A Walk in the Hardangervidda
Iain Gilmour
Those who have been to Norway, may remember the striking scenery of the mountainous areas like the Jotunheimen, but there are many other areas where trekking from hut to hut can be an exciting and challenging experience. The Hardangervidda is popular with Norwegians, and has many remote huts spaced out at intervals of from three to eight hours trekking time.
The Hardangervidda is a mountain plateau, (possibly the largest in Europe), and is mostly at an altitude of 1000 to 1250 metres. Bounded by Sorfjorden, a branch of Hardanger fiord, on the Western side, and by the Hardanger Jokulen ice-cap to the North, the Vidda extends 80 km. to the South and 100 km. to the East. The whole area has innumerable lakes, rivers and patches of permanent snow. The Western side is more mountainous, but the East and South is more plateaulike. The height and latitude are such that the whole Vidda is above the tree line.
During 1991 friends in Shrewsbury suggested a combined trip, run by Mountain & Wildlife Ventures, to the Hardangervidda. I needed little persuasion and Sarah, bravely setting aside her misgivings as a result of a previous tough trip to the Jotunheimen, agreed to come.
The dates were Sunday 11th to Thursday 22nd August, flying from Newcastle to Bergen. We departed on Sunday afternoon from Newcastle airport, on our 18.05 flight. The plane stopped at Stavanger and we transferred to another plane for Bergen, arriving quite late. The airport bus driver, with typical Norwegian courtesy, took us direct to our hotel, the Klosters Pension.
Our companions were a retired lady from Whitby and a school-teacher from Galway. Our guide was Chris Townsend from Grantown-on-Spey, author, photographer, mountain guide, and long-distance-walker (Pacific Crest Trail, Alaska, Pyrenees etc.) We set out the next day by train to Finse, a very elevated point on the scenic Bergen-Oslo line. Before the train left, Chris rushed out and bought porridge oats, sugar, and five loaves of brown bread, to supplement a huge Edam cheese. Whenever it rained, Chris would remark how good the weather was for keeping bread!
The Norwegian railway trains are comfortable and have a frequent trolley buffet service. Most seats appear to be reserved in advance. As we approached Finse, the track ran almost completely through avalanche tunnels, so our views were only momentary. Dropped in the cold mountain air and cloud drizzle at Finse, 1222 m (4000 ft.), we shivered and walked briskly to the hut, where thermals and cagoules were quickly put on.
The Finse hut is very popular as a cross-country skiing centre, and can accomodate 120 people, while providing excellent meals. Many of the huts are staffed by students, who have taken a vacation job for the remoteness and the novelty of getting away from roads and normal civilisation. Finse was the base Scott used when training in preparation for the Antarctic.
The first day plan was to walk up to the Church Door, N.E. of Finse. An unfit party would have been a liability in these remote parts, and this was clearly a ‘shake down’ walk to assess
the competence of all six of us. The reason for this became apparent on the second day when we took over eight hours in drizzle and cloud across many snow fields, rock slabs, and suspension bridges to reach our second hut, Rembesdalseter. The Hardanger-jokulen with permanent ice-cap was hidden in cloud all day, (As it remained for the rest of the trip).
The Kyrkjedori, or Church Door, is a mountain pass in a fine mountain ridge known as the Hallingskarvet which would make a fine and testing crosscountry ski route. Snow fields at the col gave us a first day taste of walking on snow and a view north to the other side of the ridge. We must have passed our first day test, for the next day, Wednesday 14th, we set out for Rembesdalseter. Our packs were considerably heavier because of packet food, bread, and cheese which we were carrying as an insurance for the self-service huts. (My share was 61bs.) In fact the packet food would not have been necessary, but the bread and cheese was useful for lunches.
The route to Rembesdalseter was round the ice-cap and then to the South, In cloud drizzle we kept a careful watch on navigation but the route was well marked by cairns and red ‘T’s painted on rocks at fairly frequent intervals, We crossed two rivers by suspension bridge, one of them an interesting 10 metres above a white rushing torrent! Another point of interest was traversing a sloping snow field which ended 15 metres away in a snow cliff 6 metres high above a lake. Small icebergs floated around on the lake, giving a somewhat Arctic appearance.
