| Kvitnyken from
Kjersemsetra Kvitnyken |
| Estimated net time | 3-4 hours |
| Difficulty | There are no real difficulties, but a short stretch of the south-west ridge near the top has some exposure. |
| Drinking water | Access to running water from a stream in the lower sections. |
| GSM coverage | No coverage in the lower sections, else OK. |
| Parking | There is room for several cars at trail head. |
| Start height | 388 metres |
| Vertical metres | 870 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 6.9 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
From Ålesund drive road E136 towards Sjøholt. At Sjøholt turn right towards "Geiranger" and "Stordal" onto road 650. Follow this road for 7.4 km and turn left towards "Vaksvikfjellet". Drive 7.7 km along the Vaksvikfjellet mountain road and turn right where signed for "Kjersemsetra" and "Kvitnykja". After 550 metres you will have a car park on your right hand side. Park the car here.
There are two roads continuing from the car park and you should follow the right branch. First across a small bridge, then the road turns right, and 110 metres after you left the car you will see a signed path ("Lindset" and "Kvitnykja") to your left. Follow this path up Sæterlia, and then towards the saddle between Kvitnyken and Sunnmørslauparen. Here the path forks, with one leg continuing east and one leg forking off to the left towards the south-west ridge of Kvitnyken. Again there are signs. Follow the left path towards Kvitnyken, and follow the path marked by red wooden poles all the way to the summit.
At the summit there are two cairns, separated by a 100+ metres ridge. The first cairn you get to marks the highest point.
The descent is easiest done through the ascent route.
After having spent most part of the week indoor due to work and horrendous weather on Saturday, I decided that I just had to get some fresh air this Sunday. The weather wasn't very good, with major danger of heavy rain and strong winds still raging, but I have proper clothes and was desperate ...
The original plan was to do a local mountain, but for some reason I changed my mind in the last minute and decided to pay Kvitnyken a visit; this didn't seem to be a very long hike, and the driving distance was acceptable.
I left Brattvåg a little after 11am and drove towards Tennfjord/Sjøholt/Vaksvik. When I got through the Reme tunnels between Brattvåg and Tennfjord, and got a view of the inland mountains, I was considering turning back; all the mountains in the region I was planning to visit were white down to 6-700 metres! But after a quick mental check on what gear I had brought along I found that I had all the stuff I needed to cope with sub-zero temperatures.
At 11:50 I was able to start my hike at Kjersemsetra, and I walked up the extremely wet path (creek!) of Sæterlia. There was a fair amount of wind, but the rain had stopped, so no real reason to complain. The first small traces of snow was found at around 500 metres, but up to 700 metres there were only a few white patches here and there.
From the saddle between Kvitnyken and Sunnmørslauparen I headed left, up the south-west ridge of Kvitnyken. Up here it was snow everywhere, and above ~1000 metres the snow was nice and dry. Finding a good route was not a problem, thanks to the frequent red poles marking the path, but finding the exact path was almost impossible. The narrow section a little before the summit plateau required attention since it was both icy and had a fair bit of snow, and a slip here would definitely cause major harm to the ability to get back down unaided.
As I entered the summit plateau thick fog came drifting in from south-west, making the view across to other mountains non-existing. I assumed the fog would lift as quickly as it had arrived, and decided to wait and see if I would be able to take some nice photos. My assumption was correct, but the fog only lifted after I had called it a day and started my descent; "how typical" was a thought that crossed my mind a few times during my descent (the fog only lifted after I had descended ~300 vertical metres, so it wasn't terribly tempting to "run back up"). But it wasn't only the view that changed dramatically; throughout my ascent and descent the wind was quite strong, but at the summit it was practically no wind at all, which was a major reason why I was willing to spend 15 minutes waiting for the fog to lift.
The descent didn't provide any surprises, and less than one hour after leaving the summit I was back at the car, noting that I didn't have any rain (or snow!) during my hike. The lack of views from the summit still annoyed me, but I'm sure I will be back at Kvitnyken, and then possibly during winter.