Estimated net time	2½-3 hours
Difficulty	There are three steep sections up to Gyrihaugen, but there are no technical difficulties except some very easy scrambling at the top of Mørkganga, but this sections is aided by a wire and some ropes; - The upper part of the path towards Mørkganga is very steep and has some loose scree, but without exposure. - The couloir Mørkganga is also steep and you're very likely to use your hands, potentially by holding on to the wire along the right wall. - Parts of the upper part to the summit is also steep, with some loose gravel.
Drinking water	Running water from the stream draining from lake Migartjernet.
GSM coverage	Coverage throughout the route (November 2013).
Parking	Room for many cars at trail head car park.
Start height	112 metres
Vertical metres	615 metres for the roundtrip.
Trip distance	8.0 km
GPS-file	X (partly manually created)
Map		Google Interactive Map
Route photo	Gyrihaugen trail head by Åsaveien.

From the place Sundvollen on road E16, drive 6.1 km north where signed for "Krokkleiva". Park at the car park on the left hand side of the road, immediately after a cattle grid.

Start your hike by crossing the road and walk a few metres further along, and then turn right onto a signed path. Follow this path 1.4 km up to 325 metres, and turn left in the path junction. This path gets quite steep, and leads up the spectacular gully called Mørkganga. Up Mørkganga itself you will find wires and ropes, which can be useful in a few places since there are a couple of places where you will have to use your hands a little.

From the top of Mørkganga continue on the path up to lake Migartjernet, and turn left in the path junction. Walk approximately 400 metres to the north end of the lake and turn right in the path junction. From here walk east and north, following signs for "Gyrihaugen", all the way to the summit building and the unmarked highest point.

Descend by heading back down to the path junction on the west side of lake Migartjernet and continue straight ahead (south). This path soon turns into a forest road, which can be followed 1.1 km to where you meet a good gravel road. Turn right and walk this gravel road to the north end of lake Skardtjernet, and turn a little right onto an obvious path. Follow this path all the way back to the car park, approximately 2.6 km.

9. November 2013

Elisabeth and me were spending the week-end in Bærum, staying with Jane and Håvard, after we had had the pleasure of receiving an invitation to Jan Christian's surprise 50th party. This gave Håvard and me to do a hike together on Saturday day-time, and Håvard suggested we should do Gyrihaugen via the distinct couloir Mørkganga (aka Mørkgonga), while Elisabeth visited her sister. Unfortunately it was a very grey day, with some light rain, but I was determined to visit Gyrihaugen, after having read a little about it.

We drove across Sollihøgda in heavy rain, but by the time we got to trail head, after having had to ask some locals for driving directions, it had stopped raining. And after this we only had some light rain around the summit.

Mørkganga itself was a very interesting place, and I was surprised to find such a steep path as the one below the actual couloir. One way to describe Mørkganga is by imagining a rock wall with a flat summit above it. If you then have a very large chain saw with a three metres wide blade and make a cut perpendicular to the rock you will have made the couloir.

Above the couloir it was easy walking to a little below the summit, from where another steep path took us to a little below the summit. And then easy walking up to the summit, which is just above the tree line and supposed to be a nice view point. On this Saturday it was grey and misty, and quite cold so no point hanging around for long. But two other guys arrived at the summit a little after us and we ended up with some small-talk with them. It turned out they were having a boys' week-end at a cabin in the area, but only two of them had found it worth while going for a hike. Probably more of them would have joined if they knew one of their friends had brought a half-bottle of brandy to the summit ...

From the summit we headed back down to lake Migartjernet, and from there continued south in order to make a round-trip out of it, and Håvard wasn't terribly keen to return down the steep path below Mørkganga on his slippery shoes. When we got north of lake Skardtjernet, heading north, we saw a marked path coming down from our right and concluded there is a shorter route down Gyrihaugen's west slopes, between our descent route and Mørkganga.

Back at the car we had a quick change into dry sweaters before the drive back to Bærum and some nice crab shells I had brought from Sunnmøre.
Photos 09.11.2013