Fotasperrnuten, 1192m
Skolapp, 1040m
Goddalseggene, 1117m

Mountain area : Kvamskogen Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Kvam Map : 1215-I Norheimsund; (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000) Primary Factor: Fotasperrnuten: 269m Primary Factor: Skolapp: 87m Primary Factor: Goddalseggene: 89m Hiked : 1.st hike Aug 2000

Fotasperrnuten from Nedre Kvanndalen

Introduction

Fotasperrnuten is one of the most characteristic mountains in the Kvamskogen area. The mountain can be identified from a long distance, when not obscured by its higher neighbour Fuglafjellet (1334m).

Unlike the other Kvamskogen mountains, with rounded forms and shapes, Fotasperrnuten appears as a sharp peak when seen from the south. From the east, Fotasperrnuten appears as a typical "hat-shaped" mountain. The mountain appears steep and mighty when seen from Steinkvanndalen valley, and when translated into English, the name could mean something like "Footcramp" mountain.

Primary factor:

Fotasperrnuten (M711: 1194m, Ø.K: 1192m) has a primary factor of 269m towards the higher Fuglafjellet (1334m). The saddle is found between lakes Kvitebekktjørni and Svartabekktjørni. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 925m contours on the high route, but not 920m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 923m.

Goddalseggene (M711: 1117m, Ø.K: -) has a primary factor of 89m towards the higher Fotasperrnuten (1192m). The saddle is found by lake Fotasperrtjørni. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 1030m contours on the high route, but not 1025m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 1028m.

Skolapp (M711: 1040m, Ø.K: -) has a primary factor of 87m towards the higher Fotasperrnuten (1192m). The saddle is found between the two tops. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), you cross the 955m contours on the high route, but not 950m. The saddle height has been interpolated to 953m.

Trail descriptions:

The normal Fotasperrnuten trailhead is nedre Kvanndalen. However, there are two other routes providing interesting round-trips, and both are described on this page. All routes begin or end in Steinkvanndalen valley.

Access to Steinkvanndalen

On highway 7 over Kvamskogen (Bjørkheim - Norheimsund), locate the NAF centre (2,2km from Jonshøgdi, on the right hand side when coming from Bergen). Here you can rent a key to Steinkvanndalen. Current price is NOK 30,- per day. You will have to deposite NOK 100,- which is paid back when you return the key (along with the receipt). The rent of the key is seasonal, all dependent on the shape of the road to Steinkvanndalen. You might want to call the NAF centre to make sure the road is open (+47 56 55 31 31).

Follow the road towards Norheimsund for 1,8km. Exit left when you have a Bed & Breakfast on your left hand side. Turn immediately left onto a narrow gravel road and follow this on upwards. Early on the road, you reach a gate that is normally locked. Use the key here and lock the gate afterwards. You will have to pass another gate on the way to Steinkvanndalen, but this gate requires no key. Make sure you close this gate. There are sheep, cattle and horses walking around in the valley.

Continue all the way down to lake Steinkvanndalsvatnet (the first lake). Find parking down by the lake. The road continues over a bridge and turns left towards upper (Øvre) Kvanndalen. If you plan to do a round-trip via Gråurdi you might want to park at the end of the road. The lower lake is 3,2km from highway 7. It should be noted that the Steinkvanndalen road can be very bumpy.

