Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Hjelmen, July 17 2008


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Hjelmen

Hjelmen
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Again, I was in pursuit of another needle (Google map term for mountain junkies) and I decided to pay a visit to Nordmøre. The weather forecast wasn't good, but we weren't expecting a storm. After all, it was mid-July. And possibly, the weather wouldn't be so bad after all. And that would be a bonus! I like to think this way, rather than getting depressed about the weather.

I had quite a lazy plan; travel on the first day, Hjelmen (978m) on the second day, Bølia (703m) on the 3rd day, and Strengen (890m) and travel back home on the 4th day. I brought camping gear and knew that I would probably bore myself to death. And there was no four-legged buddy to keep me company, either. And the whole thing turned out just like I had "feared". On the first day, I drove up, visited Hjelmen in the afternoon and Bølia in the evening. On the second day, I visited Syltnebba (667m) and Strengen and returned back to Ålesund. Quite efficient, and with 4 more needles in the bag.

Hjelmen was a nice stroll. At first, I thought the trailhead was near Slætta. I stopped by a house to make sure. The woman told me to drive back down to the main road and follow a gravel road from the farm down by the road. So I did, and ended up on a rough road that might not have been constructed with Tigers in mind. But I found my trailhead, and I could collect my first bonus; the weather wasn't bad at all. There might be some fog at the top, but it wasn't raining!

I headed up the forest, crossed Almbekken and joined another path that seemed newer and more used. There were signs with local place names "all over" the forest. I liked that, and it certainly shows that someone has great passion for this forest. There were no headlines to broadcast from this hike.  After leaving the trailhead 5:25pm, I reached the summit 6:30pm. The vertical gain was 770m. The summit was partly fogged in, but it didn't matter. It wasn't raining, as the forecast said it would. A couple was sitting a bit further away. I walked over to them and had a short, but nice chat.

 

Surnadal seen from Hjelmen

Surnadal seen from Hjelmen
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I left Hjelmen summit 6:40pm and descended my ascent route. I would normally have followed the other trail to see where it led to, but as I had already decided to hike Bølia, I didn't have time for research. I was back at the car 7:22pm and was on my way towards Bøfjorden and Bølia one minute later.

Next: Bølia

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To Hjelmen

0A. Trip tracks 0B. Route profile 1. Hjelmen 2. Hjelmen 3. The gravel road to the trailhead 4. The trailhead 5. Crossing Almbekken 6. Joining another path 7. Heading up the forest 8. Local place names 9. The last fork 10. View from the Hjelmen path 11. The ridge to Hjelmen 12. The sheep know where to find goodies 13. Bølia - visited later in the evening 14. Settemsdalen 15. The trailhead 16. View from the Hjelmen path 17. Nice colors and shades

On Hjelmen

18. On Hjelmen summit 19. Surnadal 20. Bølia trailhead 21. The tops on my Nordmøre tour 22. Passing a shelter on the way down

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0A 0B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

 

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