- Lars Peters
- July 8, 2018
- Kviteseid, Vestvold og Telemark
- Up & Down same trail
The trials starts off quite flat giving you a bid of time to get the juices flowing before the gradient starts to increase. After about 1,5km trough the forest and a small stream you’ll see the Roholt mountain appearing. The slopes on the north side on the Roholt range is made of large open rock slaps.
They are too steep to run up but the trail follows just bellow the rock-slab in the westwards direction. After about 4 km you reach a steep couloir that runs all the way up to the top. There are some ropes mounted to aid you up some of the steep part just before the top.
The route on can be quite slippery in wet weather, especially the slabs of rock when the get wet or icy.
The trail is marked with the classic red T from the DNT (Norwegian Tourist Organization) and red dots of paint on rocks & trees. there is a long and short route, + some wet weather detours, + some x-country skiing routes crossing the trail. This amount of alternative routes makes a little confusing. Even i have gone back and forth some times to find the correct route.
My recommendations is to bring a map or make sure you have a offline version stored on your mobile device.
Most of the trail is great for running. There are some parts with boulder and loose rocks on the trail in the couloir under the summit. Be extra careful on these parts, be ready for a stone that might wiggle. The rock-slabs get notoriously slippery in wet or icy conditions.
First Snowfall usually hides a little layer of ice under it so tread carefully. The route is not used for walking throughout winter so its pretty much closed when the snow starts stacking up in height.
- There is a trail that goes all the way from the center of Vrådal that meets up with the trail to the top of Roholtfjellet. It meets the trail at Stemmyr just before Presttjønn. It’s possible to continue to the western top of the Roholt range (not marked). you follow straight west afther you reached the top past 2 small lakes that lay in-between. Then further west up along the ridge.
- There is suppose to be a longer alternative that runs a bid further north. I’ve not checked it out yet (2018)
I really like the diversity of the terrain along this trail. There is a bid of everything. you’ll pas some wet swamp areas, small lakes and cross a few streams. The trail runs trough forest with a lot of open areas with large slabs of rock in-between.
The changing terrain along the trail, from forest to more open areas, makes it very enjoyable to run. Small pockets with some view before you suddenly dive into the forest again!
- There is a large parking area at Heia on the east side of the road ‘Rv41’ about 2,5 km north from Vrådal (11km south from Kviteseid).
- Campings can be found at both Vrådal and Kviteseid.
- Straand Hotel in Vrådal is the closest hotel.
- There is a trail that goes all the way from the center of Vrådal that meets up with the trail to the top of Roholtfjellet.