Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Hoemstinden from Hoem, Dec 03 2006

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

Plan A this Sunday morning was Levandehornet in Ørsta, but when my friend Dag (week-end visitor from Bergen) and I got the Ørsta peninsula in view, we switched to Plan B - Hoemstinden in Vestnes. A cloud-free sky above Romsdalsfjorden seemed more tempting than the carpet of clouds above the Ørsta peaks. We headed out from Ålesund in 9 deg. C. The temperature got increasingly lower throughout Brusdalen, and was down to .5 along Skodjevika. The temperature had climbed back up to 7,5 deg. C by the time we passed Sjøholt. It was one of those stretches where you have to drive extremely focused when the rain is undercooled.

The Hoem trailhead was chosen along the way, as it seemed to be the most convenient route to the top. And we would be in shelter from the winds, possibly facing more snow on the east side. We didn't have a clue about the snow depth, but figured it wouldn't become a problem.

Dag, my dog "Troll" and I left the Hoem trailhead 10:00AM, and were quite happy about locating a path up the forest. Although a bit bumpy in places, and boggy here and there, Troll managed to walk all the way to Hoemsætra. The walk took 1h:10m. I hadn't expected any path up to Hoemstinden, but there was one. The path was a detour, compared to the direct route towards the mountain, and we assumed that it was to bypass potentially boggy terrain.

Below Hoemstinden, I suggested we should take the shortest (and steepest) route to the top. This route was a bit rocky, and much more fun than the south ridge flank. We arrived the top of Hoemstinden 12:20PM, and the top was a windy place. We found natural shelter on the top and had a long, nice break. The "Ørsta clouds" had finally caught up with the Tresfjord region, but there were no signs of rain in the air.

It was early December, and we didn't have to cross ANY snow at all for this summit. Quite out of the ordinary! The summit logbook revealed that no one had signed in since mid-October. I found that a bit odd, given the very accessible mountain, and a small village just below it. But then again, the locals have a lot of peaks to choose between...

Upon descent, we followed the southern flank, then followed another path along lakes Åvatna, before the path took an unexpected turn towards our ascent route. We decided to go off-trail down to Hoemsætrea, where we followed the forest trail back down. We were back at the car approx. 14:30PM. Troll was extremely tired after having walked most of the way up, and all of the way down.