Hike to the Bondhus glacier/Bondhusdalen

Location
Sunndal, Mauranger

Map
Folgefonna National Park

Start and stopping point
Bondhus

Parking
From Sunndal through the Bondhusbygda hamlet for 500 meters to the parking lot at the entrance to Bondhusdalen Valley. There is a sign by the highway. NOTE: Please park in such a way that the road can be accessed by tractor. Parking is to be paid (NOK 100) with card or "VIPPS".

Marking
There are signs and information boards, but the route itself is not marked throughout.

Grading
Lake Bondhusvatnet: Green Easy hike, one boot according to the DNT system. Suited for baby carriages, bikes and motorized wheelchairs. Bondhusbrea: Blue Moderate hike, two boots according to the DNT system.

Difference in altitude
60 - 190/320m AMSL

Estimated Time
2 hours round trip to Lake Bondhusvatnet.
3 hours round trip to the far end of Lake Bondhusvatnet.
4 hour round trip to the moraine fields (Vetledalen) under the Bondhusbrea Glacier.

Recommended advice
The path can be soft and wet from Lake Bondhusvatnet towards Vetledalen/Bondhusbrea Glacier. 

Tour description
From the parking lot there is a quality gravel road, Isvegen to Lake Bondhusvatnet, 190m AMSL. The road was built in 1863 to transport ice from the Bondhusbreen Glacier down to the fjord for export. It has later been maintained as an unusually beautiful tourist attraction. There is a path further along the lake and up to Vetledalen valley, 320m AMSL where you will be closer to the Bondhusbrea Glacier. The Bondhusbrea Glacier is often mentioned as the best site for glacier climbing in the country. The Bondhusdalen valley is central in Folgefonna National Park, and it is not a cooincidence that this was the location where the National Park was opened May 14th, 2005 by Queen Sonja. You can see her signature on a rock by Lake Bondhusvatnet. The area has been a magnet for tourists and mountain goers since the middle of the 1800’s