| Storkjelen from
Bakkedalen Oddekloven Storkjelen |
| Estimated net time | 4-5 hours | ||
| Difficulty |
No difficulties, but there's considerable
exposure down towards left at around 820 metres, north-east of
Oddekloven. During summer this is not an issue, but care should
definitely be shown during winter. The descent down from the saddle between Oddekloven and Storkjelen is steep, but not difficult. |
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| Drinking water | Several sources of running water along the route. | ||
| GSM coverage | No coverage from the saddle between Oddekloven and Storkjelen, up to Storkjelen, and down to the road. Coverage at Storkjelen and through the rest of the route. (September 2013). | ||
| Parking | Room for one or two cars at trail head. | ||
| Start height | 345 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 915 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 9.9 km | ||
| GPS-file |
X
(the route I actually recorded) X (a route I've manually created, which is close to where the actual route runs) |
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| Map |
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| Route photo |
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From the intersection of road E39 and 60, a few hundred metres north of Grodås, drive E39 7.9 km in the direction of Kvivstunnelen and Ålesund (north), and turn right after the tunnel (before the second tunnel) where signed for "Bjørke". Turn left in the T-junction after 30 metres, again signed for "Bjørke", and drive 10.6 km to the junction just south of Bjørke. Fork left, towards Finnes, and drive 2.2 km to the houses at Finnes. Follow the road left, before the houses, and pay toll at the unmanned toll both after 300 metres (NOK 30 per 2013). Drive 3.0 km uphill and turn sharp left soon after a bridge, and park along the road.
Start your hike by following the mountain road (the one you've just turned left onto) east, and fork right onto a rougher forest road after 100 metres. Follow this forest road approximately 400 metres, to where it starts to go a little downhill, and turn right towards the ridge above you. There's no path up here, and can be a little wet. When you get to the ridge continue across the small valley Lomsdalen and up to the next ridge. Once on the ridge turn right and head south-west towards Oddekloven. As you approach the small top at 840 metres the terrain gets steeper and you should stay a little right of centre of the top ahead of you. When you get up to 840 make sure you stay clear of the vertical drop down to your left, and also make sure you enjoy the beauty of this rock formation. After the ridge turn a little left and head up the very vague path to Oddekloven. You will first get to an unmarked top, but the true summit is further south-west, and you will find the remainder of a trigonometric point marker.
From Oddekloven continue south-west and west, down to the saddle. It's best to walk a little left at the beginning of the descent, in order to avoid some cliff bands, and then turn a little right further down. Cross the saddle and then turn a little left to avoid the boulder and cliff bands on Storkjelen's east slopes, before heading up north-west. Cross east of the lake at 955 metres and follow the rounded ridge to Storkjelen's summit, which is only marked by an old trigonometric point marker on the ground.
Descend by heading back down to the saddle between Storkjelen and Oddekloven, and turn left down towards Bakkedalen. Aim for the bridge at the east end of lake Bakkedalsvatnet, but you need to descend a little left (west) at the beginning to avoid some cliff bands. Once you're past the cliff bands you can aim directly for the bridge. Cross the bridge and turn right on the gravel road, which will take you back to your car.
With promising weather forecast for this Sunday, Kjetil and me agreed to do a hike together. But when we spoke early in the morning it was wet and grey so we agreed to delay the hike to the afternoon, and also agreed to stay relatively low. At 11:30 Kjetil arrived at Fjellsetra, and we drove my car to Bjørke.
When we arrived Bakkedalen, after having messed around a little thanks to confusing information in the book "Fotturar på Sunnmøre", it had stopped raining but the visibility was very poor. Luckily I've learned my lesson and had plotted a number of way-points on my GPS, so navigation shouldn't be an issue.
The plan was to follow a path along Oddekloven's north-east ridge, but after a few hundred metres along a forest road we decided to head uphill, off-path, and join the path higher up. But when we got to the right ridge there was no path to be found, and in general the terrain was heavy going with wet and soft ground. Fortunately things got a little better as we approached the small top at 840 metres. This top was definitely the highlight of the hike, with its vertical south side.
After this nice spot we continued up to Oddekloven, still with poor visibility, and then down to Skåla and up to Storkjelen. By the time we got to Storkjelen the visibility had improved, but we only partially had sight of the fine mountains in the area.
From Storkjelen we went back down to Skåla, and then the steep descent back down to the road through Bakkedalen.
Throughout my hike I had some issues with my GPS (more correctly, I had some issues with myself and my ability to operate my new Garmin Oregon 600, despite having already used it on several hikes over the last 10 days). And when I got home and downloaded today's track to my PC it reported one point, which was the summit of Storkjelen. I definitely need to study the user interface better!
PS, one week later: I have now found out more about my GPS, and have also found out that I actually recorded more than one point, which I was able to download to my PC.
