Middagshornet trail head by Skinnviksætra.
Route up Middagshornet's west ridge.
| Middagshornet from
Skinnviksætra Middagshornet |
| Estimated net time | 2-3 hours | ||
| Difficulty | The route isn't difficult but expect to have to use your hands a few places between 700m and 750m. | ||
| Drinking water | You will find running water in the streams up to 680m, where the final climb to the summit starts. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (October 2015). | ||
| Parking | Room for a few cars around Skinnviksætra. | ||
| Start height | 383 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 555 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 5.8 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From the junction between roads E39 and 60, approximately 2 km north of Grodås
- Drive E39 13.7 km in the direction of Ålesund (along E39) and turn left towards Fyrde.
- At 14.6 km turn left towards Straumshamn.
- At 17.0 km turn left towards Skinnviksætra and pay toll (NOK 50 per 2015) in the unmanned toll booth.
- At 19.7 km turn right towards Skinnviksætra (not signed), and make sure you don't turn right towards Botnasætra at 19.4 km.
- At 20.0 km turn left onto a short farm road and find parking.
From trail head follow the forest road 200 metres south, to where it turns right. Instead of following the forest road you should climb across the fence and then turn left and follow the pretty well defined path as it goes uphill. Stay on this path up to where the terrain gets considerably flatter, at around 620m. Leave the path and head south and later south-east, and in general move towards the west slopes of Middagshornet. Aim for the slightly steep west slopes and find your best way uphill; expect to have to use your hands in a few places, but there's nothing more difficult than YDS 2+. When you get up to the first of the three tops of similar altitude you will see the next two tops, of which the one furthest away (the east-most top, with a minimal cairn) is very likely to be the actual summit (the maps claim this to be the summit). Find your best route across to the other two tops, and descend by reversing your ascent route.
Elisabeth and I were spending this Monday in the autumn holiday week at our cabin and with fairly nice weather we decided to hike something I hadn't hiked before. We ended up with Middagshornet, between Eidskyrkja and Austefjorden, and started our hike at 10:40.
Our ascent up to the flat section a little above 600m was fairly good, on a well defined path. From here we turned east and headed towards the west ridge of Middagshornet, and ascended with a minimum of scrambling in a couple of places. After this it was easy walking across to the three summit candidates, of which the eastern most definitely is the highest (it's the point with practically no cairn). My GPS reported this point to be 1-2 metres higher than the point with the cairn, both when heading east and when coming back.
After the hike we headed back down the ridge, and then followed the outdated path back down towards east of Skinnviksætra. Unfortunately I didn't pay sufficient attention and we ended up down by the road east of Skinnviksætra and had to walk the road back up to where we had parked the car.
Next on the agenda was shopping, and we decided to get that done in Grodås, which also allowed me a Coke and ice cream for both of us. Then onwards to Pål's cabin at Strandafjellet, where we got food and had a good chat.