This was my opening hike during this long three-week trip where not only did I do a long, grueling route but also managed to get into a pickle – my style on the way down. If you have hiked with me, you probably know what that means but if you don’t, keep reading.
For starters, I think I need to explain how I chose these hikes. When I started planning my trip to Norway, I wanted to do the iconic hikes, you know, the ones that come up in every single search you do, mainly Preikestolen, Trolltunga and pulpit rock. With that in mind, my driving and lodging route was a loop starting from Bergen going to Odda, Stavanger and then back to Bergen. As I researched more, I learned a couple of things about these iconic hikes that didn’t resonate with what I like and why I hike. On one side, they are so popular that solitude is impossible but the other is that, to get those iconic shots, you may end up waiting in line for a couple of hours for your turn! That seemed ridiculous to me, so I dropped the idea of doing these hikes. Since I had the lop pretty much set, I started looking for hikes along the way and discovered a whole bunch that offered distance, elevation, scenery and solitude. I did drop the stop in Stavanger stop and opted for staying closer to Odda to reduce even more my driving time in favor of hiking time. So, on the road from Bergen to Odda, I found this hike to be the most interesting, not only because the main destination at Breidablik but also because it offered a couple of potential routes to do a loop instead of an out and back.
The hike starts from the little town of Fitjadalen, a little village on the north side of lake Fitjadalsvatnet just north of Oystese. Just from the start I learned a couple of things about trails in Norway that would prove correct and constant. They are very well signed and marked, and they go straight up, no switchbacks. The first section of the hike goes thru the woods gaining elevation really fast. At a particular turn, I found a sign for Kvandalen that was not in my maps but seemed to go to a view point. I followed that path that looked more like a horse path than anything else, but it certainly got me to a view point where I could see the snowcap and the valley behind me all the way down to Hardangerfjord.
After enjoying the views for a couple of minutes and noticing that my feet were sinking into the soft ground, I returned to the trail to resume my steady climb following the canyon. Soon after I left the tall vegetation behind and I entered the subalpine area and got to the end of the first canyon where I found an old lodge and the remnants of old farm houses. It was quite the scenery to see this little house all they way up in the mountains and the rock work done to build the foundation and lower part of the walls. I guess that’s what you need to do to survive the long winters.
I left the area and continued up with ever more expanding views. At almost every step I took, the views just got better. Not only I could get a better view at the mountains ahead but also at the fjords and lakes below. By then, the sense of solitude was very present. I had the mountain to myself. Further up I found the side trail to Mt Skrott which originally, I had planned on visiting but given the hour and that I was already hitting some snow, I opted for continuing towards Breidablik. By then I was already on what felt like a ridgeline, to my left I had steep slope down to the valley of one of the many creeks and to the right, the gentle slopes of the top of the mountains. The black mass of Mt Skrott was in the middle of that scenery.
Further up I saw a small hut and thought it was my destination but soon discovered it was not when I passed a connector trail to it and a sign pointing to Breidablik. The trail took me over some rocky terrain and finally to the western shore of the still half frozen lake Steinlaetjorni. I couldn’t tell where the rocks ended and the water started so tried to be careful to navigate as close to the edge as possible. The scenery was beautiful with blue pools of water on the snow. At some point I got to the outlet of the lake and had hop on several rocks to get to the other side. While doing that, I noticed very faint orange markings indicating the path to follow.
On the other side, I found a flat rock where I took a break and had a late lunch
From that point on, the trail took around small tarns, snow fields and big boulders. The views were just breathtaking al around until finally I had Breidablik in front of me. The only problem was a big and somewhat steep snowfield I had to cross. After analyzing for a bit, I opted for going around and finding my way to the Mountain Cabin
I had seen pictures of Breidablik before, but I wasn’t prepared for what it was. There are three huts that were build back in the 60’s One of them is the main mountain lodge which has some impressive wood work and rock work around it. There’s also a dorm hut which is a bit more modest and finally the shed/bathroom hut. The main hut is build with wood while the other two are just rocks. If that’s not impressive enough, all three huts form a circle with small rock walls around, rock paths, a man-made pond, a gigantic rock table built with a single slab, seating areas… I mean the whole place looks like a mountain resort. I know it sounds unbelievable so here are some pics
I stayed there for about half an hour taking pictures before continuing. I do remember thinking about heading back down the way I came because I was finding a lot of snow but being adventurous as I am, I decided to go a bit further to take a look and see how the route looked going forward. I descended a bit and, although there was a lot of snow, it seemed that the route was doable. Comparing the view with my map, I could even see a lake were one of the trails heading down was supposed to be, so I continued, but soon after that, I lost the trail completely. As I navigated around trying to keep on the upper side of a big snow field as I could hear water under it, I noticed I was veering way off trail. At some point I had to decide and try to trace back to the track. That proved to be a bit more difficult that expected forcing me to scramble around a small rock wall. I considered at that point turning around and heading back but had already descended a couple hundred feet and didn’t see my route back either. This is when I decided to continue and find my way down on the “shorter” trail I had in my map.
The route took me around a couple more tarns and snow fields and eventually to the top of the canyon that would take me down. By then I was pretty far from Breidablik so going back was not necessarily a good option. The problem was the view down the canyon didn’t look very promising either. From my perspective, it looked like I was going to cliff out soon.
I continued carefully on the side of the slope trying to avoid snow and loose rocks which helped for a bit. Eventually I got to a point that there was no other way and I had to get down from where I was. Also, from the map, I noticed I was on the wrong side of the creek so whether I liked it or not, I was going to have to cross snow, rocks and a creek hidden below. That made me uncomfortable as I know it’s very dangerous. You never know when you’re going to break thru and fall thru the snow to who knows what. At least you know you can fall a couple of inches but at worst, you could fall into a big hole or a rock and break something. I was in a pickle.
Slowly and carefully I continued down and found a place to cross that seemed safe as I could see the rocks. Once on the other side, I started navigating my way down the canyon trying to keep high to avoid falling into the water or rocks, but that proved to be as difficult. In several places I still broke thru the snow and slid down on wet, slippery grass. The going was slow but steady. The scenery was just magical. A couple of times my trekking poles saved me from falling further but it was just a matter of time until that was not going to be the case and it happened towards the end of the snow. While traversing a very slippery slope, I slid down and turned and while doing that, pone of my poles got stuck in a rock and broke. That flung me around and the only thing that stopped me was the other pole which got bent. My heart rate went sky high, but I managed to steady myself and found a place to sit and take a moment to access. I didn’t have anything broken or scratches, my poles had taken on the fall. There I noticed I was not on the safe side though. The terrain looked like it was going to drop off and I was going to cliff out. That certainly worried me, but I had no choice other than continue.
Just after that last steep section I was finally out of the snow but still looking at a steep incline heading down. The good news was that I was on a trail… it was more like a foot path but still, it was something to follow down. That climb down was even more grueling than the climb up and along the way I saw sheep meandering thru the bushes and captured some flowers. After a long hike, I was finally down in the valley floor passing by a camping site and heading back to the trailhead.
That night I was reflecting on the hike and wondering if that was assign of things to come ion this already epic journey.
You can see the rest of the pictures here
