| Midmorgonshornet &
Varden from
Stordal Midmorgonshornet Varden |
| Estimated net time | 4½-5 hours | ||
| Difficulty |
No difficulties. The route up to the saddle between the two tops has a fine path. From the saddle to Midmorgonshornet there are no paths to rely on, but from the saddle to Varden there is a path (although a bit vague in places). |
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| Drinking water | Only stable access to running water from the stream close to the path around Midtbustsætra, at around 400 metres. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (August 2010). | ||
| Parking | Room for 2-3 cars at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 30 metres. | ||
| Vertical metres | 1265 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 11.7 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From Ålesund drive road E39 to Sjøholt. Drive through Sjøholt centre, and turn right onto road 650, signed for "Geiranger" and "Stordal". From this junction drive 18.2 km to Stordal and follow road 650 when it turns 90° left. Drive another 1.1 km (you pass the church on your left hand side after 700 metres) and turn left where signed for "Vinjehjellane Bustadfelt". Drive another 500 metres and locate sign for "Grigås natursti" on your right hand side, just after a left curve. There is room for 2-3 cars on the right hand side of the road.
Start walking by passing the gate, and then turn right onto a path running north-east. There are a number of paths up here, maintained by the local goats, but the path you should follow is marked with red paint in a few places. This path runs on the right hand side of a couple of houses, in a north-east direction. After you have passed the houses the path runs into a spruce forest. Continue approximately 400 metres, and you will see some signs related to deer hunting ("hjortejakt"). One can assume that hikers are not welcome here in the hunting season (from 10th September and the next couple of months). A little after these signs the path forks; follow the left leg, marked with amber ribbons. After a steep incline you meet an old forest road. Turn right here and follow the forest road 50 metres, a little downhill.
A couple of metres after you see an old wooden sign for "Midtbustsætra" on your right hand side, you should turn left onto a path heading uphill into the spruce forest. Follow this path all the way up to the small wooden building at Midtbustsætra.
From Midtbustsætra continue north on the path, and stay on this path all the way up to the saddle between Varden and Midmorgonshornet. You reach the saddle approximately 500 metres after you get to the first power line mast. When you get to the saddle and the multiple power line masts, turn right and aim left of the nearest top above you, Ørnedalshornet. You can either head in a straight line towards a point left of Ørnedalshornet, or you can head further right (north-east) in the beginning and then traverse back towards the route of the direct line. If you choose the latter route you will avoid the bush and find some tracks here and there, but the bush is not very dense, so a direct route is probably the best.
When you get above the bush you will see a small section of large boulder coming down on the left hand side of Ørnedalshornet. Aim for the lower part of this boulder, cross it, and then circumvent Ørnedalshornet on its left (north-west) side. You now get to a flatter section, before you head left (north-west) up along the summit ridge of Midmorgonshornet. The summit is marked with a large cairn.
From Midmorgonshornet descend back down to the saddle and then follow the path which runs along the east ridge of Varden. The path is a little vague in places higher up, but if you miss it just keep moving uphill towards the summit. When you get up on the summit plateau you will find two cairns, with the northern one obviously located higher then the one out on the south edge. But this cairn is not the summit; the summit is located less than 100 metres north-east, but is not marked in any way.
From Varden head back down to the saddle, then back to Midtbustsætra, and finally down through the forest and back to your car.
After having done voluntary work for the local football club during the morning I decided to go for an afternoon hike this Saturday. I had some problems making up my mind on what mountain to hike, something challenging in Ørsta or something easier in Stordal/Vestnes/Ørskog, but eventually ended up with a couple of easy Stordal tops. There were several reasons for my choice, but I assume the deciding factor was that I new what I would get in terms of difficulties after having been in the same area only three days before when hiking Sandfjellet, and this knowledge was of some interest since the weather was quite unstable. Another factor was that I had decided to hike Midmorgonshornet and Varden this year, and new I should do it before the hunting season starts.
When I set out from Stordal the weather was nice, except for the wind, and I
enjoyed a fine hike up to Midmorgonshornet. At the summit I had to put on a
jacket thanks to the strong wind, but that's not unexpected at almost 1000
metres. But I saw rain showers on their way, and expected to get rain fairly
soon. And rain I got; while ascending Varden it poured down, but it only lasted
12-15 minutes and stopped just before I reached the summit of Varden. After this
I enjoyed sun for the rest of my hike.
Photos 21.08.2010
