Please read the information below carefully before you arrive so there are no surprises! You can also find answers to many questions you might have before arriving inFAQ sectionor belowImportantThe website offers offline support, so you can view the content even without an internet connection (including PDFs)!

We're posting a fewposts every now and thenabout changes to the cabin; you can find the current status below.

Status as ofMarch 29, 2026

Because I had ACL surgery, I won’t be able to check on the cabin myself until summer, so I’m putting off picking up firewood and gas—please let me know if you find anything that should be mentioned here!

Key points
  1. The tank is empty.The instruction booklet (available at the cabin)explains how to fill the tank using a generator or simply by drilling holes in the ice and scooping it up in buckets. Much more practical than melting snow! If you want to learn a little more about the process behind it, there isa separate post.
  2. That's a lot of stuff!
  3. We're out of candles. You might want to bring a small pack or a couple of block candles.
  4. Sistemann reported that the spray bottle was empty.
  5. The cabin isnewly built- Take care of your clothes! Tar doesn't really dry, so it stays sticky for a year and can stain clothes very easily. Be careful! Don't lean backpacks or jackets against the wall. Wipe your hands with paper as soon as you get any tar on them.
  6. Leave the hatches open when you leave—that way we’ll avoid any issues with mold :) They’ll have plenty of time to dry out in August.
  7. The paraffin heater ("Wallasen") is not connected to the main tank. It provides steady heat without emissions and can be left on 24/7, but you’ll need to fetch a new can of diesel from under the cabin (the basement entrance is located under the master bedroom).
For spring and summer
  1. The rowboat is temporarily out of commission. The oarlock (similar to an oar fork) was reported to be cracked as of August. It will be repaired in June.
  2. We've been moving some dirt around this summer. Please try not to step in the dirt and bring mud into the cabin...
  3. A bridge has been built across the mouth of Holmevannwhich makes it possible to cross the river. Otherwise, you often have to walk another kilometer downstream.

Arrival / How to get to the cabin

We have a parking lot in Skallandslia in Eggedal, about a 45-minute walk from the cabin. It is accessible year-round and is frequently plowed during the winter. Seethe map page for the trail to the cabin.

If you want to take a snowmobile to transport yourself or your luggage, drive to the parking lot at Tempelseter. If you start the hike from there, it takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

You’ll need a key to get into the cabin. A few days before your arrival, I’ll send you a PIN code for the key box. If you haven’t received it two days before your arrival, please call me—but check your spam folder first ;) You can also find it in the check-in details in the Airbnb app, if you’d like to use that.

Potato chips

Cell service is terrible in much of Norefjell, so it’s handy to have a map app that canpre-downloadGet good maps from the Norwegian Mapping Authority before you head out on a hike. Very useful if you need to find your way in the dark and don't have cell service. I recommend the "Norgeskart Friluftsliv" (AndroidandiPhone). Checkcartsfor coordinates, and if you have an app that supports KMZ files, you can literallyWalk where I have walked. Remember to charge your phone fully in advance!

Google Maps on smartphones also lets you download areas in advance. If you do this before you arrive, you can follow in my footsteps the whole way (see the map page, which opens the maps directly in the app) without worrying about cell service. That said, most people can find their way without a cell phone, but it gets dark quickly in the fall!

Text description of the parking lot in Skallandslia (Bjørnerud)

It takes 2 hours and 15 minutes from Oslo (nonstop) to the parking lot at the tree line. If you have a GPS, you can enter “Bjørnerudseterveien 174”.

Drive through downtown Eggedal, continue for 4–5 minutes, and turn off at the sign for Skalland, heading up to Skallandslia. Keep left at the first fork in the road and continue for about 7 minutes. Along the way (during these 7 minutes), you’ll come to a gate, and you’ll need to call me to open it. As you approach the top of the mountain, you’ll see the sign on the right pointing to Bjørnerud. Remember to pay the toll (see below(for details)! About 150 meters before the road ends at a cabin area, you'll find a large parking lot that's open to everyone. You can see the location on the map linked above.

The trail starts 100 meters further in, just before the road ends at a cluster of cabins, and the hike in takes 45 minutes at a brisk pace on the trails—roughly the same in winter—but about an hour with children or a heavy pack. You can jog the 2.8 km back down to the car in under twenty minutes without a pack.

Any car will do to get up to our parking lot in the mountains: you don’t need a powerful SUV, but in winter it’s a good idea to have snow chains on hand, as it can get very slippery and/or there can be slush! From the parking lot, it takes about 15 minutes to drive down to the village, where there is a large SPAR store.

Remember to take it easy on the roads in winter: I know the roads well, but I still ended up crashing into a tree on a slope during a “whiteout” when I suddenly couldn’t see the road and there was dry snow on top of ice. I was lucky, but the same might not be true for the next person.

P.S. Viking/Redgo takes about 60–120 minutes from the time you call until they arrive. I know that from experience ;)

Tolls and tolls

Skallandslia

In the fall of 2023, a gate was installed in Skallandslia that can only be opened by registered users. This means you’ll need to contact me (by phone or text message) to let me know that I should be on standby by phone at an approximate time during the evening so I can open the gate.

I'm working on setting up a way to automate this and take myself out of the equation, but it won't be ready by January 2024.

