Location: North 60.79799, East 005.37643 (GPS at the summit).
Vaksdal, Norway
Difficulty, YDS class 2
Climbed on November 4. 2020
Information:
How to get there:
Drive E-39 north from Bergen, fork left on Hwy. 570 immediately before the
long Eikefet tunnel. Continue north, then east almost to the small community
Andvika. Turn right at location N60.81778, E005.36560. Find parking somewhere
up this road.
Route description:
Continue up this road, it continues as a tractor road, then trail up to
near 400 meter of elevation. Continue south to the well defined summit.
Note:
See information about the prominence of Bergdropen.
My research after the hike revealed that this summit is less than 100 meter prominence,
while my information before doing this hike claimed at least 100 meter of
prominence.
Comments:
This trip was indeed very confused. My plan was to climb Kvamsfjellet. As I was
driving towards the trailhead, my thinking circled more around the disturbing
US presidental election. It is hard to understand how more than 68 million
Americans can vote for a president that in full public says that the election
is a big fraud etc.
Without really paying attention I stopped in Mjanger, about 5 kilometer short
of the proper trailhead in Elvika. I walked up a nice tractor farm road heading
for the top of the hill. This all looked ok to me and indeed, the elevation
of the local hill just above Mjanger is near 390 meter, quite close to Kvamsfjellet.
However, as I came up near this hill, I noticed that the terrain further
north was clearly higher than it could be. Looking at my map (finally!) it became
clear that I was several kilometer to the east. My next idea was to look for
the highest peak in this terrain. A quick glance on the map revealed that the highest
point in this local terrain was Vardefjellet, about as far from my location as possible.
It was raining and I had planned for a short an easy hike, however I had quite a bit
of time and decided to hike across to Vardefjellet.
I arrived there at 1355, now what next? To return the same way seemed unattractive.
I noticed that going south to Bergdropen, then backtrack to the trail descending to
Kvingedalen would be an option. I could then hike back to my car by road.
I decided to give this a try, the hike south went well. I walked north of
Torskarhøyden 507m, then arrived at a steep cliff,
but found a ramp that took me down near a small lake. I contined along the
broad ridge and then to the shallow pass where a big cairn indicated the
trail down to Kvingedalen.
The last leg, up to the highest point on Bergdropen, called Blåfjellet
on the map, took longer than anticipated. The terrain was slippery, many
small ponds blocking my way, but finally, I stood on Blåfjellet with
a good view down to lake Blådalsvatnet. The time was
1455. A small cairn was located east of what looked like the highest point.
There was a second high point further west. I needed to visit there as well.
Leaving around 1505, I realized that this hike would take all available
daylight. I had not looked much at the remaining part. I returned to
the trail serving Kvingedalen. This trail was marked with red and white sticks
and generally easy to follow. I came down to the first farm around
1630. From here, a road hike back to my car. This was certainly longer
than imagined, but I was finally back around 1715 after a quick walk.
