Location: North 62.57706, East 008.21710 (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 3
Climbed September 13. 2015.
In memory of Kolbjørn Hoff
Information:
How to get there:
Locate the village Sunndalsøra, about 70 kilometer along Hwy. 70 from Oppdal (on E-6).
From Sunndalsøra, drive towards Molde. You will very soon enter a 6 kilometer
long tunnel. Immediately after this tunnel, exit right, then drive under the road following the
sign for Brandstad, 12 kilometer. Arriving there (this is the last farm), there is a large parking
area down on your right hand side. Park here. Location N62.63416, E008.30422. The elevation is about 180 meter.
There is a very nice and convenient DNT self-serve hut located only 3 minutes away. In order to find
this hut, walk along the left fork (the road forks just above the parking area), when you pass the
building below on your right (a small power plant), take the big path that forks right and crosses the
river. On the other side of the river, follow the path uphill for about 25 meter, then locate a few, big
steps that climbs right. Ascend and arrive at the hut located on a small grass lawn. The hut is locked
with the DNT standard lock. A key is also available back down at the farm. This is the ideal place
to spend the night prior to this climb.
Route description:
From the road fork, proceed along the left fork, passing the last farm house, then
continuing up the valley until you reach the summer farm houses (Jønnstad), this
is about a 30 minute walk from the trailhead.
Cross the river on the bridge and keep left, arriving at two small, red cabins. From here, a very
vague trail heads uphill and enters the forest. Follow this trail as it soon (being more distinct here)
heads left and down to the river, just below a series of rapid waterfalls. The river may be crossed
(be careful) stepping on a sequence of rocks here.
Cross a bit left and head directly uphill where the vegetation is sparse. Continue steeply
uphill along a small rib, then (perhaps?) in a small gully, it is generally not too bad, but
quite steep. As you emerge above the vegetation, the slope will ease and progress is definitely
easier. Higher up, the terrain is virtually flat,
you may now see Vikesaksa for the first time.
Contine across a small creek and eventually on the left (south) side of a good sized lake.
Cross the creek that
runs from the upper lake into the lake on your right, then immediately
uphill. You will see the route that connects to the main saddle north of Vikesaksa, first uphill
until you have reached about the right elevation (a good line will pass next to a pretty big
boulder), then traverse left to reach the broad saddle.
Next, ascend the ridge to gain the north summit of Vikesaksa.
The best line is likely to stay
on the left side as you ascend. This section is full of rocks, mostly quite stable and pretty
good for walking. Once on top, proceed south towards the cairn. About 30 meter before this cairn,
go right and descend carefully as this slope is pretty loose. Traverse left as you descend, this slope
consists of two broad chutes with a small, rocky ridge between them. Move across to the leftmost chute
and descend along its left side until you reach a point where the rock ridge has its first, short, flat
section. Scramble left here and locate a narrow ledge (going left) that provides an elegant passage into the big
gully below. Follow this main gully a short distance uphill until its highest point. From here, turn right
and scramble up an easy section of smooth rock having just enough holds for hand and feet to make the
ascent quite easy. There is a rock tower above, but a natural route now leads horizontally to your
left. The terrain up right soon becomes quite agreeable, ascend directly up to the top.
From here you see the south summit directly ahead. This last part of the ascent is straightforward.
Comments:
I climbed this mountain with my son Pål Jørgen. We had all
been in Trondheim for the funeral of Kolbjøn Hoff, the father of my wife Heidi.
We left Trondheim around 1830 and arrived at the DNT self serve hut Brandstadbu
around 2130. The plan called for an early start the next morning in order to
ensure a stressless departure from Trondheim airport around 2100 on Sunday.
We started hiking at 0535, just as daylight arrived. A quick pace and we came to
the summer farm houses where the road ends, after about 30 minutes. The next
section, up the hillside next to the river Kløftelva, was definitely more
cumbersome. Still, after about 2 hours we were on the flat plateau, elevation about
950 meter. Strong gusty wind, but otherwise a nice day. The rest of the climb went
according to plan and we arrived at the summit at 1040, slightly more than 5 hours.
The summit itself was exremely windy, about 25 m/s. We sat down sheltered
by the cairn and enjoyed the landscape. Leaving shortly before 1100, our return hike
went fine until the last, steep hillside. We ran into considerably more trouble
when decending, arriving at the summer farm houses at 1430. Then another 30 minutes of
easy road walk, completing the trip at 1500.
