Start of descent from Freikollen summit down towards west.
Descent route from Freikollen.
| Freikollen & Lågfjellet
from Prestmyra Freikollen Lågfjellet |
| Estimated net time | 2½-3 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but both the ascent and descent of Freikollen are steep, and in icy conditions it might be wise to bring an ice axe. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water except in the valley between Freikollen and Lågfjellet. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (October 2012). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park by trail head. | ||
| Start height | 82 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 685 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 5.6 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Assume your starting point is the roads 70/680 junction by Kvernberget airport, a little east of Kristiansund centre. Drive 8.8 km along road 70 in the direction of Sunndalsøra (south) and turn right onto a large car park by the small ski-centre. Park here.
Start your hike by following the gravel road up to the ski-centre building, and follow the obvious path on the right side of the ski-slope. Follow the path approximately 550 metres, up to 250 metres, and then turn right into the forest. The beginning of this path is steep and runs up naturally formed rock steps. Above the forest the path has a less steep section before it gets steeper again towards the summit, which is marked by a proper cairn.
From Freikollen continue west, across a small bump slightly to the left of the summit cairn seen from your approach. From the bump start turning a little right and head down the wide gully in a western direction, down to 480 metres. From here the terrain gets steeper and there are a number of cliff bands. To avoid the cliff bands turn left (south) and head down a narrow passage under the steep south-west slopes of Freikollen. From here the route down to the saddle between Freikollen and Lågfjellet is obvious.
When you get down into the saddle, right (west) of a small lake, head south-west towards Lågfjellet, which is marked by a small cairn. From Lågfjellet hike east down to the small lake at 400 metres and then down into the forest. When you get to a path junction make sure you fork left onto a smaller path, which will take you back to the top of the ski-slope. From here descend the ski-slope back to the car park.
I had travelled to Kristiansund the night before, for an indoor boys-16 football tournament. We beat Elnesvågen 7-3 in a 10pm kick-off, and had the first game this Saturday well into the afternoon. Hence there was an opening for me to get some fresh air while the boys where relaxing back at base.
The obvious hiking target in the Kristiansund area is the municipalities highest point, Freikollen, which offers many different routes and is very popular amongst the locals. I decided to head up the ski-slope, as I knew there was a path running along the slope and up to the summit. But finding a path wasn't all that easy because of the snow fall over the last 24 hours, and I was starting to wonder if I would find a path through the forest. Thankfully, at least in terms of navigation, I found a path which doubled as a small stream, and hence was easy to follow. There was some ice that required a touch of carefulness, but in general it was easy hiking in easy terrain.
When I got above the forest the amount of snow was a bit more than what I had anticipated, and it started to get a little difficult to locate the path. This I was able to rectify when to fit hikers overtook me, approximately 50 metres to my left. I then moved across and followed their tracks to the summit.
At the summit I chatted a little with one of the two hikers who had overtaken me, and he advised me on where I should continue in order to find the best route down and across to Lågfjellet. I followed his advice, which turned out to be going down in pretty steep terrain unless you followed the right route. However, the right route ran partly in a wide gully which had collected a lot of snow, so I had to walk in knee-deep snow in places. But in general this was an enjoyable part of the hike, and with some sunny spells on an otherwise grey day, life was very good.
The hike across to Lågfjellet was done across 10-20 cm of dry snow, in easy terrain, and after a short summit stop I headed back down towards my car. Thanks to good advice from a hiker I met just below Lågfjellet I found the best route back to the ski-slopes, and was yet again overtaken by a hiker, this time the guy I met below Lågfjellet. He kept me company down to the car, and I took the opportunity to ask advice on the best route to Breilivarden, which I intended to hike immediately after my Freikollen hike. After having explained different options he landed at a recommendation, which turned out to be a good route.