had an ugly feeling the mountain behind me was clear of fog. And as I looked at the mountain from the highway, on my way home, the fog had gone. If I just had waited 30 more minutes...

Pictures from the Nov 9 2003 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. Heading up the forest (231KB) 2. Middagshaugen high above (172KB) 3. On the way to Middagshaugen (191KB) 4. Meadow east of Middagshaugen (113KB) 5. Tomravardafjellet seen from Vaaganipen ridge (140KB) 6. Gjonakvitingen seen from Vaaganipen ridge (138KB) 7. Petter on Vaaganipen north ridge (81KB) 8. Snerta and Nessteinen seen from Vaaganipen ridge (84KB) 9. Henangerskardet pass (221KB) 10. Top of Henangerskardet pass (115KB) 11. PJ on Vaaganipen summit (101KB) 12. North view from Vaaganipen (541KB) 13. East view from Vaaganipen (371KB) 14. South view from Vaaganipen (363KB) 15. West view from Vaaganipen (368KB) 16. Petter and PJ on Vaaganipen (164KB) 17. Rosendal alps seen from Vaaganipen (121KB) 18. Tysnes/Stord mountains seen from Vaaganipen (113KB) 19. Leisure activities below Vaaganipen (185KB) 20. Steinen - a fun piece of rock (96KB) 21. A fun looking cloud (92KB) 22. Having descended from Middagshaugen (85KB) 23. View from Stegane (155KB) 24. Saevareid (152KB) 25. Back in the forest (215KB) 26. Saevareid Chapel (92KB) 27. The beginning of a massive cloud attack (44KB)

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No high resolution images are available from this hike.


Pictures from the Feb 17 2002 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. Vaaganipen seen on the way to the mountain (151KB) 2. The cemetery where the forest road begins (181KB) 3. The trailhead by the cemetery (172KB) 4. On the forest road (183KB) 5. Where the trail leaves the forest road (222KB) 6. Climbing the final sections, looking back (286KB) 7. Beginning of the steeper sections below the summit (136KB) 8. Beginning of the steeper sections below the summit (162KB) 9. Vaaganipen summit, 819m (108KB) 10. It was difficult to separate snow from fog (37KB) 11. On the way down, the fog started to give in (221KB) 12. Typical terrain on the Vaaganipen plateaus (193KB) 13. End of the mountain, on the way down (196KB) 14. Entering the forest, on the way down (195KB) 15. Helleknappen appears, on the way down (55KB) 16. The upper part of the forest (167KB) 17. Gronetuva and Roedsfjellet by Saevareid seen from the car (98KB) 18. Saevareidfjord seen from the car (90KB) 19. Saevareidfjord seen from the car (78KB) 20. Vaaganipen seen from the car, on the way home (58KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

1. Close-up of Vaaganipen from Daurmaalsegga (117KB) 2. Vaaganipen seen from Roedsfjell (451KB) 3. Vaaganipen seen from Bergsfjellet (177KB) 4. Vaaganipen seen from Haugafjellet (154KB) 5. Vaaganipen seen from Steinen (135KB) 6. South view from Saata (130KB) 7. Vaaganipen, Sore Fusa (120KB) 8. Fusa mountains seen from Snerta (604KB) 9. Southern Fusa (199KB) 10. Southern Fusa (282KB) 11. Vaaganipen (89KB) 12. Vaaganipen seen from the Tysnes ferry (271KB) 13. Ilefjellet summit view (541KB) 14. Vaaganipen seen from the Tysnes ferry (138KB) 15. North view (zoom) from Vestrefjellet (410KB) 16. Rødsfjellet summit views (346KB) 17. Fusa mountains (196KB) 18. Fusa and Tysnes mountains (216KB) 19. 50mm panorama from Grønlinutane (1563KB) 20. Våganipen seen from Grønlinutane (627KB)

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