Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Freikollen, May 27 2007

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.

I was visiting Nordmøre this weekend, and after having visited Melen, Sjurvarden and Mekknøken the day before, I checked into a hotel in Kristiansund. It was now Sunday morning, and I hadn't slept well. My dog had found peace at night in this temporary home, but some of the citizens of Kristiansund hadn't.

General noise don't bother me much, having lived in Oslo for years, next to a motorway and a railroad track. But that - pathetic - noise from two drunk lovers having a three hour quarrel, on a street corner very close by - bothers me. A great deal. I gave up sleeping 04:00AM, and entered zombie state, listening to the rain until I got out of bed 07:00AM. I got myself some breakfast before checking out. I wondered what the weather would be like. Fog was a big nuisance the day before. What would I be up against today?

While driving to the Freikollen trailhead, I thought back on last year's visit to Tustnastabbene. It had been a hard, but rewarding weekend. I carried my dog up to all of the four tops, and my mojo was low when I drove back to Ålesund. I had dropped Petter off in Kristiansund, as he was only going to grab a meal before flying home. His flight got cancelled, and so he was grounded up there. Now that he had seen the city, I suggested that he should do a evening hike up to Freikollen. His own thoughts around this can be read here.

The dog and I headed out from the Freikollen trailhead 09:20AM. The rainshowers seemed to have left the area, although I could see them roam the nearby regions. It was a warm day, and Troll wasn't in hiking mood. I carried him to the top. I wasn't in a great hiking mood myself, and things went really slow up the ski hill.

In the forest, I gradually gained some momentum, and higher up on the mountain, I caught up with a group of hikers. I reached the top 10:15AM in brilliant weather. A big bonus after the foggy Melen and Mekknøken summits. I chatted with the other hikers for a while. They hadn't seen me up there before, so they assumed I was a stranger.

Troll was playing with another dog, while I took my pictures. I had still one more mountain on my to-do list for the day. I'd better get on with it. We left the top 10:40AM. I thought I'd let Troll give walking a try. I had to help him in a couple of very awkward spots, but he managed to walk all the way back to the trailhead. When you see the terrain, you'll understand that this is YDS class 3 scrambling for a dachshund.

We reached the trailhead 11:15AM, and not a single raindrop had fallen. I had noticed that my next stop - Saksa (902m) had no fog, and I strongly hoped that it would last. When I arrived Kanestraum, I had to wait more than one hour for the ferry. Sigh! Moreover, it was hailing. I called my friend Torill and asked what kind of weather I could expect in the afternoon. She said the forecast looked promising. Good, otherwise I would have returned to Ålesund right then and there. My Nordmøre weekend ended with a very nice visit to Saksa in the afternoon.