Skårsfjellet trail head at Skaret.
Start of path towards Skårsfjellet.
| Skårsfjellet from
Skaret Skårsfjellet |
| Estimated net time | 3-3½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, and the whole route runs on forest road and path. | ||
| Drinking water | Only stable access to running water under the two bridges before the the start of the path. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (August 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at trail head, by the Skaret ski stadium. | ||
| Start height | 217 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 580 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 9.3 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Start measuring from the round about east of Molde centre where roads E39 and 662 intersect (this is approximately 0.8 km along E39 from the ferry port). Drive E39 east in the direction of Trondheim:
- At 4.2 km turn left in the round about, onto road 64 towards Eide.
- At 6.1 km turn right towards Eide and Årødalen, the toll free alternative of road 64.
- At 10.0 km turn right where signed for "Skistadion".
- At 10.2 km park on the large car park on the left hand side of the road.
Start your walk by continuing on the gravel road in the same direction as you drove towards the car park. Walk on the left hand side of the wooden bridge and continue a little more than 600 metres on the forest road. Fork left and continue another 260 metres. Turn right across the bridge and walk another 180 metres. Fork left and walk 180 metres to a narrow wooden bridge. Cross the bridge and turn right immediately after, and you will find a path heading up through the forest. When you get above the forest the path bears a little left and continues all the way to the large summit cairn, which also holds a summit registration book. Note that there are a couple of false summits, with cairns, along the way.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
My friend Amund called me on Friday night and asked if I was on for Skåla on Sunday, and also invited me to his house in Molde for Saturday night. I quickly accepted the offer, and at the same time had a look at the maps to identify a potential hike Saturday night, before driving to his house. Skårsfjellet, which is only referred to as Lønsetfjellet by the locals and the path signs, clearly stood out as a suitable candidate.
I left home after dinner on Saturday afternoon and started my hike at 17:30, in nice and warm conditions. As I was about to cross the wooden bridge where the path starts a runner overtook me, and I took the opportunity to ask him for directions (I hadn't located the path yet). He was clearly well known in the area and pointed me in the right direction, before he set off uphill at jogging pace. When he got 40-50 metres ahead of me I decided to see if I could keep up with his pace, and to my surprise I only lost another few metres during the next 300 vertical metres. This certainly took its toll on me, but I was still able to keep an OK pace through the long flatter section towards the summit, enjoying very nice views towards south.
At the summit I took a few photos in the hazy conditions, before jogging back down and the drive back to Amund's, where a salmon dinner with wine and beer was waiting to be tucked into.