Location: North 69:19.211, East 019:12.010 (GPS at the summit)
Troms, Norway
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed: April 26, 2009
Information:
How to get there:
This mountain is located on the big penisula that extends north from Nordkjosbotn on the
west side of Balsfjorden. From the main intersection (measure from here)
between Hwy. E-8 and E-6 in Nordkjosbotn,
drive south (direction Narvik) along E-6 12.7 kilometer. Make a right here on Hwy. 858 (sign
for Storsteinnes). At kilometer 16.9, in Storsteinnes, make a sharp right turn as you continue
to follow Hwy. 858. At kilometer 22.1, Hwy.858 makes a sharp left while Hwy.859 continues straight.
Continue straight ahead along Hwy. 859 to kilometer 26.2, where you make a left turn onto a dirt
road that heads uphill. Follow this road 2 more kilometer to kilometer 28.2. You should observe a
red house on your right and a small road that goes left. There is a (hiking) sign here saying Fugltinden.
Park off the road, this is the trailhead, location N69:18.892, E019:18.348, elevation about 106 meter.
In summer, one may perhaps drive slightly longer following this sideroad, but this is not likely
to make any significant difference.
Route description:
Follow the small road as it heads gently downhill and crosses a small creek. This trail is
marked by red paint on the trees. At the next fork, make a right, then shortly thereafter another
left. Shortly thereafter the trail (red marked) makes another right and heads towards the creek
coming down in the valley that may be seen further along.
Well before the creek, the trail emerges onto some open fields and immediately starts uphill.
Look for red paint on the birch trees as you continue further and gain quite a bit of elevation.
Higher up, the slope becomes more gentle and you will pass a green mailbox where people can
sign their name. This place is called Storvollen.
The trail continues uphill and enters a pretty flat area just above treeline, around 360 meter
elevation. Leave the trail here and contour gently into the main drainage to the west. This route
will take you just north of point 606 (on the M711 map). There is a steep step that should be passed
on the left (west) side, then proceed uphill aiming for a point a bit left (west) of the summit. The
slope is pretty nice and smooth, higher up, curve right and gain the final vertical heading directly
for the summit.
There is a large cairn and, a bit separated, a green mailbox that holds a summit register.
Comments:
I did this climb with my friend Geir Åke Dahlen. The weatherforecast promised clearing
weather and eventually sunshine. However, this did not materialize.
We started at 1030 and arrived at the summit by 1350.
The summit area was totally
fogged in and it was snowing. We navigated rather carefully and approached the cairn from
the exact best direction. The cairn became visible as we were about 20 meter away.
The summit are was not a very comfortable place with wind and snow plus whiteout conditions.
We left after 15 minutes and followed our tracks back down. Below 600 meter, visibility
returned and we skied rather quickly back down to the car, reaching it at 1525.
