Hyrningane trail head in Liadalsdalen.
Route to Hyrningane from Liadalsstøylen.
Route to Tverrfjellet from below Hyrningane.
| Hyrningane &
Tverrfjellet from Liadalsdalen Hyrningane Tverrfjellet |
| Estimated net time | 4-5 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Many sources of running water below 600m. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (May 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park by trail head. | ||
| Start height | 253 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 1090 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 11.3 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Ålesund drive road E39 south towards Bergen, and get the ferry from Solevåg to Festøy. From Festøy continue 28.2 km on road E39 in the direction of Ørsta, and turn left where signed "Halse". Drive 1.2 km up to the upper farm and then follow the forest road 1.4 km to the car park at the end of the road.
Start your walk by following the much rougher forest road from the end of the road, down to the river, where it soon becomes a path. Follow this path 220 metres to a signed path junction and fork left towards "Liadalsætra". Continue another 20 metres and fork left again, down towards the river. Follow the path another 400 metres to a bridge crossing the river. From here turn right (south-east) and head uphill across heather and grass, towards the top just visible behind the hillside above you. When you get above 600m you will have a good view of the route up the slightly steep west slopes of Hyrningane. You will come across the occasional vague path, which you should follow where it makes sense, but in general find your best route up to the summit ridge and then turn left for the last few metres to the summit cairn.
From Hyrningane descend back down to approximately 800m and turn right towards the upper end of Liadalsdalen valley. Gradually turn right (north-east) and aim for the saddle between Hestefjellet and Tverrfjellet. Turn right when you get to the saddle and follow the vague path across Tverrfjellet's north ridge, up to the small unmarked summit.
From Tverrfjellet head back down to the saddle and then up to the large summit cairn at Hestefjellet. Follow Hestefjellet's ridge to its west end and from here head (left) south-west down into the valley. Make sure you stay left of the wet area through the valley and you will eventually pick up good path. This path is marked with red dots where it crosses over to the right hand side of the river at 400m, and then continue down to the cabins. Cross the bridge and follow your ascent route back to the car park.
I had a private meeting regarding our land at Fjellsetra this Tuesday afternoon, and decided to take the opportunity to hike in Ørsta after the meeting. The plan was to meet Kjetil at Festøy at 16:15, but he didn't finish work before 16:30 so would be an hour late. And since I wasn't keen on waiting at least an hour we agreed I would drive up to the trail head in Liadalsdalen and hike Hyrningane, and then we would meet somewhere down in the valley and hike Tverrfjellet together.
When driving up the forest road I passed a man out exercising and I deliberately waited for him to get to the car park before starting my hike, in order to ask him if he knew anything about the snow conditions at Hyrningane. He didn't have any first hand information, but from what he had heard from others snow shouldn't be an issue; hence I decided to leave my snow shoes in the car. Unfortunately, I found out when at the summit of Hyrningane, I also left my sandwich in the car ...
The off-path hike up to Hyrningane was strenuous, and also had another element to it; this part of the hike wasn't planned (I had only planned to do Tverrfjellet) so I wasn't sure where to walk, and I wasn't 100% sure I was heading in the right direction before I actually got to the summit ridge. But I got it right, and was greeted with fantastic views on a very nice evening. I also briefly synchronised with Kjetil and he started his hike up the valley at the same time as I started my descent. Hence I knew I would have to wait for him, which didn't worry me on a day like this. After 13 minutes of waiting for Kjetil, high up in Liadalsdalen, we started the hike towards Tverrfjellet. This was an easy stroll with a nice ridge towards the small summit. At the summit we started to consider our options for the ferry back home and after a quick check on his mobile Kjetil informed that there were ferries at 21:55 and 22:20. I concluded that the 21:55 was within reach, but we still allowed ourselves to do a de-tour across Hestefjellet before heading back to the car with a mix of walking and easy jogging.
Back at the car we concluded that we had plenty of time for the 21:55 ferry, and I allowed myself time to change into dry clothes before hitting the road. Half-way towards the ferry I realised I might be able to catch the 21:25 ferry, but in the end I was seconds late for this ferry, so had to settle for a 30 minutes wait because I had been too narrow minded and too focused on the 21:55 ferry. So another relatively late night back home, but as usual it was well worth it!