Via Ferrata to the top of the Skuleberget mountain

Around eight in the morning (left photo from an hour earlier) we started our way back to the south entrance.











Instead of going straight home when we came back to the main highway (E4), we just crossed to the other side: Naturum (Nature Centre) at the foot of Skuleberget mountain. The center provides an introduction to the park´s human and natural history, as well as an exhibition about the post-ice-age isostatic recovery of the land surface.

After about one hour there, we decided to take ourselves to the top of the mountain. But, not the ordinary hiking path.
(notice some "hikers" in the middle of mountain picture? Clue; yellow helmet)




Instead we chose to take the high road; Via Ferrata, a road up the mountain equipped with a fixed steel cable and some steps to put your feet on on the way.
We were equipped with a harness which had two carabiners attached to it, that way you always were connected to the cable with at least one carabiner. That is, you wouldn't fall to a certain death if you lost your grip of the cable. We were also equipped with helmets.
The first part of the "iron road" was quite simple, but then you really had to figure out were to put your feet, and at some places it would have been totally impossible (at least if you were not a quite experienced climber) to continue without using the cable. Your arms worked as much as your legs, if not more. Luckily there were a lot of places to take a rest at.

After about two hours we reached the top. It is quite strange to imagine that the top of the mountain was the coastline after the last ice age, but now it is 286 m (ca 940 ft) above sea level. The distance between the highest shoreline in the High Coast and its present shoreline is only approximately 2 km. The High Coast in Sweden has the highest isostatic land uplift in the world after the latest glaciation!

The cable way was one way only, so we took the ordinary path down to the nature center.












Around Skuleberget is a mix of vegetation more common south as well as north. We don't see many maple trees around Umeå, we do miss their pretty fall colors.









On the way down we passed a cave.