Breilivarden trail head by road 70.
| Breilivarden from north Breilivarden |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but the path is likely to be boggy, which has partly been mitigated by building a number of wooden gangways. | ||
| Drinking water | No access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (October 2012). | ||
| Parking | Room for a couple of cars by trail head. | ||
| Start height | 37 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 330 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 4.4 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
|
||
| Route photo |
| ||
Assume your starting point is the roads 70/680 junction by Kvernberget airport, a little east of Kristiansund centre. Drive 3.2 km along road 70 in the direction of Sunndalsøra (south) and turn left onto an unsigned road. Park immediately after leaving road 70.
Start your hike by following the path going off right from the smaller road, signed for "Breilia". Follow this path, which is likely to be boggy, approximately 500 metres south-east, and then turn right and head south-west up Breilia's north slopes. At approximately 200 metres the path turns a little left and continues south to Breilivarden's summit, which is marked by a proper cairn. You're also likely to find a summit registration book.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
I was spending the week-end in Kristiansund, managing the Brattvåg boys-16 football team in the Dahle Cup indoor tournament. We had arrived Friday night, and won our first game, and since the next games were scheduled for Saturday afternoon I had plenty of time for some hiking. Despite grey and wet conditions I had already hiked Freikollen and Lågfjellet, and was now ready to take on Breilivarden before heading back to Dale. And thanks to good advice from a hiking companion during the last 10 minutes of my hike to Freikollen I knew pretty well where to drive in order to find the path to Breilivarden.
The path up Breilia was very boggy, in particular before it started to ascend the initial north slopes, but also the fairly flat section higher up was wet and boggy. But the boggy terrain was less of an issue here since tens of wooden gangways had been put in place. And the snow was also partly icy, which in itself was also an issue on the occasions where the ice gave way and covered my leg with mud halfway up my calf.
At the summit I found foot prints in the snow from one hiker who had been to the summit before me today, but the potentially more interesting views were severely obstructed by low clouds in most directions. Hence I didn't stay long, and was quite OK with the prospect of getting back to the centre and get a warm shower and dry and clean clothes.
While descending I met four other hikers, and managed to throw in a de-tour of 500 metres as I got down below the lower north slope. From here it was a quick drive back to Dale and a very welcome shower.