Very Difficult
Slogen is probably the most famous mountain in the Sunnmøre Alps. It rises 1,564 metres from the fjord at Øye in a near-perfect triangular pyramid. The British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby climbed it in 1870 and called it the prettiest peak in Norway. He was not exaggerating.
The most direct route starts from Øye in Norangsdalen and climbs 1,500 metres in just 3 kilometres. That is an extreme gradient. The trail is graded black, meaning expert level, and for good reason. The first hours are a relentless slog uphill through forest with few views to reward you. Then the landscape opens up and the final section requires scrambling over exposed rock, using hands and feet. Do not attempt the summit in rain, fog or wind. The rock becomes dangerously slippery when wet.
Halfway up the mountain sits Patchellhytta, a DNT self-service cabin at 790 metres. It was built in the 1920s by Charles Watson Patchell, a Scottish schoolteacher who spent his summers in the Sunnmøre Alps from the 1880s until 1939. He loved these mountains so much that he built a stone cabin so others could enjoy them too. The original hut is still there, restored, alongside a newer cabin with 23 beds. Splitting the hike over two days, with a night at Patchellhytta, is a much more sensible approach than trying to rush the whole thing in one go.
The summit view takes in both Hjørundfjorden and Norangsfjorden, the jagged peaks of the Sunnmøre Alps in every direction, and on a clear day, the coast all the way to Ålesund. Most people who reach the top say the same thing: it was the hardest hike they have ever done, and the best.
The most direct route starts from Øye in Norangsdalen and climbs 1,500 metres in just 3 kilometres. That is an extreme gradient. The trail is graded black, meaning expert level, and for good reason. The first hours are a relentless slog uphill through forest with few views to reward you. Then the landscape opens up and the final section requires scrambling over exposed rock, using hands and feet. Do not attempt the summit in rain, fog or wind. The rock becomes dangerously slippery when wet.
Halfway up the mountain sits Patchellhytta, a DNT self-service cabin at 790 metres. It was built in the 1920s by Charles Watson Patchell, a Scottish schoolteacher who spent his summers in the Sunnmøre Alps from the 1880s until 1939. He loved these mountains so much that he built a stone cabin so others could enjoy them too. The original hut is still there, restored, alongside a newer cabin with 23 beds. Splitting the hike over two days, with a night at Patchellhytta, is a much more sensible approach than trying to rush the whole thing in one go.
The summit view takes in both Hjørundfjorden and Norangsfjorden, the jagged peaks of the Sunnmøre Alps in every direction, and on a clear day, the coast all the way to Ålesund. Most people who reach the top say the same thing: it was the hardest hike they have ever done, and the best.