Vanessa and her partner Axel recently hiked the The Great Crossing of the Lofoten (end of September, 12 days). They are sharing some pictures and their notes that covers the entire trip in detail. If you are planning your own trip at this time of the year, you might wanna take a look.
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The Lofoten archipelago from North to South in 9 days
Here then is an initial description of the route and my immediate overall impressions. Without saying any more before I give a complete account of the crossing, which will be uploaded shortly, I’d like to give anyone considering venturing in the Lofoten Islands a few essential items of information, in no particular order: the characteristics of the terrain and their impact, the unpredictable nature of the trails, vital requirements for such a crossing, a few tips and, of course, a few of the aspects that made the greatest impression on my journey...
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Stéphane Martineau, botanist and Moutain Leader, has contributed in various hiking, "nature" and Pyrenean fauna books. He is also the author of several publications on wild edible plants. His work has led him to hike through the Lofoten every summer since 2011. Through this article, fruit of his observations you will get the keys to understand this amazing mixture of alpine and marine vegetation, specific to the Lofoten Islands. |
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Every summer many climbers tackle the climb up Reinebringen on the island of Moskenesøya in the Lofoten archipelago. Many users of this site have asked us why we don’t mention this itinerary in the “Hikes” section. Here is our answer.
First of all, we do not consider the climb to the Reinebringen pass to be a hike a such. It is a very steep climb for roughly 1km leading to a small pass with a breathtaking view over the village and fjord of Reine.
Even though we don’t ignore such beautiful viewpoints and don’t baulk at climbing steep slopes to reach them, we don’t think this climb is worth the effort for the following reasons:
First of all, there are mountains nearby that have panoramic views that are just as impressive not only from the top but throughout the climb. In our opinion the Helvete hike to the top of Veinestinden is much more interesting than the Reinebringen hike! The same is true of Brunakseltinden or Munkan, for example.
The terrain to reach Reinebrigen is getting more and more dangerous. Each year the “track” deteriorates due to the large number of people hiking in an environment that is totally unsuitable. As a result the terrain, which is extremely steep, has become crumbly and ravines have formed. In many places only a few steeply sloping slabs remain that are very dangerous when the ground is wet. On this particularly steep track that is very demanding in places, some “hikers” have created new parallel tracks wherever they consider the previous track too worn out! The mountain side, which has been completely churned up by hikers, is gradually becoming a series of furrows that will encourage landslides and falling rocks. There are rumours that the Moskenes town council intend to develop the path, but so far nothing has been done.
While we are on the subject, we would like to remind you, and this applies to all hikes in the Lofoten islands, that in order to minimise the impact of hiking in this wilderness you must stick to any tracks that exist.
It is for these reasons, even though we fully understand the pride the locals must feel when they direct summer tourists to the viewpoint, that we do not consider this hike to be vital. For those who nevertheless feel they would like to tackle this climb, the GPX route is available on our website.
The Rando-Lofoten team
White-tailed eagle on the lookout for fish in the Skjelfjord (photo Magdalena Brede)
