Stussfjellet, 684m

Mountain area : Stussdalen/Romarheimsdalen
Fylke/Kommune : Hordaland/Lindås
Maps : 1216-IV Matre (Statens Kartverk, Norge 1:50 000)
Primary factor : 106m
Closest villages : Vike
Hiked : Dec 2003
See also : Storlifjellet
See also : Steinhusfjellet
See also : Tverrvassfjellet
See also : Blåfjellet
See also : Gråsida
Stussfjellet seen from Hemningsfjellet

Stussfjellet seen from Hemningsfjellet

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Introduction

Stussfjellet lies just west of highway E39 at the south end of Romarheimsdalen valley. There are higher mountains all around, and Stussfjellet is a great place to get a good overview of the southern Masfjorden and Matre mountains. The hike described in this document will fit those who like to wander about in rough landscape. The starting point for this hike is Stussdalen, which probably is the most convenient access point for Stussfjellet.

Primary factor:

Stussfjellet has a primary factor of 106m towards the higher Blåfjellet The saddle is found north of the summit, and the saddle is interpolated to 578m.

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.

Stussdalen - Stussfjellet (summer/autumn)

Difficulty : Class 2
Exposure : Low
Comments : Rough landscape
Distance : Approx. 10Km round-trip
Time : Approx. 4 hours round-trip (w/o pause)
Starting Elev.: Approx. 110m or 210m
Vertical Gain : Approx. 580m or 480m (total)

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 E39 towards Førde. Pass the toll station on Nordhordlandsbrua (fee for passenger car per Dec 2003 is NOK 45,-) and continue 41,6Km northbound. Exit E39 left towards Stussdal. Either park just after the bridge, or continue approx. 800m upwards and find parking on the left hand side of the road. You have to pay a fee at the nearest house if you want to park high.

The route

Follow the road, which turns into a private road. The road passes two houses, descends slightly and continues southwest before it changes direction and turns northwest. Follow this road all the way to road end. Approx 20-30m before you reach the parking by lake øvre Sætravatnet, notice a couple of large boulders on your left. On your right, locate a vague forest path that runs up the nearest cliff. There is only one logical place for this path to climb the cliffband, so make sure you find the path. When icy, there is one point up the cliff that calls for some caution.

On top of the cliffband, the path descends a little before it climbs again. Within a short period time, you will see that this path is following a distinct ridge upwards. To your right, you have a steep drop down from Stussfjellet. Follow the ridge up to 500m. You are now in a small basin. On your right is the west ridge that you will be following upwards. Just left of the ridge is a gully that you also can follow. Further left is another steep section which is the northwest face of Stussfjellet. Further left is a valley and then a ridge. This is the ridge you will be coming down if you follow this description. As you can see the ridge to the left ends suddenly in a drop, but there is a safe and easy way down.

Start climbing the west ridge or follow the gully on the left. This gully tops out in a col just below the summit. Once in the col, turn left and follow an easy route to the top. When icy, there is just one logical place to get from the col to the summit ridge. Per Dec. 2003, the trig. point pole had fallen down. This is located on the east side of the summit plateau. Further left is the viewpoint cairn.

Descend by following the north ridge down to a lake. Turn left by the lake and follow a ridge that has a valley on each side of the ridge. As mentioned, this ridge ends suddenly, but it is easy to find a good route down. Eventually, you are at the foothills of the west ridge. Follow your ascent route back to the forest road.

Trip Report Dec. 21 2003

It was time to do Stussfjellet. I had wanted to visit this area for a long time, and given the amount of snow plus the strong winds, 684m was a perfect height for this Sunday. When I left Bergen, there was not an inch of snow on Ulriken (643m). When I left highway E39 at the Stussdal junction, there was snow on the Stussdal road at 110m. Quite a contrast, considering it is only 50Km (direct line) between Ulriken and the Stussdalen road.

I watched the narrow and snowy road up Stussdalen. I examined the road conditions. A tractor and a vehicle with chains had driven up here. I decided to park the car at the bottom, and we were on our way just before 10:00AM. Troll surprised by walking eagerly up the steep road. There were tracks in the snow. Someone had maintained the sticks on the side of the road, and Troll was going from side to side, determined to track this object down. Good for him, good for me.

Then we arrived the Stussdal buildings, and I chatted with a man I met up there. He suggested I should leave the forest road when I reached the parking up by the lake. We continued up the forest road, and I was a bit discouraged when I watched the steep and icy walls below Stussfjellet. I wondered what kind of hike this would be. As there were no more tracks to follow, Troll soon lost interest in walking and became passenger. Up by the lake, I found the trail the man had talked about. Getting up the cliffband involved a tricky passage on ice. I didn't look forward to going back down here. I managed to follow the path for a while until it disappeared under snow, but now the route had become obvious. Follow the ridge I was on, and then follow another ridge up to the right, which seemed to connect to the summit. I was quite satisfied. The route looked both fun, doable and safe.

The ridge required a lot of zig-zags due to ice. When some cliffs blocked the way on the ridge, I descended into the gully to the left. The upper part of the gully was icy, but didn't offer any problems. On the top of the col, things looked a bit more difficult. There was ice all over the place. Then I noticed some rabbit tracks and after a closer look, these tracks gave me a safe access to the summit ridge. There were no more problems and we arrived the summit 11:45AM. The views were quite extensive, and there was all the reasons in the world to take a long break on top. But the winds were fierce and after a quick round of pictures I had to start moving again. Troll was shivering and I suggested that he should walk instead of sitting still in the backpack. He agreed.

I decided to follow the north ridge down to the Stussfjellet-Blåfjellet saddle before I followed another ridge southwest back to the start of the west ridge. From there we followed my tracks back to the forest road. After a very nice hike, we were back at the car 13:05PM.

Pictures from the Dec 21 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. The lake at the end of the forest road (85KB) 2. Steep walls on Stussfjellet (160KB) 3. Lake Tverrvatnet (284KB) 4. The Stussfjellet western ridge (185KB) 5. In a gully by the western ridge (206KB) 6. Stussfjellet summit area (174KB) 7. Summit view from Stussfjellet (389KB) 8. Summit view from Stussfjellet (230KB) 9. Stussfjellet summit (98KB) 10. Summit view from Stussfjellet (560KB) 11. The north ridge (197KB) 12. At the foot of the west ridge (524KB) 13. The west ridge (177KB) 14. The ridge where I descended (172KB) 15. Troll on the way down from Stussfjellet (180KB) 16. My little buddy (171KB) 17. Tricky point near the forest road (192KB) 18. Heading home on the forest road (110KB) 19. Looking back on the steep walls (184KB) 20. At the Stussdal houses (91KB) 21. At the Stussdal houses (118KB) 22. The Stussdal road (108KB)

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Pictures from other hikes:

1. Stusfjellet seen from Steinhusfjellet (497KB) 2. Stusfjellet seen on the way to Skinahaugane (154KB) 3. South view from Storlifjellet (497KB) 4. Panorama from Husafjellet (737KB) 5. East view from Horgi (968KB) 6. Slettefjellet summit views (zoom) (432KB)

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