| Rotsethornet from
Rotevatnet, ascending from south-east Instehornet Rotsethornet |
| Estimated net time | 2½-3 hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties, but some small areas of steep slab (~2 metres) where one might want to use the hands. Forest road and path all the way to the top. |
| Drinking water | Access to running water in the lower areas of the path (~ 250-400 metres altitude). |
| GSM coverage | Coverage at the top and throughout (most of) the route. |
| Parking | Room for 1-2 cars at trail head. Room for many cars at the golf course a few hundred metres before trail head. |
| Start height | 53 metres |
| Vertical metres | 700 metres for the roundtrip, including visit at 649m. |
| Trip distance | 8.5 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
From Ålesund drive to Solevåg and get the ferry across to Festøy. Drive for 34.9km on road E39 towards Volda. At the ferry port in Volda (the ferry to Folkestad) continue on road 651 for 1.5km till you get to a roundabout. Road 651 goes off right, but you continue straight through the roundabout, towards "Vikebygda", for 1.7km. Where it is signed for "Vassbotnen", turn right. Continue for 2.0km, passing the golf course, and find parking by the gate (one is not allowed to drive further).
Walk 300 metres along the Rotevatnet lake, towards west. Then turn left, continuing upwards on the forest road. After a couple of hundred metres there are signs for alternative routes to Rotsethornet; continue on the right (easy) route. Where the forest path has the next fork (at above 185 metres altitude), continue right. The forest road continues upwards, and at ~230 metres altitude it forks again. At this point there is some kind of roundabout enable larger vehicles to turn around. Select the right leg again. From here the forest road is not of the same high quality. There is red paint on some of the stones, marking the route. Around 250 metres along this section of the forest road there is a sign for "Rotsethornet", to the right. Follow this path through the forest.
This path will take you all the way to the summit. First to the Instehornet at 653 metres, and then to Rotsethornet at 649, overlooking Volda. At this point there is a book for registration.
You can either descend the ascent route or down the path on the north-west side of the mountain, which at places is steep.
The trip to Volda was a result of me being assigned as driver for the Haram G12 handball team for their away match against Volda. I assume I should have prioritised supporting my son and his friends by watching their match, but Volda isn't a place I visit every year, so I decided to do a mountain (I watch the boys' handball matches on a number of other occasions).
I dropped the boys off at the sports hall, and then drove towards trail head for Rotsethornet. I wasn't sure about the directions so I stopped at the Shell petrol station by Rotset and asked for directions. A nice lady called Elisabet (I noticed the name on her badge) was willing to help, although she admitted never to have been to Rotsethornet! Anyway, her guiding did the trick, and I was on my way along lake Rotevatnet at 12:40. The temperature was 7°C, and it was light rain. At the summit the wind was fairly strong.
After spending a few minutes taking photos I descended that same way I had ascended, then quickly drove back to the sports hall and got there about one minute after the boys' game had finished.
I did this trip using my Tecnica hiking boots, but I assume lighter shoes would be fine in average conditions.