Route from Ringstad to saddle between Blåtind and Kongsvollen.| Blåtind and Kongsvollen
from Ringstad Blåtind Kongsvollen |
| Estimated net time | 3-4 hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties. |
| Drinking water | Access to running water when you get to the saddle between Blåtind and Kongsvollen. Also running water just before the final ascent to Kongsvollen. There are a number of small lakes but because of all the sheep in the area the quality of this water is doubtful. |
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (August 2008). |
| Parking | Room for one car at trail head. Several more one-car-spots within 200-300 metres from trail head. |
| Start height | 75 metres |
| Vertical metres | 800 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 8.9 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
Route from Ringstad to saddle between Blåtind and Kongsvollen. |
Take the ferry from Sulesund to Hareid. From here there are two alternatives to get to the trail head.
[a]
From the ferry at Hareid drive 6.6 km towards Ulsteinvik on road 61. Turn left here onto a gravel road, and after 500 metres turn left again. Continue for 9.2 km until you get to an old shed on your left hand side. Park here. You will see traces of a long and narrow avalanche coming down in the direction of where you should park.
[b]
From the ferry at Hareid drive 10.5 km in the direction of Ulsteinvik, until you get to a round-about. Take the second exit in this round-about, continuing on road 61. 6.7 km after the round-about turn left where signed for "Haddal". Bear left immediately after getting off road 61, and then follow the road around to the right. 400 metres after leaving road 61 turn left towards "Ringstaddalen" and continue 550 metres until you find an old shed on your right hand side. Park here. You will see traces of a long and narrow avalanche coming down in the direction of where you should park.
From the car walk past the shed on the right hand side an you will find a path. Follow this path towards the left hand side of the avalanche. In the beginning the path follows the avalanche, before it turns left and traverses the mountain side in an eastern direction up towards the saddle between Blåtind and Kongsvollen. From the saddle you turn left, following the path to Blåtind summit. Make a mental note of the signs for "Blåtind" and "Kongsvollen" you see around halfway between the saddle and Blåtind summit.
From Blåtind summit descend back down the ascent route to where it is signed for Kongsvollen. This path towards Kongsvollen is very vague the first few metres, but soon becomes clearly visible and easy to follow all the way to the summit.
From Kongsvollen summit you follow a path which is a little north-west of your ascent route back down to the saddle. From the saddle you follow the path you followed to get up to the saddle.
Since this was possibly going to be one of my last days working in Ulsteinvik and offering nice weather I though I ought to visit the highest mountain on the Hareidlandet island. I therefore packed my hiking equipment this Monday morning before hitting the road.
After work hours I drove to trail head in Ringstaddalen and was ready to start my hike at 17:25 this fantastic August evening. My left foot is still sore, but by using my old telescope ski-poles I'm able to reduce the strain on my left foot to an acceptable level, and also by keeping a modest pace enables me to have time to put the foot down at suitable places.
I felt really good going up the hill towards the saddle, and from the saddle and up to Blåtind summit I was tempted to increase the speed. Life's good! The view from the summit is nice, and after capturing some of it on my camera I decided to head for Kongsvollen. I was now partly running, amongst other things because I didn't want to get back home terribly late. At Kongsvollen I forgot to sign the registration book, but there was no real reason to go back when I realised this after a couple of minutes of descending.
The descent was very enjoyable in the fine weather and with some really nice surroundings, and I was reminded by something I have though on previous occasions when hiking Hareid/Ulstein mountains: this area is more Scottish than Scotland itself.
Back at the ferry port at Hareid I was pleased to see that the ferry I though I just missed actually was one of the half-hour ferries that doesn't run. Settling for the 20:30 ferry was acceptable, and allowed me to start on my trip report.