Krånipa, Holdhusfjellet, and Raudfjellet (22.11.2015)

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

Trip Summary

I parked on a convenient parking spot (for several cars!) at Nordre Skulstad, not far from where the paved road ends (one could, probably, drive all the way up to the dam, but it's not far from there anyway). From there, I first walked up to the dam (on a gravel road), before I turned right, southwards, and there crossed the stream that comes down from Skulstadvatnet on a bridge right underneath the dam. On the other side, another gravel road winds along Skulstadvatnet towards Kråaustebotn. I followed this road until it turns "too much" left (in northeastern direction)---there, I decided to leave the road, using one of the minor ridges that run down from Krånipa towards Kråaustebotn in northern direction, aiming for the ridge that would bring me up to Krånipa. On the frozen ground, stepping up was straight forward, even without a path. After having reached the ridge, a bit above Orrhaugen, I continued upwards to Krånipa. The views from the ridge are already amazing---overlooking not at the least Sørfjorden in the northwest. The ascent to Krånipa is steep but straight forward to step. On Krånipa, one enjoys even greater views---in all directions! Not only that one sees northwards to Osterøy, but nice, also, is the view westwards to Gullfjellet! From Krånipa, I continued southwards in the direction of Holdhusfjellet---this is a truly enjoyable walk over the high grounds. And then, also, this Nov. 22, 2015, was just an amazing day to be up there---great weather, OK temperatures, and amazing views---wow! :-) I passed by a nice, small lake (on its western side) just before reaching Holdhusfjellet. From here, new views are enjoyed, for example with Haga and Tysse being visible, also. I then turned back, aiming for Raudfjellet as my last small top on this hike. From just looking at the map, one may assume that crossing over to Raudfjellet is easy and straight-forward. The eastern side of Krånipa, however, is really very steep and one needs to choose a good stop for stepping down into the valley, where Dalaelva starts. Once there, however, proceeding gets easy, again---without any path, however. Aiming at the "top" of Raudfjellet (Raudfjellet is mostly flat), I passed a few minor micro-tops from which I enjoyed the overview and the intense red into which the afternoon sun dipped all of Raudfjellet---how appropriate, given that the mountain is called "the red mountain"! :-) From Raudfjellet, I then descended towards Holmavatnet---this was a little steeper than what I had hoped for, but fortunately, all went well! Down at the side of Holmavatnet, one needs to watch out for a reasonable connection to the dam---at the very lake-side the terrain is too steep and one needs to round it a little "inlands". From the dam, a convenient path is then leading down through Kråaustebotn, back to Skulstadvatnet (while the path is nice and sufficiently used, lots of ice covered larger stretches of it, making the descent more challenging than under optimal conditions). All in all, this hike was one of the most beautiful winter hikes that I had the chance to do in this lovely country---amazing weather, amazing views, and really a very good feeling after all! Thank you, Norway! :-)

Photos

Selected photos are available as Google+ photo album.

Useful Resources

Web page WestCoastPeaks.com provides useful information about Hananipa, Raudnipa, Krånipa, and Raudfjell
and also Petter Bjørstad has a useful page about Krånipa.