Austre Raudalstind seen on
the way up to Skardalstind |
Olavsbunuten and Mjolkedalstind
|
The view north to Uradalstindane
and Hellstugutindane |
Dad on the summit
of Skardalstind |
I'd have to admit that I prefer the slender Scottish grass ridges to this. At least then you can make fast progress and climb many peaks.
We eventually reached the summit and were rewarded the fine easterly view of Skarddalseggje. The connecting ridge was steep and narrow and the domain of the competent scrambler - maybe even the rock climber. We descended back down to the sacks. Dad was again slow and I had to wait a fair while for him to catch up whilst still on the ridge. Once on the lower slopes we used the old snow to ease the knee jarring descent right down to the sacks. I felt vary of walking on such snow as I often saw depressions in the snow. I presumed it was where snow underneath melted away causing the surface to sag. I was thus fearful of falling through and breaking my leg on impact with the rock underneath. We got back to the sacks for lunch at 3.30pm. It was a round trip of 3 ½ hours to do just over 500m of ascent and descent.
The mountains of Sletmarkpiggen
and Svartdalspiggane |
Store Raudalsegga seen between
Raudalen and Raudalsbandet |
Raudalen with Skogadalsnosa
and Rausdalstindane |
I now felt unsure whether we could manage to get to the desired location of Snøholsvatnet. Time was running out, the walking to Olavsbu was tiring with plenty of boulder hopping. We eventually got there at 5.15pm and got a check on the weather forecast. It was to be occasional showers on Monday with the next two days after that being fine. We then walked up Raudalen to camp at 1450m next to a lake below the very impressive but forbidding Raudalseggje. Here we were lucky to find a pitch for the tent. There was a lot of rock and not much grass! My planned campsite being a little higher probably would have seen no grass.
"Snoholstind
(also known as Sjogholstind) |
Store and Mindre Raudalsegga
seen from our campsite |
It was my intention to climb Snøholstinden the next day from the south. With my schedule slipping behind, it seemed less likely that we could climb it. My performance on the peak today seemed to stifle my enthusiasm for climbing more summits. In hindsight my performance (not my dad's) was largely attributable to dehydration. I failed to hydrate myself well enough before leaving the pack and so I slowed down considerably. Agility would have been another factor but I feel that so much more could have been done if I was fully hydrated. In the future I feel that it would be a good idea to invent a bag for carrying my water bottle up with me whilst leaving my heavy pack at the bottom.
Hogbrothogda seen from the north
Monday 23rd August
The day dawned cloudy at 7.00am. I felt that the summit- Høgbrothødge could be climbed today until I looked out of the tent in the morning. I immediately felt lazy and went back to sleep. It wasn't until 10.30am that I started porridge, and that was when boredom crept in telling me to 'do something'. The morning weather was mostly light sleet showers lasting about 10 minutes each about 10 minutes apart from each other. It was hardly atrocious weather yet the setbacks of slow progress and turning back on Kyrkja put me into low morale. I wanted now to get going and see a change of scenery and then at least I could cheer up.
We set off at 1pm up the slope to the col between Mjølkedalstinden and Snøholstinden. The pace was steady going up but slowed down when dropping into the next valley. Here loose rock on slabby bedrock made for slow progress down towards the upper lake. The walk round the upper lake to the next col leading to øvre Mjølkedalen was even slower as it was on shallow scree. My own performance seemed bad and my body complained at the 100m heave up to the summit of the col. Perhaps my body hadn't warmed up well enough to tackle these small ascents. I'd say my legs are more suited to doing huge long ascents rather than small ones since at least they can warm up properly.
A bleak view down Sjogholsvatnet
From what I saw of my intended ascent route to Snøholstinden, the route looked perfectly achievable where the route would take a ramp up to the southern nose. Beyond that point the route was obscured by clouds. The route up Høgbrothødge looked uncomplicated with slabby bedrock underfoot.
We descended down Mjølkedalen to our intended campsite. The route was a lot easier in the upper part and the glacial moraine was composed of very fine muddy but firm shale. The grass also grew slightly higher up compared with the last valley indicating that the rock was probably more fertile. Progress was faster but the showers grew heavier and more frequent as the day drew to an end. We found a reasonable campsite ½ km downstream from the lake Mjølkadals. It was a slightly damp end to the day. I hoped the next day would be better as I had the intention of climbing either Storegut or Mjølkedalspiggan.
