Middagstinden trail head by Bøstølen.
Overview of route to Middagstinden.
Route past top 943m.
Upper half of route to Middagstinden.
| Middagstinden from
Bøstølen Middagstinden |
| Estimated net time | 5-6 hours | ||
| Difficulty | Expect to use your hands a couple of places close to the summit, but there are no technical difficulties. | ||
| Drinking water | Running water at trail head and in the saddle above lake Tindevatnet. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (September 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars around trail head. | ||
| Start height | 393 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 1295 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 8.5 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Drive road E136 (which is also E39) east from Ålesund, and turn right towards Åndalsnes to continue on E136 when you get close to Vestnes centre. From here drive approximately 49.1 km (approximately 10 km shorter when the bridge across Tresfjorden opens in 2015) to Innfjorden. Turn right where signed for "Berill", and measure from where you leave E136:
- At 7.0 km turn right towards "Bøstølen".
- At 7.3 km pay toll in the unmanned toll booth (NOK 80 per 2014).
- At 12.2 km turn right across a small bridge and park on the left hand side of the road.
Start your hike by following the path along the river back down where you arrived from, but on the other side of the river. Follow this path all the way up to the saddle between Nonstinden and top 943m, a little above lake Tindevatnet. Turn right when the path fades away, and head down to the lowest point in the saddle, and then find a good route around top 943m on the left (north) side. Then descend down to the saddle between 943m and Middagstinden, and either head uphill a little left or aim for the ridge coming down south from Middagstinden. The latter is slightly longer, but the terrain is a little easier (less boulder). It might be a good idea to ascend via the more direct route, and descend via the ridge. The two routes meet at around 1400m, from where you follow the ridge towards the summit pyramid, and then up through large boulders to the relatively small summit.
Descend by reversing either of the ascent routes.
We were spending the week-end at Fjellsetra and Kjetil picked me up after breakfast. We started from Bøstølen a little after noon, on a slightly grey Sunday with good summer temperature. At around 700 metres we overtook a group of 5-6 hikers, and I assumed they were "just another group of hikers" and wasn't surprised that I/we walked faster than them. But this turned into a major surprise when I saw two of them almost running up along the south ridge when we ascended via the more direct route. But they must have slowed down again since there weren't any other hikers at the summit when I got there. When they finally got to the summit it turned out to be competitive mountain runners, and one of them had won the Romsdalseggen race the day before.
After a fairly long summit stay, which unfortunately didn't give the best conditions for photos because of some mist and low clouds, we started our descent and followed the south ridge down to the saddle east of top 943m. In hindsight I would probably have used the ridge route both up and down, but it was good to have done both routes; it gives better knowledge about the mountain and a sense of having "done" more of it.