On arrival at the hut we found a large party of Germans and quite cramped conditions, A formidable lady hutwarden soon had us knocked into shape. It was apparent that she had little time for the band of German students. We ingratiated ourselves by cleaning up and chopping wood. The hut situation was exquisite on the edge of a lake, facing south.
The next day we had to traverse slabs, pass the end of a glacier, cross two rivers, and make a stiff climb over more sloping slabs. The route then descended, climbed again, and passed 1000 ft. cliffs with sensational views down into Simadalen. The walk down to Liseth took ages partly due to the slow speed of some members of our party. Our time was 10 hours, but the DNT time is an estimated 8 hours. We were now at a pretty low ebb after 3 days of hard walking and continuous rain. Fortunately the good food and a restful night in the Liseth hotel, (a private hotel/hut accessible by road), allowed us to recover sufficiently for the next leg to Hedlo.
Before we left Liseth, we strolled down to Fossli to see the Voringfoss where a river plunges down a vertical drop of 597 ft. We then set out at 11,30am for Hedlo. The route we selected was clearly obsolete, for the river-crossings were without bridges. Again in the rain, our progress was ominously halted when Noreen fell while crossing a river. This delay and various other stops to regroup the party, caused us to arrive at Hedlo at 7,00pm after another gruelling day.
Hedlo is a privately-run staffed hut and we enjoyed a good meal which repaired some of the damage, Hilary, Peter, Sarah and I shared a splendid little self-contained hut. Lighting was by candle, and the main hut had a shower. Duvets and blankets are supplied in all the huts we visited. Hedlo hut is situated on the banks of the wide river Veig which flows north, We were now in the true Hardangervidda after the more mountainous north. Paths are mostly over smooth glacier-rounded slabs of rock, with occasional peat, dwarf birch, scrub willow, grass, or simply tundra-type plants within 1 inch of the ground surface. The temperatures varied from about 5°C at Finse to 9°C on other days. In the morning at Hedlo the temperature was about freezing.
The stage from Hedlo to Hallaskard was a pleasant walk along the river valley, mostly over smooth rock slabs. We took about 3,5 hours in dry weather for the first time, The hut at Hallaskard had been rebuilt recently with most attractive new pine panelling. The warden had only just arrived, to relieve the previous incumbent, who had suffered mushroom poisoning! Three jolly men, two Norwegian and one Danish, were travelling to our next hut to paint the red T’s on the cairns. If you are accepted by DNT for this duty, you get an expenses-paid holiday, and free paint. The three painters put a net across the river overnight and we had visions of fish for breakfast, alas, the fisk for frokost was only a dream.
A hut nearby was being renovated by two elderly carpenters from Bergen. The hut had no windows, but when the door was open, one could see an inner partition with glass windows and inner door. The single room had two bunks, a sofa, and a tiny lotul wood-burning stove. The hut was lined with mineral fibre and would be extremely cosy. These huts are used for hunting or for cross-country skiing and are presumably empty for much of the year.
Our food at Hallaskard, as at all the self-service huts, was dried food which we had carried in. These meals were Batchelors chicken curry, stew, or a macaroni cheese dish. After a day in the open they were all palatable. We supplemented with packet soups, reconstituted dried apple chips, and porridge.
The route to Toryhitten was a scenic walk fording two rivers, and climbing up to 1300 metres. There were large snow fields near the hut, a beautiful lake opposite, and superb views of Harteigen. Once seen, the outline of Harteigen is unmistakable; a flat topped sugar loaf shaped mountain with very steep sides. The top of the mountain is made of harder rock and hence Harteigen survived the general grinding down of the ice-age. We stayed in the principal hut, although some Germans were in the smaller hut 50 metres away. The warden was a charming medical student called Ingrid with a splendid laugh and sense of humour. The next day Chris, Peter, Hilary, Anne, and I set out to climb Harteigen, 1690 m, The route up is by a scree-filled gully with a few steps up a patch of snow ice. A short traverse is protected by hand-rails but these are hardly necessary on a dry day without ice. The view was sensational, We could see over sixty miles to Gausta in the S.E. and in the west we could see the ice cap of Folgefonn on the other side of Hardanger fiord. One could form an impression of the whole Vidda, and see the flatter S.E. as opposed to the more mountainous West. We met five British soldiers on a backpacking expedition (I suspect they were miffed to find tourists like us in the outback), and also our three DNT painters. The route from the hut was across a natural bridge of rock slabs which had bridged the outflow from the lake. We saw a tiny lemming on the path. We spent a second night at Toryhitten and this gave us a welcome break from the ‘ever onwards’ momentum of the walk. It is customary for those staying a second night at a hut to give precedence to new arrivals, but fortunately there were only a few newcomers so we retained our beds for a second night.
