Solvågtind
  • Solvågtind
  • 1560 m
  • Prominence 835 meter
  • Location: North 66.84255, East 015.46139 (GPS on the summit)
  • Norland, Norway
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 2
  • Climbed September 19. 2015
  • Climbed (again) August 11. 2020
  • Climbed (again) September 27. 2025

Information:


How to get there:
From the city of Bodø, drive east on Hwy. 80 to Fauske, then south on E-6. The road leaves the fjord and heads south, climbing gently in Saltdalen. Locate the Storjordet on your left side. This is a national park center, there is also a Shell gas station with a large cafeteria and huts for rent. This location is about 1.5 kilometer before you get to the road fork where Hwy. 73 forks left and connects to Sweden.
Immediately behind this center (access by road from the parking area (right side), there is a DNT self serve hut called Storjordstua, a very convenient starting point for this climb. This location is N66.81506, E015.40142, elevation about 109 meter.
One may also drive north on E-6, from the gas station (above) about 670 meter, then turn sharply right onto a small road. Follow this road a few hundred meter to a designated parking area. The trail (signed) starts about 200 meter before you reach the parking area.
Route description:
From the DNT hut, walk back (south) the access road, then left towards the river. Follow signs for Solvågtind, initially 10.5 kilometer. The trail immediately takes you across the river on a long, nice suspension bridge. Follow red marks to reach an old road, turn left here. Follow this road, completely flat, until a signed trail goes right. Shortly, this trail ascends to a very nice, old road that ascends the hillside. After a while, the sign for Solvågtind forks right, this is another short-cut trail that will merge with the wide path higher up. Eventually, the wide path turns into a normal trail as yet another sign for Solvågtind points uphill. Continue uphill through the birch forest and reach the treeline at location N66.82715, E015.4190, elevation about 675 meter. A clear trail continues uphill, however after crossing two small creeks it more or less dead-ends in a third creek. Better then to leave the trail near the second creek and head directly uphill on nice grassy slopes. You may recover a faint trail on the horisontal plateau just below the cliffs of Solvågtind. In any case, follow below these cliffs to your left (when facing uphill), you will then find cairns that lead you to the correct (and easy) slope that gains the wide saddle with a small pond marked at 1290, just south of summit 1401.
Cross this saddle to its east side (follow trail/cairns), then ascend along a pretty visible trail marked with cairns. The rest of this climb is quite easy as one gets near the cliffs before a final ascent along the ridge to a big summit cairn.
Comments:
The forecast called for a really rainy day, we decided to climb a nearby mountain with a trail. Solvågtind was sort of the obvious choice since the trail started directly at the doorstep of our DNT-hut. We started at 0850 and the weather seemed better than expected. The suspension bridge crossing the big river is quite nice and we were surprised to find this very nicely built trail/road (for horses ?) climbing the hillside. Higher up, we walked into fog and subsequently lost the trail by the creek. Not because of fog, but really more due the fact that the trail simply ended there. Ascending to the plateau below the upper cliffs, we first tried to ascend a bit early. This looked like a feasible route, but clearly not the tourist route. We turned back down and searched further along to find the correct route. Up in the broad saddle, we lost the trail again (possibly due to fog this time) and climbed the next slope in a rather inconvenient fashion. Hitting the trail at the top, we completed the climb along the very nice and easy last section, however, now we had strong gusts of wind and horizontal rain.
We arrived at the summit at 1200, stayed only 10 minutes, then headed back down - looking for more agreeable weather. Back at our hut by 1435, good use of a day that never showed a sign of being nice.
2020 climb:
For some (mysterious) reason, this peak was marked as unclimbed on my map of prominent mountains in Norway. My first plan was to visit with my friend Jostein, when that plan changed and I again was back up in the Bodø region, I added this peak as a good objective in the morning before my return flight to Trondheim.
After a very nice climb of Skjelåtinden on August 10., I drove across to E-6, located the nice (and hidden) parking area, then prepared for a short hike up to the hut Storjordfjellkoia. I planned to stay there, climb the peak the next morning and have plenty of extra time (in reserve) for catching my flight in Bodø late afternoon.
I arrived at the hut after a short walk of about 40 minutes. To my surprise, there was smoke from the chimney. Kai, Liv, Anne and Lukas plus 2 dogs were already there. Very nice people, they were not unhappy about having a new person in the small hut. A single room and 4 beds. I got a bed and we had a nice evening before going to bed.
I was up early and left around 0500. A very nice hike in perfect early morning weather. I arrived at the summit after 2.5 hours. A good rest there with great views before returning to the hut at 0945. Time for breakfast. I told my new friends goodbye and hiked back dowb to my car in 30 minutes. I had not recognized a single place, it was not until starting on a trip report that I understood that I had been here about 5 years ago, that time in fog, so perhaps hard to remember any details.
I had my flight back to Trondheim late afternoon, a nice trip with 5 climbs had been concluded.
2025 climb:
The fall meeting of the board of Erling Bjørstad Stiftelse was scheduled at Storjord this year. The plan was to climb Bjørntoppen on Saturday. DNT had just appointed a new Secretary General, her name Inge Lise Blyverket. We met on Friday and reviewed applications for support from many (local) mountaineering chapters across Norway. A record sum in excess of 1.5 MNOK was allocated.
The forecast for Saturday was excellent, but it soon became pretty clear that several people had concerns that the planned hike would be too long and physically hard. Bjørntoppen has no trail, the distance each way about 10 kilometer. A hike to nearby Solvågtind seemed more favored. Thomas had been there about 10 years back, I had already climbed this peak twice. But this peak had its trailhead at our doorstep, also a trail all the way to the summit. Overall, this seemed like a better choice for the group.
Thomas had his wife Merete come along, she drove up from Mo i Rana in the early morning. We left shortly after 0900. My estimate was that this climb would take alightly more than 7 hours (round trip) for the group. We had a very good ascent. When turning the small pond high on the route, I noticed that the snow in the shade had a pretty hard crust. Perhaps an ice axe and crampons would be needed to safely cross the steep slope shortly before the summit? Well, we needed to get up there and check it out. Fortunately, the snow was just soft enough for good boots to kick some steps. Anne-Mari led the way and everyone followed.
We made the summit after approximately 4 hours, right on schedule. After about 15 minutes it was time to head back down. Really warm weather for being the end of September. We were back at Storjord hotel well ahead of dinner. Total time including several brief stops came to about 7.5 hours, just as prediccted.
Many thanks to Inger Lise, Merete, Anne-Mari, Tor and Thomas for a very nice hike concluding a good meeting.

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