Nedre Kvanndalen - Fotasperrnuten (summer/autumn) Difficulty : Moderately strenuous Risk : Low Distance : Time : Approx. 1-5,2.5 hours to summit Starting Elev.: Approx. 500m Click for detail map The trail: Walk from the parking towards the nearby cabins. Follow a gravel road that runs by the houses. At the bridge before the innermost cabins, you see a large cairn that marks the beginning of the trail to Fotasperrnuten. Unfortunately, the "T" marking can get a little confusing down here, as there is another trail that runs to lake Øvre Kvanndalsvatnet which is also marked. Follow the river (might be dry) towards the narrow canyon/waterfall which you see ahead of you. Somewhere along the river, you'll find the correct trail. The "T" marked trail runs up the LEFT side of the canyon. It's pretty steep up there, so the only obvious passage is close to the canyon. The trail follows a NE direction for a good while. When you arrive a stairway of boulders, follow this to the top and turn gradually left. Watch for the "T" paint on the rocks. It would be natural to assume one would continue climbing NE (same direction) up the basin below the summit. Instead, the trail turns slightly to the left and takes you to the SW start of the ridge leading towards the summit. You will pass a small just before the trail begins to ascend on the ridge proper. The summit ridge is a slightly complex labyrint between large boulders. The "T" trail might be perceived as annoying from time to time, when it takes detours that doesn't feel natural. There is a mixture of old and new markings. The older feel seems to be more right. Close to the summit, the old markings take you to a small canyon where technical moves are required (nothing dangerous) in order to proceed. However, there are other ways around. Soon, you will have the summit in view, marked by a modest cairn. The views are great. Excellent view towards Iendafjellet and Fuglafjellet. In addition, you have unobscured view all the way to Skrott in the east. On a clear day, you will easily see Folgefonna glacier, Hardangervidda plateau, and much more. On your descent, you can now choose to hike down the same way, across Gråurdi (see separate description below), or down the Goddalseggene ridge (see separate description below). Thanks to Rune Mjelde Blomberg for letting me know about this trail.

Øvre Kvanndalen - Fotasperrnuten via Gråurdi pass (summer/autumn) Difficulty : Moderately strenuous Risk : Low. Distance : Time : 4-5 hours to the summit Starting Elev.: Approx. 580m Click for detail map The trail: Depending on your round-trip plans, you park at Nedre or Øvre Kvanndalen. From the lower lake, you have a couple of km hiking on a gravel road in front of you. At the upper lake, from the parking, head towards the single cabin you see. There is a trail that runs on the west (left) side of the stream coming down the valley. Do not follow this trail. It does not seem to lead anywhere. The main "T" trail begins by the cabin and runs N up the valley (turns slightly NW close to the mountains). Close to the Gråurdi pass, the terrain becomes rocky, and you should make sure you keep track of the trail so you don't lose your way among the giant boulders below the pass. Above the largest boulders, you are now in the valley floor, with the pass ahead of you. There are shortcuts up to your right, but I have not investigated these yet. Safest for now is to follow the "T" trail all the way to the top of the pass. The ascent to the pass is a little strenuous, but safe. No exposed sections. In spring, watch for avalanches. From the top of Gråurdi, seek right and head towards point 1070, a hat-shaped little rock that is quite characteristic. If you feel the urge to climb it, seek to the north side and find a ledge that takes you to the top through a few climbing moves. Head SW towards lake Skrukkatjørn, and follow this on the right hand side. Continue downwards until you see a waterfall coming down from lake Kvitebekktjørn. It doesn't look trivial to climb up near the waterfall, so turn left and start moving upwards in a gully that will take you to the plateau by the waterfalls. On the plateau, and ahead of you, you will see Skolapp (1040m). As this peak is unranked, you might choose to walk around it. With Skolapp on your left hand side, you are now on a large plateau with Fotasperrnuten straight ahead. The access point is the end of the ridge on the far side of the plateau. Walk over the plateau, and near lake Svartavatnet, start hiking up the ridge. Others have said - and I did also experience this, in dense fog - that light climbing (not dangerous) is required at one section higher up the ridge. But on a recent descent on this ridge, I was not able to find this section. However, I did not fully descend this ridge, as I turned south halfway down the ridge. I guess that there are several options on this ridge. The ridge begins with grassy slopes but turns fully into rock higher up. Follow a SW course to the summit. See also the Fuglafjellet page for descriptions and pictures of the Gråurdi pass.

