Start of hike to Igesundshetta.
Route towards Vikevatnet.| Igesundshetta from
Myklebust Igesundshetta |
| Estimated net time | 1-1½ hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties. |
| Drinking water | Lake Vikevatnet serves as a drinking water source so it can be assumed that this water is suitable for drinking also straight from the lake. |
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route. |
| Parking | Room for a few cars around trail head. |
| Start height | 25 metres |
| Vertical metres | 210 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 2.8 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
Start of hike to Igesundshetta.
Route towards Vikevatnet. |
From Ålesund drive road 61 towards Sulesund and get the ferry across to Hareid. From Hareid drive approximately 10.5 km on road 61, to the round-about just outside Ulsteinvik. From here continue on road 61 towards Måløy for 5.4 km, then turn right to stay on road 61. 2.9 km further on, fork right onto road 654. Stay on road 654 and follow signs for "Fosnavåg". After approximately 15.0 km you get to the bridge across to Bergsøya. After you have landed on Bergsøya continue on road 654 for another 2.7 km. Turn left here. This is just before an Eurospar shop (December 2008), and the street you turn onto is called "Toftestøvegen". Drive this road 90 metres and turn right onto the street called "Øvre Myklebust". Drive 140 metres uphill and find parking just before the street starts to turn right.
Start walking by walking up between a couple of houses on the left hand side of the road. You will find a path on the left side of a small stream. Soon you will find the first sign for Igesundshetta, and the rest of the route is fairly well signed. Follow this path up through the small valley, until you get to the small dam at lake Vikevatnet. Turn right here, and follow the right (east) shore of the lake for 50 metres. Then turn sharp right and follow the path directly east up to a small lake. Note that there are several paths leading to the summit of Igesundshetta from lake Vikevatnet, and the route described here is not the shortest.
From the small lake continue east another 120 metres before turning left (north). Follow the path uphill in a northern direction for 150 metres, and then turn left again (west) and continue across to the summit.
The descent route follows the ascent route.
It was our turn to drive the 12 year old handball boys to an away match, and I volunteered to take on this task, realising that this would bring me to new territory for my hiking experiences. We left Brattvåg around 9am this Sunday morning, and a little after 11:00 I left the boys at the sports hall in Fosnavåg. Then I tried to find the trail head for Igesundshetta, which proved to be a little more difficult than I had anticipated. After having messed around for a few minutes I was on my way at 11:20.
The path up the valley towards Vikevatnet was extremely icy, so I was very happy I had put on my Asics shoes with studs. I'm not sure yet whether to trust them to its full, and I still have an intention to buy some slightly longer spikes (the plan is to try some 9mm athletics spikes), but they certainly makes life easier under conditions like the ones I experienced on this hike. From a little above Vikevatnet life got easier, with the ice being replaced with hard snow. Up here I also met a number of other hikers.
At the summit I paused for long enough to take some photos, but it was a fairly grey morning so the conditions weren't favourable. I also was in a rush because I wanted to bag also Hornseten before I had to pick up the boys around 12:50.
During the descent I tried to avoid the ice, and instead run the heather clad slopes. This worked fine, and I arrived at the car with sufficient time to have a go at Hornseten.