Fanaråken

As planned, we made it to Fanaråken this weekend. Fanråken is one of Jotunheimen's peaks above 2000 meters and is the only one that has a cabin on top of it! Fanaråkhytta at 2068 meters above sea level, is the highest DNT cabin in Norway.




The first part of the trek is on an old dirt road.
Off the road, the path is well maintained and easy to hike even if it is quite steep.

 

Fanaråken can be reached from Krossbu or Sognefjellshytta, but you then have to cross a glacier. We took the route from Turtagrø instead, which is steep, but not technically difficult.

We parked the car at Helgedalen and spent the night in tent near Ekrehytta (cabin). It was pitch dark by the time we arrived there, and we could not see the cabin, so we were a bit surprised the morning after when we woke up and the tent was actually right near the cabin. We could pretend that we are really good at navigation, but I guess it was pure luck! And we had put the tent in the only spot possible to have a tent - nice!



Peaceful morning by the tent.




The "view" towards Hurrungane.



We had high expectations for the view - as you are supposed to see a lot of the high peaks in the area, such as Hurrungane, and also the Jostedal glacier. We did not see a danm thing! We learned that there is fog around 300 days a year at Fanaråken, so this was unfortunately nothing out of the ordinary...



Pretending to have a view, but the clouds and fog came fast as we got higher and higher up in the mountain.




The path towards the cabin is well marked and easy to hike, although a bit steep at times. But one cannot expect anything less when it is a peak above 2000 meters...




It started to snow by the time we decided to hike back down.



Conclusion: we have to go back! Hopefully in nicer weather. I think I will then skip the tent and stay at the cabin so that there is a bigger chance of getting the 360 panoramic view, at least inbetween the clouds! :-)