| Otredalsfjellet from
Otterdal Otredalsfjellet |
| Estimated net time | 5-6 hours | ||
| Difficulty |
The ascent from Otredalsskaret pass
requires some easy scrambling, and on wet grass you need to be a little
careful. This section can be avoided by heading a little further north
through the pass and then ascend more from north than west. The terrain from above the pass is a little cumbersome and might require a touch of care of the rock is wet, and in particular where there's moss. |
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| Drinking water | Running water several places up to the pass. | ||
| GSM coverage | No coverage between the cabins at Otredalssætra and the pass at Otredalsskaret; else OK (September 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for a few cars around trail head. | ||
| Start height | 175 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 1190 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 13.0 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From the north end of Grodås village centre, at the east end of lake Hornindalsvatnet along road 60, locate the signed exit to "Otterdal". Start measuring from here:
- At 0.8 km turn left towards "Otterdal".
- At 4.6 km fork right just before you get to the houses at Otterdal.
- At 5.5 km park on the fields on the left hand side just before you get to a gate. If you don't drive a 4WD you should consider parking a little further down.
Start your hike by following the forest road uphill. After 900 metres turn left and head up to the cabins at Otredalssætra. The path, marked with white paint, starts on the right hand side of an old wooden building. Follow this path 2.6 km into the valley, and leave the path towards left (west) a little before the path reaches the top of the pass. Walk 450 metres and you'll end of above the rather steep sides of Otredalsskaret pass. You will find an easy route down into the pass a little north of the small lake, and some easy scrambling will take you up the other side. From here head 2.0 km south-west without path, across several small valleys and sections of slab covered by moss, to the large summit cairn. The true summit is located a few metres south of the cairn.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
I was due to work on the new shed at our cabin this Saturday, but given the excellent hiking conditions I decided to set off early and hike Otredalsfjellet, and then spend time on the shed in the afternoon. At Otterdal I spoke briefly with a local who was out picking up his morning newspaper, and he told me I could drive as far up the forest road as my car would take me, and that I could park anywhere I wanted. Hence I drove up to the gate at 175m, from where there road got considerably rougher, and parked on the field a little below the gate. From here it was easy walking on the road leading up to the cabins a little above 400m, and then along the fine path into the Otterdal valley. I left the path a little before its highest point and headed across to the gully through Otredalsskaret. My initial plan had been to ascend Otredalsfjellet from north of the gully, but the west side of the gully seemed to have a doable route up the steep west side so I was able to short-cut the hike a little compared to the plan. After having scrambled up from the gully I quickly realised that my potential difficulties weren't quite done yet since there were several sections of slab, partly clad with moss, that had to be dealt with. Navigating around these sections wasn't difficult, but slightly cumbersome, and definitely spoiled any hopes of an easy walk straight to the summit. So after having crossed a number of gullies and zigzagged a little to avoid steep and slippery sections I finally made it to the large summit cairn, where I could find shelter from the cold wind. I descended via my ascent route, which proved easier than expected, and also the descent back down into Otredalsskaret was relatively straight forward. Then partly easy jogging back down to the car and back to Fjellsetra.
