Start of route at Nonsvika, seen from east.
At the top of the first hill walk through this gate and turn right.| Meraftafjellet from
Nonsvika Meraftafjellet |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours |
| Difficulty | No difficulties. |
| Drinking water | Access to drinking water from the stream that drains from lake Heimste Demmingsvatn. |
| GSM coverage | Poor/patchy coverage below a little above Heimste Demmingsvatn, else fine (December 2008). |
| Parking | Room for one car at trail head, and several cars close to trail head. |
| Start height | 43 metres |
| Vertical metres | 545 metres for the roundtrip |
| Trip distance | 7.0 km |
| GPS-file | X |
| Map |
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| Route photo |
Start of route at Nonsvika, seen from east.
At the top of the first hill walk through this gate and turn right. |
There are two routes for access to the trail head.
[a]
From road E39 turn on to road 656 at Valle. From this junction drive 5.3 km towards Magerholm. Find parking on the right hand side of the road, where an old forest road comes down to the main road.
[b]
From Ålesund drive road E39 south, and then follow road 60 towards Magerholm/Stranda. From the exit to the ferry port at Magerholm continue approximately 6.5 km on road 656 towards Valle. You will now see an old forest road coming down on the left hand side, and you will have a few houses in front of you on the right hand side.
Start hiking by following the forest road west. After 30-40 metres it makes a sharp right, and you follow it up to the top of the first small hill. You will now have an old gate on your left hand side. Pass through this gate and immediately turn right. Follow the path, which is marked by red paint, up to the lake Heimste Demmingsvatn. Turn left (south) when you get to the lake, and continue on the marked path.
You now follow this path all the way to the summit. In the lower section the path is marked by red paint on the trees. Later you will find small poles with red paint, and when you get up on the summit ridge there are small cairn marking the route.
The descent follows the ascent route.
I was definitely going to bag a new mountain this Christmas Day, but was a bit unsure if I should go for a skiing hike or not. At the end I decided to stay away from snow, and my choice fell on Meraftafjellet. It was a grey day, but no rain and only fair wind, so I was looking forward to a relatively easy hike. It wasn't to be!
The hike was fairly uneventful up to approximately 250 metres, the only concern being some icy patches. From here on I was taken by surprise by the amount of snow, but it didn't cause any problems since several people had created a relatively good path in the snow. But at approximately 340 metres they had decided to call it a day! Well, I wasn't out to smell a mountain, I wanted to grab it, so there was no other choice than to continue. Pretty soon the conditions became very difficult, with snow varying between ½ and 1 metre. At approximately 400 metres I decided to get down on all four to stay more on top of the snow. This worked, at a cost, and when I got above 500 metres the snow had blown off the mountain and I was again able to walk properly. The hike across the plateau was child's play.
After taking photos and enjoying the view (limited, because of the clouds), I composed myself for the descent. In the steeper sections I made good progress by jumping down into the loads of snow, and the flatter sections was acceptable since I had made a fairly useful path during my ascent.
Not a terribly memorable hike, but I'm sure this is a very fine hike and fine mountain when the conditions are more favourable.