Saudalsnovi from Flatekvål in Eksingedalen (19.07.2022)

© Helwig Hauser

© Helwig Hauser

Note that this track has been created from memory, i.e., it was not recorded automatically.

Trip Summary

Expecting a nice day, we aimed at Saudalsnovi in the southwest of Lavik in Eksingedalen. We drove to Flatekvål, a short stretch down Eksingedalen from Lavik, and parked at the parking place for the church, Eksingedalen Kyrkje, right next to Eksingedalsvegen. From there, we walked along Sørdalsvegen, passing by the church and crossing over river Ekso close to where Sørdalen comes down on the other, southern side. After crossing the flat spot at Øyna and entering Sørdalen, we came to a few (commercial?) buildings. There, on the back-side of these buildings, we found a simple pedestrians' bridge that lead us over to the other, western side of the Sørdalselvi. There, we quickly found a marked trail that would lead us (steeply) up to the ridge above Furneslii. Once up there, at about 390mosl, we first enjoyed some nice view out Eksingedalen over Furneslii (in northwestern direction). Then, we started our comparably flat walk into Sørdalen, following the marked trail at some height about Sørdalselvi. This trail into Sørdalen is easy to find and also easy to walk along; it was, however, very (very!) wet and for significant portions of this trail it was like hiking in water, actually. From a height of about 430mosl, the trail leads for a short stretch through a forest (not so very wet there), before leading out into the open, again, at about 550mosl. From there, it is then not very far to Nesstølen (at about 485mosl). After passing by Nesstølen, we then deviated from the main valley and started the actual ascent to Saudalsnovi. Stepping up (mostly over grass) and out of the valley in western direction, we quickly gained additional altitude and within short we arrived at a side-top of Saudalsnovi (at about 1075mosl). After a short break there to replenish our energies, we then walked over to the actual top of Saudalsnovi (a few hundred meters to the northwest). Crossing over the substantially rigged terrain at the top of Saudalsnovi was a tiny bit more challenging than originally assumed (but no problem, after all). We then also connected further to two additional side-tops in the southwest of Saudalsnovi to enjoy the views in all directions. There, we then made the decision to not going back along the same route, but to try a connection to the upper-most parts of Sørdalen. We therefore headed in southeastern direction. This proved well possible and we managed to make progess in a quite straight-forward manner, ending up in the south of the side-top we had ascended first. There, we also rounded some lakes in their west before aiming for Sørdalen, again. After descending below 975mosl, or so, the terrain got quite a bit steeper and carefully choosing a doable route further downwards got important. Avoiding the steepest places, we first got down to another small lake at about 900mosl. From there, we then found a suitable grass diagonal, leading in northeastern direction, that brought us well down to about 800mosl. From there, it was then "straight-forward" to walk out Sørdalen. Actually, this upper-most part of Sørdalen is also its nicest stretch and choosing our route throughy this part was certainly rewarded nicely! :-) Even though it was still quite a distance to go, getting back to where we had started (mostly along the same trail that we had taken up through Sørdalen first) was straight-forward and easy. All in all, and even though this hike developed a little different than what we had imagined befort starting, we returned highly satisfied after a really nice day in the mountains south of Eksingedalen! :-)

Photos

Selected photos are available as Google photo album.

Useful Resources

See also the related FB-page Hiking around Bergen, Norway.
Petter Bjørstad has a useful page about Saudalsnovi and also web page WestCoastPeaks.com provides useful information about Saudalsnovi.