Bjørnerud Road

When you turn off Skallandsveien near the top of the mountain, you drive towardBjørnerudseter. If you have GPS, you can enter Bjørnerudseterveien 174 (shared parking lot). After about 200 meters, you’ll see a large sign on the right side regarding tolls, with a mailbox underneath. It costs 45 kr in cash; fill out the carbon copy form and place it along with the money in the box. Alternatively, you can use Vipps and send money to phone number 95488502, entering the registration number in the details field. Be sure to do this in advance, before you head into town—it’s easy to forget, and they check very frequently!

A brief overview of the cabin's use

This far out in the mountains, you don't have all the comforts of the city, so you have to be a bit self-sufficient, but nothing is difficult. I've put together an instruction booklet for the cabin that has details on everything. You can read itevery, but I've also printed it out and put it up at the cabin ;)

The power is turned on at the main switch on the electrical panel once you’ve passed through the entrance. If you need 220V for a vacuum cleaner or TV, there is an inverter you can turn on in the loft to the right of the ladder, where the batteries and regulators are located. The 220V outlet is in the living room below the TV. All other outlets are 12V DC.

The paraffin heater (Wallas) can stay on throughout your stay (at least in the fall and winter)—just press the button as soon as you arrive and turn it off when you leave the cabin. This ensures that it won’t be cold in the mornings.

Gas heaters provide quick warmth when you arrive at a cold cabin in the winter. Bring them into the living room and turn them on right away. Eventually, the heat from the wood-burning stoves will kick in and provide a nice, cozy warmth. It’s also a good idea to use the gas heaters in the bedrooms to warm up the mattresses a bit during the winter. It takes about a day of burning in the winter before the heat settles into the walls, but after that, the cabin retains the heat very well (as long as cold air isn’t being sucked in through open vents!).

Up to four phones can be charged using the charger in the living room next to the CD player. Micro-USB, USB-C, and Lightning cables are provided.

To get water, you need to turn on the pump. The switch is above the sink, and you should let the water run for about thirty seconds the first time, since it’s been sitting for a while and may be a little cloudy. The pump should be turned off after each use; otherwise, it can quickly start running continuously.

We have a generator located outside the east wall. Since we have such a powerful solar panel system, we haven’t needed to use it—even during the darkest winter months—ever since we installed so many batteries in 2019. In practice, it lasts a week in cloudy weather without recharging. If you clear the snow off the roof, it usually recharges itself even in December.

Regarding the CD player: it’s actually a car stereo with a 3.5mm jack input. I’ve provided a mini-jack cable with adapters for both Android and iOS (Lightning), so just download your offline playlists in advance if you don’t want to listen to all of my dad’s CDs from the ’90s :-) The sound is loud and good enough for a great party, but try not to blow out the speakers.

Whether you're really lurking

I've also shareda folder containing more information, such as suggested hikes, maps, and user manuals for all technical equipment. The latter is in case you run into any problems while at the cabin, but that’s for those with a special interest ;) These days, charging and battery capacity are so good that the generator hasn’t been used in years!

Beds and bedding

The cabin sleeps nine. There is one master bedroom with a double bed, a guest room with three beds, a loft by the chimney with two mattresses, and a separate loft with two additional mattresses (approx. 1 m wide).

Unfortunately, for logistical reasons, we are unable to provide made-up beds, so you’ll need to bring your own bedding (sheets and a duvet cover) and towels. We recommend a small washcloth for washing and a small towel for drying off. There are backup options available up there in case you forget anything. Just give us a call and we’ll take care of it :)

Turtips

We've compiled a list of trips ranging from short, kid-friendly hikes to challenging full-day hikes in a separatetravel documents. A copy should be kept at the cabin.

You can find many other sources of inspiration online, such asthis route on PeakBook that passes through Gråfjell, Ranten, and Høgevarde.

Fishing

You can purchase fishing licenses through the appPerfishYou can also buy a physical card at the tourist office in downtown Eggedal orSolbua in Prestfoss.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much advice on lure or fly fishing, since we only use nets ourselves, but I’ve seen several fly fishermen both along Holmevann and in nearby lakes. When the mosquitoes arrive in late June or July, the fish start biting. If it’s too cold, there’s no action—or so I’ve been told…

We share a boathouse with the neighboring cabin, but unfortunately the wooden boat in the boathouse is not available for use due to careless handling. However, we have purchased a simple Rana plastic boat that is stored on land down by the water. In the winter of 2022, it wasinjured in a winter storm, but after a few repairs, it works fine and was in use during both the summers of 2022 and 2023. We have a 90Ah battery and a 600W electric motor that lasts 20 minutes on the water. That’s just enough for a round trip. The easiest way to charge the battery is on the battery charger at the cabin overnight, and there’s a battery case you can use while driving, but it’s not necessary. The most charming (and efficient) option is a pair of them anyway ;)

You can buy live worms at the Solbua store in Prestfoss or at a store in downtown Eggedal. If you're wondering about the pH levels in the ponds, I have data on that inthis blog post

General Information About Fishing in Holmevann

There are plenty of whitefish and quite a few trout. The whitefish tend to stay in the middle of the lake, while the trout stay close to shore. They often rise to the surface near the cabin, so there might be some good fishing there. Another good spot is to check the map of Holmevann hanging in the cabin: where there are river outlets (or used to be river outlets), the trout are often found! They like to spawn in old stream channels, so put on your boots and walk along the east and north shores of the lake.