The Devil's Gate (Djevelporten) - Austvågøya

From the harbor through the small town and then up the Djeveltrappa to enjoy the views of the sea, the city and the mountains.

Robust shoes with good grip are mandatory! If you need a place for your luggage, ask at the hotel left of the war museum if you can use their locker room for a small fee.

Arriving in Svolvær🏘️, we wanted to go for a hike after shopping🛒. After a quick search, we found the Djevelporten (Devil's Gate)😈🥅 trail. ☝🏻Not very far↔️, but with a relatively large elevation gain↕️. We started🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏼 from the parking lot🅿️ at the ferry dock🛳️ and quickly reached the edge of town. There, the first climb, the Djeveltrappa, awaited us. It leads to the first plateau and, according to the hiking sign, has 505 steps (it seemed like there were more...🤔). Like many other staircases in 🇳🇴, it was built by Sherpas🪨🛠️. After the stairs, the view🤩 over the city🏙️ was rewarding. Now came phase 2️⃣, crossing the plateau over some very steep rocks🪨, with occasional dirt and grass. In the damp💧sections, paths made of wooden planks facilitate progress. In the 3️⃣ section, there were more stairs. Once at the top🔝💪🏻, we enjoyed the view👀 during a short break⏸️. After the photo stop📷🛑, the descent↘️ began. The return journey was relatively relaxing, so to pass the time while descending the Djeveltrappa, I counted the steps: ➡️ >8 0 0 0 ⃣❗️ All in all, a great hike, but one that requires a certain amount of courage.

Nice circular trek, the view on clear days is spectacular, today we couldn't see anything. The path up to Djievelporten is very steep but presents no difficulties, the detour to the base of Svolvaerita (ropes, harness and experience in rock mountaineering are required to climb up and do the goat jump) is recommended only for expert hikers (exposed parts, where you need to help yourself with your hands, two passages with fixed ropes), from Djievelporten to the summit the path is more difficult than the previous part but not as much as the detour to Svolvaergeita. Climbing the Djievelporten is not a problem unless you suffer from vertigo.

The summit of Fløya was very difficult to reach and because it was raining, it was also very slippery. But since according to the map there is an "easier" descent, we climbed up. The view was of course obscured by clouds... 🤥 But puff cake! Unfortunately, the descent was even more difficult and we had to feel our way down step by step, clinging to the rocks with our fingertips. Not recommended in this weather...