Family day, the Fahahut | 90 years young and full of pranks: Join us at Fahahuytten’s family day

FAMILY DAY: The Vahahut is 90 years old this year, and the anniversary will be celebrated throughout the year. On Sunday 28 April, Fana IL Turorienteering invites you to a big family day.

– We opened this year’s orienteering season on 5 April, and through Magne Dilten we have arranged for many nice orienteering trips intended for children and families. We will use these trips during the family day. Tour orientation envelopes will also be handed out, says Einar Nordås, who leads the volunteer group that takes care of the Fahahuytten and the surrounding area.

New activity park

Since last spring, the Dugnad gang has been working on building an activity park, which is located directly on the underside of the Vahahuytten.

– We started work on the construction of the activity park last spring, and we hope to be finished by the summer holidays this year, says Nordås.

The activity park is a small playground with a slide built into the terrain and climbing frames.

– We want to facilitate increased use and rental of the Vahahut. We already have many schools and kindergartens that use the area here regularly for day trips. Perhaps they can also take overnight trips here. By building this activity park, we hope to make it even more attractive to plan a trip here, also for private individuals on day trips. There are already many people who rent the Fahahuytten to celebrate round days, but there is room for more, says Ragnar Kayser, who sits on the Fahahitten Foundation and on the anniversary committee.

Award winners

During the family day on 28 April, they fire up the barbecue and hand out free sausages.

– The entire event is free, and we want to bring together those who like to go for a walk in the woods and fields. After all, we arrange tour orientation in the summer half-year every year, and many records are put out that people can find when they are out on a trip. Orienteering is very popular in Eastern Norway, but it probably has something to do with the fact that the terrain to the east is a little easier to walk. Here, the terrain is usually a little more hilly and somewhat more humid. But we have a good number of people who make use of this tour offer. Of course, we want even more people to try their hand at orienteering, says Einar Nordås.

This year, the group has launched a map booklet with seven maps with text. In addition, five maps can be downloaded online and picked up in mailboxes outside the Vahahuytten.

Earlier this year, the orienteering group was voted the country’s best in tour orienteering, and it is not without reason.

Culture bearers

As part of the tour orientation, the volunteers have also set up a number of information signs along the trails.

– We wanted to share knowledge about the local history with those who go on a trip here. Sørenshaugen, just below Vahahutten, has an interesting history. We learned that from landowner Øystein Grinde. Today, only the remains of a foundation wall are visible, and to most people it probably looks like a pile of stones. But here stood a house where Søren Larsen Riple lived. Søren suffered from leprosy, which was a feared disease. There were three leprosy isolates in Bergen, but Søren was allowed to live in the small house that was located here, and be close to his family. His wife Marte brought food which was placed on the pile outside the house, says Olav Totland passionately.

He believes that it is both important and interesting to convey local history.

– We have also put up information signs at Riplebakken in Fuksdalen, where the last show jumping race was organized in 1952, and at Skinnfloren in Fuksdalen. Skinnfloren was a stable where the cows in the area went in the summer. The animals were milked morning and evening, and the farmers drove the milk by horse and cart to the center where it was sold. By telling these stories, it lives on and is spread to the many people who go on walks in the area, says Totland.