Estimated net time	7-8 hours
Difficulty	From distance it looks difficult to get up to the saddle between Tårnet and Storvasstinden, but by careful navigation and aiming for the cairn in the saddle you will only need to use your hands for balance. The scramble up the last few metres to Storvasstinden is easy scrambling with very good hand holds.
Drinking water	Many sources of running water up to lake Tredjevatnet, but nothing above this.
GSM coverage	No coverage from a little below lake Storevatnet to a little above lake Tredjevatnet, else fine (August 2011).
Parking	Room for a couple of cars at trail head, and room for more cars a little below trail head.
Start height	62 metres.
Vertical metres	1455 metres for the roundtrip.
Trip distance	20.5 km
GPS-file	X
Map	(summit area)	Google Interactive Map
Route photo	Route from lake Tredjevatnet to Tårnet.

Note: it might be wise to bring a bike for this hike. You might not be able to cycle much of the ascent, but you will appreciate the bike when coming back down the 6 km of mountain road.

From Ålesund drive road 60 towards Magerholm and cross the fjord on the ferry to Aursneset. From the ferry port at Aursneset drive 10.2 km towards Stranda on road 60, to Straumgjerde. At Straumgjerde turn right, drive across the bridge (crossing Norway's shortest salmon river), and continue north. Drive 3.9 km from road 60. You are now at Erstad, and turn left onto a gravel road. There is an old sign on the right hand side of the road pointing towards "Riksheimdalen". Follow this gravel road uphill for approximately 600 metres. You now get to a gate, and could in theory continue to drive uphill. But most likely the gate is locked, and if it isn't you might well risk that it is locked when you get back down. You should therefore find parking somewhere close to this gate. There are several places where a car can be parked along the road, but you need to make sure you don't block access for tractors etc. to the fields.

Start walking by following the mountain road uphill. At 320 metres you get to lake Dammen, and proceed another 4.1 km to the end of the mountain road. From here head up to a small cabin and continue south-east on a path marked by red "T"s. The path runs on the left hand side of lake Storevatnet, and continues south from around mid-way along the lake. This path will take you up to lake Tredjevatnet, but you can hike a slightly shorter route by heading directly for the small waterfall coming down from Tredjevatnet. Make sure you ascend on the left hand side of the waterfall. You will re-join the T-marked path at the bottom of the waterfall. Follow the path up to lake Tredjevatnet and proceed along the right hand side of the lake. Once you get to the end of the lake you should stop and evaluate the route up to the higher ground above you. Notice a cairn in the saddle above you, and the small grassy area just below the cairn. This is where you will get onto the ridge leading up to Tårnet.

From lake Tredjevatnet head a little right (south-west), up a gentle slope, and continue past the cairn up in the saddle. You will now find an obvious place to gain height, on slightly wet and moss clad ground, but not steep. Once you are through this area turn left and traverse a couple of hundred metres, gaining only a little height. You will now see the cairn up on the saddle, and also a vague path through the grass and soil. Head up here and then turn right in order to climb Tårnet. Find your best route across the boulder to the summit, which is marked by a cairn. There might be a snow field below the summit, but this is normally easy to bypass on either side.

From Tårnet head back down to the saddle and continue up the ridge towards Storvasstinden. Follow the ridge or slightly below it on the right hand side. When you get close to the summit traverse a little and head up the small ridge coming up from the right (south-west). Some easy scrambling is required in order to get to the summit, which is marked by a small cairn.

Descend by heading back down to the saddle, and from here follow your ascent route all the way back down to your car.

13. August 2011

The weather forecast for this Saturday was very promising so I decided to hike Tårnet and Storvasstinden, via Riksheimdalen. While I was making myself ready to start the hike another hiker came walking along the road at Erstad, and it turned out he was on his way to Tårnet and Storvasstinden. Since I had a bike I didn't consider doing the hike together with him, but when I overtook him by Dammen we continued along the mountain road together. It turned out he was from eastern Norway but had lived in Sykkylven for many years, and was a keen mountaineer. And Kjetil was his name.

The walk along the mountain road and on the path up to lake Tredjevatnet was uneventful and easy. From here we knew we had to be a bit careful with our navigation in order to find a good route up the steep hill side to the Tårnet-Storvasstinden saddle. We had seen the best route from below, but when we were 100 metres right of the best place to ascend we decided to have a go at scrambling up to the saddle. This was slightly more difficult than it looked from below, but after some minor problems we managed to find our way up to the saddle. From here it was easy walking up to the summit of Tårnet.

At Tårnet we enjoyed excellent views, and also grabbed the opportunity to refill in terms of food and water. Then we headed back down to the saddle and took on the fine north-west ridge of Storvasstinden. Here we had to do some more scrambling in order to get to the summit, but this scrambling is easy thanks to first class hand holds.

From Storvasstinden we headed back down to the saddle, and descended via the easiest route, which turned out to be a plain walk (at least compared to our ascent route). Then we followed our ascent route back down to Riksheimdalen, and when we were back where I had left my bike we thanked each other for a fabulous hike and exchanged contact info. Then I took on the most scary part of the hike, cycling back down to trail head on loose gravel and with poor brakes.
Photos 13.08.2011