Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Hjelmen, 978m  

Hjelmen seen from Saksa
(Click for larger image)

Introduction

Hjelmen (the Helmet) is located on the east side of Tingvollfjorden, and is the highest top in the long mountain range stretching east into Trøndelag county, until you reach Ruten (1039m), 35km to the northeast. Hjelmen is a characteristic top, and can easily be identified from long distance. If you see two notable tops in the distant, somewhere around Tingvollfjorden, it might just be Hjelmen and Saksa (902m).

The Halsa/Surnadal border runs across the summit. While Hjelmen is the highest top in Halsa, the mountain only ranks as #51 on this site's list of peaks for Surnadal.

The normal route to Hjelmen begins in Settemsdalen, and you can follow a marked path all the way to the top. The views towards Trollheimen, Sunndalen and Romsdalen peaks are outstanding. See the Saksa trip report for annotated zoom panoramas (Hjelmen was fogged in when visited).

Hjelmen seen from Reinsfjellet
(Click for larger image)

Primary factor:

Hjelmen (Norge 1:50,000: 978m, Økonomisk Kartverk (ØK): 977,78m,  UTM 32 V 474816 6991146) has a primary factor of 695m towards the higher parent mountain Ruten (1039m). The defining saddle (approx. UTM 32 V 483289 6993503) is found further 8,8km to the east, just south of Lake Litlreinslivatnet. Ref. Økonomisk Kartverk (5m contours), the saddle is within the range 280-285m, interpolated to 283m.

GPS measurement on the summit cairn (approx. 2m high) read 982m, averaged over a 10-minute period (error margin not recorded).

Google map

Google's interactive map. You can zoom, pan and click on the markers.
 

Trail descriptions

These route descriptions were valid per July 2008. All distances are approx. distances.

Route 1: Settemsdal - Hjelmen (summer) Difficulty : Class 1 (YDS) Exposure : No Distance : Approx. 3,1km to the top (2D distance) Time : Approx. 1,5 hours to the top Starting Elev.: Approx. 210m Vertical Gain : Approx. 770m

Map of the area (No Javascript) Detailed map (No Javascript)

Access

(all distances are approx. distances)

From Molde, follow highway E39 (Kristiansund) to the northeast. Just after passing the manned toll station on Bergsøya island, turn right and continue on E39, and don't follow the road to Kristiansund through the Freifjord tunnel. At Kanestraum, take the ferry to Halsa.

From Halsa, follow E39 7,1km to Betna and then turn right towards Surnadal (signed). Continue on this road 8,6km. It's now 100m since you passed the Bølandet exit on your right-hand side. To your left is a gravel road and a farm. Turn left onto the gravel road.

Drive 1,3km (you pass a gate along the way) then turn sharp right (see note below) and follow a more rough road 400m up to the Mjølkplasshauan trailhead, which has room for 2-3 cars.

Note: Rather than turning sharp to the right, consider driving on for yet another 400m and see if you can find another trailhead. The route described below joins another marked route on the north side of Almbekken.

The route

View towards the trailhead
(Click for larger image)

From Mjølkplasshauan (UTM 32 V 472493 6990737), follow the forest road to the east. After 300m, the road forks. Go left. You should soon see "Hjelmen" painted in red on a rock. Follow the path towards Almbekken and cross the creek (which is probably a small river in the melting season). On the north side of the creek, the path soon merges with another marked path from the west.

Head up the forest and pass numerous wooden signs denoting local place names. This route has clearly been a subject to love and care from some of the locals. Once above the forest, the path runs on the south side of Hjelmen's southwest ridge in the beginning, but gains the ridge in a little bit. At the last fork, turn left for Hjelmen. The path takes a small detour to bypass steep terrain before it follows the southwest ridge to the summit. One section may seem steep from distance, but it all gets solved when you get closer. The summit is marked by a huge cairn.

Pictures and Trip reports:

• Hjelmen, July 17 2008
• Hjelmen seen from other mountains

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