Duć trail head at Botterlia.
Route from Botterlia towards lake Oltervatnet.
Approaching Duć from south.
| Duć from Botterlia (ski) Duć |
| Estimated net time | 3-4 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No technical difficulties but navigation can be a challenge if poor visibility, and you need to ensure the ice on lake Oltervatnet is safe to cross or you will have to ski along the shores. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water during winter, but several streams in spring time. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (March 2015). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park by trail head, or at the alternative car park 150 metres before the main car park. Both car parks has a fee of NOK 40 (per 2015). | ||
| Start height | 210 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 595 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 12.1 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Start measuring from the round about where roads E39 and 662 intersect east of Molde centre, 800 metres along E39 from the ferry port in Molde. Drive E39 in the direction of Molde:
- At 18.5 km continue straight ahead on road 662 where E39 turns left.
- At 31.9 km turn left towards "Angvika".
- At 34.6 km turn left towards "Botterlia leirsted" (the sign is not easy to see when coming from this direction).
- At 34.9 km park at the upper car park, or if full 150 metres down the road at the lower car park. In either case there's a fee of NOK 40 (per 2015).
Start your skiing by crossing the field uphill at the start of the upper car park. You're very likely to find tracks leading the way. Ski north 300 metres, on the left hand side of a stream, and then gradually turn a little left (north-west). You will see a long hill perpendicular of your direction ahead of you and you should aim for the wide saddle left of this hill; you will have Grűnlia on your right and Solliseterhaugen out on your left. From the saddle you will look down on lake Oltervatnet and you should turn right (north) and follow the lake's east shore. From the north end of the lake ski a little east of north and aim for the top to the far right; Duć. The summit is located at the far end of the summit plateau, hidden from below, and is marked by a large cairn which holds a summit register.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
My two youngest sons had a total of three handball games in Elnesvćgen this Sunday so I decided to travel north a little early in order to ski a mountain before spending five hours inside the sports hall.
My choice fell on Duć, with one of the reasons being that I wanted to test my Ćsnes Ingstad skis on a longer hike than the two short ones I did last season.
When I got to the trail head the main car park was already full but there were still some spaces left in the lower car park; it seemed everyone in Molde had decided to go to Osmarka on this warm and sunny day. And as I was skiing towards Duć I overtook many tens of other skiers, and eventually also started to meet a lot more.
The skiing itself was quite good, with the sun mostly melting the top layer of the snow, but there were some patches of hard snow where I could have done better if I had my Völkl skis.
While skiing back down from Duć I decided to do a short-cut, across the long hill between trail head and Duć. But as I should have expected there was a reason why people ski around this hill and not across it; when I got down on the south side I was faced with a relatively nasty stream to cross, at least during winter with lots of snow, in order to get back to the car park. This led me onto a de-tour where I definitely lost what I had gained in short-cutting, but eventually I found a place where I was able to cross and could enjoy the final few hundred metres of skiing.