Keipen

  • Keipen
  • 938 m
  • Primary factor 820 m
  • No. 4 on Senja.
  • Location: North 69.49529, East 017.72326 (GPS on the summit)
  • Climbed September 24. 2017
  • Difficulty: YDS class 2

Information:

How to get there:
From Finnsnes, where the bridge connects to Senja, turn right and follow the road north on Senja towards the place Mefjordbotn, just north of the Breidtinden, the highest mountain on Senja. Near the pass, before descending to Mefjordbotn, turn right towards Fjordgåd. Immediately, park at the signed parking on the right hand side of the road before the tunnel. This location is N69.47500, E017.69582, elevation about 100 meter.
Route:
There is a sign and a trail starting out from the parking area. The trail heads uphill, more or less along some powerline until the first ridge. Here, the main trail runs left to Barden, while this route turns right, descends a little before climbing a fairly steep hill. The trail is now much smaller, but one should be able to follow it. As you gain the upper part of this local (588 m) hill, the trail completely disappears, but you will soon pick up a new, very clear trail that comes from your right, crosses this hill and descends to the base of the steeper hill that connects up to the saddle between Grytetippen (left) and Keipen (right). Follow this trail to the crest, it connects a bit up on the Grytetippen side. Turn right, descend to the saddle, then follow the trail as it climbs to the summit of Keipen. The summit plateau is really nice, flat rock and there is an impressive cairn.
Comments:
We had been at Hamn in Senja and carried out the important fall board meeting in Erling Bjørstads stiftelse. The meeting distributed a record amount in support of DNTs mountaineering program all across Norway.
We travelled from Hamn to the trailhead, making a brief stop to look at the nice Oksen mountains along the way.
Today, we carried out our traditional hike. Keipen was selected as a good target (by me), keeping in mind that Kari wanted a peak with a good view.
We (Karin, Kari and Nils) started out from the trailhead at 1015. Keeping a good pace, we arrived at the top by 1205. The weather was gorgeous, blue sky and no wind. The fall colors and the spectacular Senja scenery at its best. We were all busy running around and taking pictures from different angles. This summit and its views just exceeded all expectations. We had lunch and continued to enjoy just being there until 1250. Time to also visit the lower Grytetippen peak.
Heading back down to the saddle and up to Grytetippen took a bit more than half an hour. Almost equally nice up here. The view out the Øyrfjorden and down to the fishing community of Husøy being more direct from here. Also, just behind the cairn, a flat slab of rock provided an exposed spot for viewing. The continuation of this mountain to form the lower (660 m) Keipan ridge also called for attention. It looked steep and difficult to access/climb.
We spent another 20 minutes here, before somewhat reluctantly starting our descent. We got slightly off-route when descending the middle section, but ran into more ptarmigans. Back at the car by 1510, concluding a very nice hike with superb weaather and views. Thanks a lot to Kari, Karin and Nils for very good company.

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