The weather was still gloomy this morning and it didn't look as if it would improve quickly. We packed up quickly and then we were off driving towards the Geiranger Fjord. The danger of rockfall here was made very obvious by the signs - It was forbidden to stop for the next few kilometres.
We passed Djupvasshytta and soon after we saw the full extent of the drop we were to do for the next few kilometres round the many hairpins. I wouldn't want to drive a big lorry round these curves! Spectacular is an understatement for the scenery seen here. The fjord valley was deep and narrow with the mountains towering 1500m above. Streams cascaded down 500m of steep mountainside but I couldn't photograph them because it was forbidden to stop (danger of rockfall again!). Despite the gloom of the weather, the scenery impressed me.
20mins later we arrived at Geiranger. It wasn't the prettiest town. The concrete hotels didn't quite fit in and would be better placed in Glasgow than here! My new worry now was the misting up of the camera lens. The misting didn't just occur on the outside filter but also on the inner filter and the internal optical surfaces including the view finder. Misting up happens when you bring a cold camera from high up down into a warmer more humid environment. The best solution was to remove all the filters and lens and wait. Hopefully the pictures won't come out bad but camera shake is a concern given meter readings of 1/45 sec for the shutter speed.
We now climbed out of the Geiranger valley on the road to Norddalsfjorden. The mountains still had a certain 'wow' factor about them despite the still gloomy weather. We arrived at Eidsdal for the ferry to Linge. It only cost 55 NKr which wasn't bad (30 NKr with one person in the car). Our intention was to drive to Romsdalen via the Trollstigveien. It's a very well known road with fantastic scenery. Unfortunately it was closed for unknown reasons.
We drove round west towards Storfjorden and then catch the main E39 road leading to the E6. The scenery had a highland feel about it but the spectacular scenery never ceased once. Mountain after mountain rolled into view. I had prior impressions that all the peaks lay in isolated clusters but that clearly isn't so. The number of summits to climb is vast and would keep the most active peak bagger busy with an inexhaustible supply for an entire lifetime. The mountain summits here were much closer to grass level and so many of them appeared similar in style to some of our rougher summits in Scotland.
We were now on the E39. I noticed that their coasts were much more populous than the Scottish Highland coasts. I presumed that this was because they didn't suffer the clearances in the 1800's that happened in the Highlands. Subsequently I've noticed that there are many peaks here that are quite close to civilisation compared with those in the highlands. The road went round to Tresfjord. Wow! Typical Glen Coe scenery at the end of every fjord. This group of mountains here could be seen as analogous to the 'Five Sisters of Kintail' only bigger!
We were now driving beside Romsdalsfjord. Some of the mountains seemed now to display smooth featureless vertical cliffs rising up 500m to the tops of the mountains. It looked like a rock climbers paradise. We now entered a very long tunnel (6km) and emerged into the bottom of Romsdalen.
As we drove up, we had to stop every so often so I could take photos. There was a huge vertical wall that looked 1300m high! Apparently it has the tallest overhang in Europe and is rated as one of the six most difficult rock climbs in the world. You can forget Yosemite! Come to Romsdalen instead! Apparently it took a French team 20 days to climb this wall direct. I guess Romsdalen is the equivalent of Scotland's Glen Coe!
We drove up the remainder of Romsdalen and the valley sides gradually eased down to typical wooded slopes. From now on, the scenery wasn't so spectacular and we now drove down to Denmark in progressively better weather. Overall it wasn't a bad trip. Conclusions For me (at the moment anyway) Jotunheimen has a lot of 'look but don't touch' about their peaks and that makes me want to investigate other areas that provide friendlier (but still nice) peaks to bag. Such areas that are of interest for future trips include:- Rondane, Femundsmarka and the area in between. The areas above would probably provide more satisfaction for the ordinary hillwalking peak bagger but in the end I need to acquire the skills, competence and confidence to do: Ski mountaineering, These are skills that I think are required for a lot of peaks in Jotunheimen particularly alpinism. The fact that much of the ground is toilsome boulder indicates that peak bagging in Jotunheimen is better suited to winter when the snows cover and smooth such slopes (bearing in mind avalanche risk). Many other ranges would suit ski touring and mountaineering as well in my mind. As such I think skiing is a worthwhile skill for me to eventually pick up. I still like Norway despite its rougher terrain. I think choosing which areas to visit is a skill that requires good timing to get the best out of each area. Eventually I would like to move here (after graduation) and start a career here. The people are friendly, standards of living are high and it's certainly cleaner and less cramped than the UK. |
