Meraftafjellet trail head above Nonsvika.
Start of forest road towards Meraftafjellet.
| Meraftafjellet from
Nonsvika Meraftafjellet |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Access to drinking water from the stream that drains from lake Heimste Demmingsvatn. | ||
| GSM coverage | Poor/patchy coverage below a little above Heimste Demmingsvatn, else fine (September 2013). | ||
| Parking | Room for a couple of cars at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 48 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 550 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 7.2 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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There are two routes for access to the trail head.
[a]
From road E39 turn on to road 656 at Valle. From this junction drive 5.1 km towards Magerholm. Find parking on the left hand side of the road, in front of a small wooden building, just before a right curve.
[b]
From Ålesund drive road E39 south, and then follow road 60 towards Magerholm/Stranda. From the exit to the ferry port at Magerholm continue approximately 6.7 km on road 656 towards Valle. Find parking on the right hand side of the road, in front of a small wooden building, just after a left curve.
Start hiking by following road 656 200 metres west (in the direction of Magerholm) and turn right onto a forest road. After 30-40 metres the forest road makes a sharp right, and you follow it up to the top of the first small hill. You will now have an old gate on your left hand side. Pass through this gate and immediately turn right or left (these paths merge after 250 metres, with the left route slightly shorter). Follow the path up to the lake Heimste Demmingsvatn. Turn left (south) when you get to the lake, and continue on the marked path all the way to the summit. In the lower section the path is marked by red paint on the trees. Later you will find small poles with red paint, and when you get up on the summit ridge there are small cairns marking the route. The summit is marked by a large pile of stones and a trigonometric point marker.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
I was definitely going to bag a new mountain this Christmas Day, but was a bit unsure if I should go for a skiing hike or not. At the end I decided to stay away from snow, and my choice fell on Meraftafjellet. It was a grey day, but no rain and only fair wind, so I was looking forward to a relatively easy hike. It wasn't to be!
The hike was fairly uneventful up to approximately 250 metres, the only concern being some icy patches. From here on I was taken by surprise by the amount of snow, but it didn't cause any problems since several people had created a relatively good path in the snow. But at approximately 340 metres they had decided to call it a day! Well, I wasn't out to smell a mountain, I wanted to grab it, so there was no other choice than to continue. Pretty soon the conditions became very difficult, with snow varying between ½ and 1 metre. At approximately 400 metres I decided to get down on all four to stay more on top of the snow. This worked, at a cost, and when I got above 500 metres the snow had blown off the mountain and I was again able to walk properly. The hike across the plateau was child's play.
After taking photos and enjoying the view (limited, because of the clouds), I composed myself for the descent. In the steeper sections I made good progress by jumping down into the loads of snow, and the flatter sections was acceptable since I had made a fairly useful path during my ascent.
Not a terribly memorable hike, but I'm sure this is a very fine hike and fine mountain when the conditions are more favourable.