Børsetkjerringa trail head by Børsetlauvet.
| Børsetkjerringa from
Børsetlauvet Børsetkjerringa |
| Estimated net time | 3-3½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | The route is steep between 850 and 900 metres, and unless you follow the marked route you might well get into sections requiring advanced scrambling. However, if you follow the well marked route there are no difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (September 2012). | ||
| Parking | Room for several cars around trail head. | ||
| Start height | 195 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 820 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 8.0 km | ||
| GPS-file | X (descent only) | ||
| Map |
|
||
| Route photo |
| ||
From the round about where roads 70 and 62 intersect in Sunndalsøra centre start
measuring, and drive north in the direction of Kristiansund on road 70.
- At 11.7 km turn right where signed for "Skitrekk" (ski-centre).
- At 12.0 km turn left where signed for "Fjellheis".
- At 12.8 km turn right onto the road "Børsetlauvet".
From where you get onto Børsetlauvet turn left after 60 metres, go through a right curve, and turn left again after another 160 metres. Then through another right curve and park on the left hand side of the road 200 metres after your previous left. This is immediately after a rack of post boxes.
Start your hike by walking towards the gate at the end of the short stretch of road where you parked. Cross the stile and follow the forest road 1.6 km to the view point at Børsetsetra. Make sure you fork right 750 metres into the hike, at 320 metres. From Børsetsetra turn left and follow the path towards Børsetkjerringa's south-west slopes. This path is a little vague across the flat grass fields, but soon gets very well defined and will take you up to the registration point Kjerringlosjen at approximately 800 metres. You're now above the forest and should make sure you followed the route marked with red paint in order to pass the steep section above you without getting into difficulties. This will take you up to the registration point at 945 metres on the west end of Børsetkjerringa's summit plateau. The path up to here has some sections of boulder and is relatively steep, but is easy to follow and doesn't require any scrambling. Thanks to Ellinor Mjøen and Øyvind Vadla for having made it easy for other hikers, both for having made a path through the bush and also for laying out a route that avoids climbing.
From the registration point at 945 metres head east/north-east, approximately 650 metres, to the summit. The highest point is marked by a cairn.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
This year's annual multi-event throwing competition at Sunndalsøra was being held in September as opposed to the normal June date, and to me this was good news since I wasn't going to participate in the throwing but instead going for a hike. The good news element was caused by the probability of being able to hike some high and potentially challenging mountains without having to be concerned about loads of snow. But the weather this week-end was cold and with a lot of rain, and when I woke up on Saturday morning I immediately realised that hiking above 1000 metres would mean a lot of snow. Based on this I decided to hike Børsetkjerringa, but first it was a question of waiting for the heavy rain to give way to the forecasted lighter weather.
By 1pm the weather had improved sufficiently and it was time to go for a hike. The very good news was that Amund decided to come hiking with me, while the others headed for Ålvundeid for the throwing. Since we were heading in the same direction we agreed to meet at the athletics stadium after our hike, but when we got to Ålvundeid we found the stadium covered in water and the throwers decided to head for Tingvoll to see if conditions were better there.
Amund and me headed up to Børsetlauvet and found the trailhead without any problems. From here it was easy walking up to Børsetsetra at 470 metres, and then the fine path up through the forest. At 550 metres we hit the first snow, and from approximately 700 metres the snow was starting to impact our hiking since the terrain was fairly steep, and the wet snow made it all quite slippery. At Kjerringlosjen (~800m) Amund started to consider his options, and a little above this point he decided to call it a day and start his descent. I got confirmation from him that he would be happy descending on his own, so I continued towards the summit. The amount of snow was now 15-20 cm and it was not possible to see the path, but there were sufficient number of dots of red paint guiding the way, which was crucial for the steep section from around 850 metres and up to 900. There was a fair bit of zigzagging through boulder in order to avoid the steep wall, and it was a little tricky with the snow covering potential holes amongst the boulder, so progress was a little slow.
When I got up to the flatter section at around 940 metres I was faced with thick fog, and given the 30 cm of snow I basically didn't have a clue about where to walk in order to find the summit. And with no way points loaded to my GPS I simply had to start to search. After a couple of hundred metres I saw something I assumed was the highest point, but when I got closer the fog lifted a tiny bit and I saw another point which definitely looked higher. I therefore changed course and walked up to this point, only to see another point that looked even higher. As I headed for this third point the fog lifted considerably and I was able to see that by now I was heading in the right direction. Unfortunately the fog didn't lift sufficiently for me to have any good views of the neighbouring mountains, but at least I managed to get to the summit and had a fine overview of Børsetkjerringa's relatively large summit plateau.
From the summit I headed straight back down to the registration point at 945 metres, signed the book, and made it back down to Børsetlauvet. As I approached Amund's car I was a bit surprised not to see him, and I was even more surprised when I got to the car and saw a note on the car reading "please go to the nearest red house". My assumption was that he had realised he knew someone in the neighbourhood so I went across and rang the door bell. A man presented himself as Øyvind and confirmed Amund was relaxing in his sitting room, and I was very welcome to come inside. I first had to change some of my clothes, and then came inside. As I walked up the stairs to the sitting room I was immediately realising that this home was the home of real mountaineers, as there were some stunning photos of hikers and climbers on the walls.
I was introduced also to Øyvind's wife, Ellinor, and got the explanation why Amund had ended up in this house; when Amund came back down from his hike a man had come out from the house and asked about the hike and the conditions. When they got a little closer to they had both recognised each other since they had been to the same party a year before, since Øyvind was a colleague of Amund's brother.
Amund and me spent around two hours with Ellinor and Øyvind, and it was clear they had done a lot of mountaineering, and it was also clear that Øyvind had done some really serious stuff (confirmed later at night when I Googled his name). I got a lot of information about Sunndal mountains and also an invitation to contact Øyvind the next time I was in Sunndal. Adding to this we were served some post hike snacks, and while driving back to Sunndalsøra Amund and I agreed that this was indeed a warm and welcoming home!
Back at Tore's we had to wait approximately 45 minutes before they were back from their throwing, and with no key to the house, and all the beer and food inside the house, we were very happy when they turned up.