Fotasperrnuten - nedre Kvanndalen via Botnanuten/Byrkjsete (summer/autumn) Difficulty : Intermediate Risk : Low Distance : Time : Approx. 2-4 hours from summit Starting Elev.: 1194m Click for detail map The high point route (not trail): Opposed to the Gråurdi trail, I have chosen to describe this trail the other way around - from the summit and back to base. Note that just west of the route outlined below, you should find the regular trail running over the ridge, but this trail never runs over the high points. From Fotasperrnuten summit, follow the ridge NE half way down, until you see a grassy slope that takes you down to the pass between Goddalseggene and Fotasperrnuten. Climb up Goddalseggene near lake Fotasperrtjørn. The hike up to Goddalseggene is quite easy - from ledge to ledge. Once up on the ridge, head towards the highest point - 1117m. Follow the ridge to the second point - 1106m, and stay on the ridge (now turning SW) for a little while, before you cross over to another ridge on your left. There are no map points on this ridge. This ridge continues SW and drops sharp and steep into the valley between the ridge and Botnanuten high point (1025m). The terrain will continuously surprise you. When you think you have a steep fall ahead of you, there is always a grassy slope that will take you safely downwards. In the valley between the ridge and Botnanuten, you see a major (unsigned) trail junction. But continue head on towards Botnanuten summit. Botnanuten consist of three points - the high point at 1025m, 992m with a small cairn and 964m with a large cairn (with a view). You cross over all these points and exit steep down towards Bårfjellet, towards the building there. Continue all the way to Byrkjesete and pick up the trail that runs to lake Steinkvanndalsvatnet. If you want a shortcut, turn SW towards "Nipen", and follow natural alleys below the steep cliffs. Walk where you feel comfortable. You can hike on grass all the way down to the south end of the lake, where you pick up the excellent Byrkjesete - Kvanndalen trail.

Trip report Aug 17 2002

When Rune M. Blomberg wrote and told me about a newly marked trail up Fotasperrnuten from nedre Kvanndalen, I quickly decided to hike this mountain again. My last hike was in August 2000, together with Roberta and my dog Troll. That was an interesting hike in dense fog which also requires some creating moves up the north ridge. The road into Steinkvanndalen seemed worse than ever. I felt truly sorry for my car, which didn't need this type of road on it's old days. I wasn't quite sure how the trail would start off, and asked the people at the cabin just below the mountain. I wasn't convinced they would know, even if they had a cabin at the foothills. I was right. None of six people sitting outside had any clue. One woman suggested that I hiked up the right hand side of the waterfall. This turned out to be completely wrong, of course. I was annoyed with the marking already from the beginning of the hike. After following the trail towards the upper lake, I understood that this was totally wrong. I headed right towards the waterfall and found the trail running up the LEFT hand side. The path up along the waterfall was a little steep. Not good when icy. But soon I was above the falls and could hike up towards the basin. The markings kept annoying me. Part of the clue with marking a trail, is that you see the next marking from the one you're at. This wasn't always the case here. But I managed to stay on the right track all the way up, so it wasn't all that bad. A mixture of old and new paint was a little confusing. Were there several options going up? I was warned by Rune that it seemed like the person marking the trail had run into dead ends from time to time, and that backtracking was called for. I never had to backtrack, but had to climb up a small canyon, which the old paint led me to. I met a guy who was on his way down, and we discussed the marking. He admitted he was quite annoyed too, but still thought the marking was very helpful in fog. I agreed. After enjoying a brief summit stay, I decided to follow the Goddalseggene ridge and take the long way home. Getting down from Fotasperrnuten was quite easy. I had remembered it to be a little tricky going up the north ridge. I had good pace and arrived Botnanuten "in no time". Then I started to get sick. I wondered if it was the strong sunshine, but I have had plenty of water. Latest water refill was in the pass between Fotasperrnuten and Goddalseggene. I concluded that I had consumed bad water, and decided to pick up the pace, as the bed would be the next place I would want to be in. At Bårfjellet, I skipped the trail to Byrkjesete and made my way down the forest towards nedre Kvanndalen and the lake. Fortunately, the terrain was quite easy and I was back at the car 4,5 hours after I left it. I arrived Bergen 18:30PM and was ill all-time-high until midnight. It felt *exactly* like a combination of the worst hangover and altitude sickness. Quite a day.

Pictures from the Aug 17 2002 hike (from ned. Kvanndal, down Goddalseggene):

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

Other pictures:

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