The stage to Stavali was supposed to be quite a long one, so we made an early start. In fact the terrain was an easy ridge walk for most of the way and we made good progress. No reindeer were seen, possibly because they are further south at this time. It is interesting to know that the Hardangervidda reindeer are the only truly wild ones in Norway. (Presumably further north they are farmed and herded). We saw ravens being harried by hawks (merlins?), ptarmigan and sheep which varied from white to piebald to chocolate brown. The hut at Stavali was a welcome sight as we entered the valley, and we enjoyed running-water in the hut for the first time in several days. Most of our companions in the hut were German. This was surprising since in our previous Jotunheimen trip we had hardly met any. We were all in the same dormitory, as was often the case, and we ate our last packet meal (hooray)!
The final stage to Kinsarvik was basically downhill, but because of the steepness of the valley, we first climbed to the right into a subsidiary valley. As we progressed downwards we passed an amazing succession of waterfalls at first seen from a distance. We gradually came closer to the river. The descent was, as usual, over polished slabs of sloping rock, which cause no problem for those in good mountain boots. As we passed the closest waterfall, the sunlight from behind the fall caused a superb back-lighting of sparkling water as the river dropped hundreds of feet. Those who have seen Niagara say that these falls were definitely as good a spectacle. The route carried on down the valley, passing an old power station, and eventually joining a road, Back at sea level on a sunny day, the heat was a surprising change after more than a week at altitude. An ice cream at Kinsarvik, a short wait, and soon we were on the ferry back over the fiord to Kvanndal. A semi-tame black otter played around the landing-stage and foraged on the foreshore.
The final part of the journey was by bus to Bergen. In good weather this is a very scenic trip, We stayed again at our old friend Klosters Pension. On our last morning, a tour of the fish market and the ships at the quayside was high on our list. A bus to the airport and soon we were in flight for Newcastle.
In conclusion, we noted that the schools were going back on 20th August, and hence the huts became less crowded. The peak season is 15th July to 15th August. The hunting season starts around the 25th August, and the huts are then used by hunters, a very different type of clientele. Details of hut opening times are given in the DNT handbook or in ‘MOUNTAIN HIKING IN NORWAY5. The weather is drier with less snow in the south and East, whereas the mountain areas like Hardanger Jokulen seem to attract cloud and rain. Food taken as a supplement was eight Yorkie bars and six Kit Kat. This was definitely needed to add to our rations, We were supplied with a bag each of ‘Trailmix’ which could be quite pleasant if fresh, The Norwegian bread lasted well, and the Edam cheese was also a good idea and quite palatable.
Summary of the accomodation and Huts
| Sunday 11th |
Klosters Pension, |
Bergen |
| Monday 12th | Finse | 1222 m |
| Tuesday 13th | Finse | |
| Wednesday 14th | Rembesdalseter | 960 m |
| Thursday 15th | Liseth | 724 m |
| Friday 16th | Hedlo | 945 m |
| Saturday 17th | Hallaskard | 1010 m |
| Sunday 18th | Torehytten | 1340 m |
| Monday 19th | Torehytten | |
| Tuesday 20th | Stavali | 1024 m |
| Wednesday 21st | Klosters Pension, | Bergen |
Maps
The best map is Statens Kartverk “HARDANGERVIDDA”, on a scale of 1:200,000. We supplemented this with the 1:50.000 maps which, although not essential, greatly boosted our confidence.
Hardangerjokulen 1416 II
Myrdal 1416 III
Eidford 1415 IV
Harteigen 1415 III
Kinsarvik(?) 1315 I