Estimated net time	3-4 hours
Difficulty	No difficulties.
Drinking water	No access to running water during winter.
GSM coverage	Coverage throughout the route (January 2011).
Parking	Room for a couple of cars around trail head.
Start height	18 metres
Vertical metres	800 metres for the roundtrip.
Trip distance	11.9 km
GPS-file	X
Map		Google Interactive Map
Route photo	Helsetnakken trail head by Vikebukt.   For Helsetnakken turn right at Vikesetra.   Skiing route up Helsetnakken's north slopes.   Route towards Vikenakken from north-east of Helsetnakken.

From Ålesund drive road E39/E136 east towards Vestnes. Leave E39 after you have crossed Ørskogfjellet and turn right in order to continue on E136. Drive to Tresfjord and the south end of Tresfjorden, and start measuring from where E136 crosses the river Tressa. From here drive 11.3 km on the east side of Tresfjorden and turn right where signed "Vikesetra 2.5". Turn right again 20 metres later and then turn left after 100 metres (there is an old sign for Vikesetra). Drive approximately 100 metres and park just after the last building. This is a few tens of metres before the unmanned toll both.

Start skiing by following the forest road east. After 2.5 km the forest road ends and you get to a cabin. Ski around this cabin on the left side and up to the next wooden building. From here turn right and gradually turn south towards the north slopes of Helsetnakken. You will see the cabins at Krogsetstølen and should pass them on the left hand side. Continue towards Helsetnakken's summit. You first get to a large cairn, and 70 metres further south you find the summit, which is marked by a small cairn and a trigonometric point marker.

Ski back down Helsetnakken's north slopes and pass the cabins at Krogsetstølen on the right (south) side. Continue towards the small saddle between Vikenakken and Ellingholnakken and turn left (north) towards the summit of Vikenakken. The summit is marked by a small cairn.

Descend back to the saddle and gradually turn right in order to ski back to Vikesetra and the forest road. Follow the forest road back to your car.

28. January 2012

I had a suspicion that the snow would be quite difficult for skiing this Saturday, so decided to hike a relatively easy mountain. After a few rounds of back-and-forth with myself I ended up going for Helsetnakken, where I had some unfinished business after my car misery last year. This time I was adamant not to drive up the forest road, but when I arrived at trail head I was disappointed to find no snow in the lower section. But I decided to have a go anyway, and carried my skis up to the first bend of the road, less than 600 metres from trail head. I met a hiker after a couple of hundred metres, and he warned me that I would have problems skiing much before I got quite high up.

After I was able to start skiing I had the take the skis off and back on a few times because of lack of snow a few places, but from approximately 250 metres I was able to ski without any more hassel. But the snow on the forest road was quite hard so I would have been better off without skis.

From Vikesetra skiing got a little better, but there was a nasty crust making me understand that the descent was not going to be a memorable one. But no worries; it was a relatively nice day, and I was out enjoying some new territory. As I got up on the north slopes of Helsetnakken the snow was rock hard, making ascent relatively easy, and already here I concluded that I would descent with skins on. A decision that was also helped by the fact that I would have to ascend more than 100 metres to Vikenakken after I had descended Helsetnakken.

At the summit of Helsetnakken I had a fairly nice view all around despite the semi-grey day, and I took a number of photos by standing on top of the large summit cairn. While standing up here I started to wonder if this really was the highest point. In order to find out I walked to the smaller cairn 70 metres further south and concluded this point was definitely a little higher. This was confirmed when I checked the maps back home after my hike.

Descending on the rock hard snow with skins off proved to be relatively successful and allowed me to ascend to Vikenakken without having to bother with putting skins back on. At Vikenakken I noticed another hiker relaxing down by the building next to the telecomm mast, took some photos, and skied back down to Vikesetra. The initial plan was to descend the forest road with skins off, but when I got to Vikesetra I decided to keep going since I realised I would be going fast enough on the icy road. And when I got to the first point where I had to take my skis off I decided to put the skis on my rucksack and walk the reminding 1+ km back to the car.
Photos 28.01.2012