Introduction With so much having gone on in my life this year, from the launch of "Walks and Scrambles in Norway" through to my new job based in Aberdeen and the commissioning project on the brand new gas plant based in Humberside, I had little time for a holiday. So come August, a brief pause for thought allowed me to think of that question "Where shall I go?". After some investigation into the Spanish Sierra Nevada, I came to the conclusion that a new country required too much planning to fit into my heavy schedule. So I settled on my old favourite, Norway. So my plan was brief: Buy a suitable map, plan route and then figure out the transport. Everything else was routine and familiar, except for one thing: The unexpected. A series of emails with Arnt Flatmo ended up with me going out on a walk with him and his mate Petter Bjørstad, both prominent Norwegian internet mountain authors with a passion for prominent mountains. I stayed a total of three nights at Arnt's apartment and that made for a more interesting trip. Friday 20th October 2006 Arnt greeted me at the airport, and promptly I was whisked back to his apartment. There was much to discuss and browse from previous trips, equipment to his extensive mountain book collection. The next day was a big one, albeit with a leisurely start. Saturday 21st October 2006 See also Arnt's Report and Petter's report for the same trip. 7.30am, still dark and cloudy I was under the impression that days were already significantly shorter than in Scotland. One hour later we were on our way east to pick up Petter at the Molde ferry connection. From here we proceeded east to a valley a few kilometres west of Romsdalen. It was a big distance to drive in a land where mountains lie around every corner, yet the mountain we were to climb was special. At 1576m with a ~950m prominence, it was the last mountain in Southern Norway on Petter's list of top 100 mountains in Southern Norway in order of prominence.
We drove up the valley of Bøstølen to an altitude of 400m, from here we could approach the mountain from the south on straightforward slopes to Nonstinden's summit. Arriving at the car park, a break in the clouds bathed us in Sunlight. The vegetation in this land responded well to the light, presenting a richer diversity of colour compared with the uplands of Britain. This was late Autumn, and it was apparently very late this year as only a dusting of snow was present higher up.
My progress compared with Arnt and Petter was slow, partly weighed down by unnecessary equipment for such a simple walk. I expected this though, as Arnt spends near enough two days a week doing hard mountain trips. The ascent up the slopes made its very through the thin woodland to the heather above before steepening out to boulder fields and then levelling out to a broad ridge continuing the remaining distance to the summit.
We reached the summit at 13:41. The views around us took in the tall peaks of Romsdalen to the east, other fine big peaks to the south as well as a vast vista westwards of the Sunmore summits. 60km away, the slender summit of Slogen could be seen. I was hoping to be on this summit a few days from now.
The descent was uneventful, if a little slippy on the thin snow high up. This was a rare day for the weather at this time of year. I was making a big gamble with the weather at this time of year, one that I was inevitably going to pay a price for. We returned back at Alesund to some fine dinner courtesy of Petter, fine beers courtesy of Arnt and some fine memories of this day. The next day would see me on my way for my late Autumn camping trip in Norway. Sunday 22nd October 2006 Arnt dropped me off at Megarden just as the rain had nearly finished. Arnt and Petter went off to do their own hiking adventures as I embarked on mine. My route proceeded southeast up Megardsdalen on an easy forest track through the damp foggy drizzle this morning. My progress was very slow, weighed down by 23kg of equipment and food. I reached a small collection of huts at Megardstølen where I crossed the stream to follow a path sign posted for Tranndalen. South of Mellonvatnet, the path became indistinguishable and I was left to read the map and attack a steep slope by the weakest route to gain access to Riksemdalen. Upon reaching the steep slopes in fog, the way up looked very steep and so I backtracked to Storevatnet to cotour round further to a breach in the slopes. Upon reaching the Tverrfjellet ridge I was presented with deep undulating heather slopes around Trollvatnet . Navigation was intricate and traces of a path offered a route, but I departed from this path to contour the slopes above Riksemdalen. Eventually I reached the confluence of several rivers, the ground beyond looking very steep in the gloom of the mist. Slabs prevented an easy crossing there and then so I followed the stream down a little to where I could cross easily. To my suprise I came across a full sized bulldozed track. This was not marked on the map, but proved to be very welcome as it rose up towards Storevatnet (the 2nd Storevatnet). Below the lake I camped and was inside and dry by 15:45pm. It started raining, and the fog failed to lift all night. The weather bulletin received that night promised better weather tomorrow but beyond that lay further trouble. I began to have doubts as to how successful this trip was going to be. Monday 23rd October 2006
The immediate solution presented was to traverse round further to the stream draining Tridjevatnet and ascend from there but lethargy took over me. I saw what lay beyond the steep slopes immediately ahead and the rise upto the saddle west of Blåbretinden appeared to be a very steep slabby headwall. Hindsight said I should have investigated closer, but my body was having that stubborn lazy feeling. The game was up, I would put up my tent and re-think my plans. The following days I had abandoned the walk and I decided to take up sightseeing by bus. It was a better choice. The day of abandonment was on a day of heavy showers with a very raw cold wind. The warmth of the bus was very welcome. By the end of the week I was still up for one more walk. It would have been a shame to have climbed only Nonstinden, so I bargained on climbing Tverrfjellet on the island of Sula. By Friday, winter had arrived on the high slopes and I was ready for some more action. Friday 27th October 2006 Last night I was camping at Ørsta campsite, the weather had been wet all night, but by 9am the weather had given way to blustery showers. I caught the hourly 12:08 Timeexpressen bus to the ferry terminus of Solavågen where I hiked along roads to the base of Tverrfjellet (often referred to as Sulafjellet) on the Island of Sula. The wind was blowy in exposed places, and it was cold with snow above 400m. I started the ascent through a forest on a signposted track, but took a signposted path off the track for Rollonhytta believing the track was a route marked in red on my map which took a long route up. Soon my path became a nightmare of false avenues and uprooted trees but somehow I regained the main track. I stuck to the track for the remaining distance to Rollonhytta. Rollonhytta was at the snow line and beyond I followed the path through the snow to a suitable campsite next to a stream at the 400m contour. I had 10cm of snow to camp on. My wet tent was put up and suprisingly dried out quickly in the dry freezing wind. My other equipment had, however, accumulated some dampness through the week and tonight would turn out to be very cold. I felt my body heat escape through my foam mattress - an unpleasant experience endured through the night. My only comfort was that tomorrow my trip would end in Arnt's warm apartment. Saturday 28th October 2006
Heading off at last, I was greeted with the first rays of sunshine as I regained the footpath heading up to Tverrfjellet. From the 400m contour to the 500m contour, the snow had deepened to 30cm and I was compelled to take off my rucksack and carry just my camera to the summit. This was good early skiing terrain, but alas it was very difficult walking terrain. It took 1.5hours to ascend 250m to the summit.
The weather this day was fantastic, and the views all around were very impressive. The most astonishing thing about this place was the combination of fantastic mountains mingled in with places where many people live and work. Most houses in Ålesund from Tverrfjellet were in clear view and I sometimes wander how privileged the residents feel to live and work in the surrounds of such natural beauty.
I returned to my rucksack and descended north to Langevågen where I caught a passenger ferry to Ålesund. I was greeted by Arnt at the jetty and returned to his apartment where we exchanged stories about our trips. The trip wasn't my best Norway trip, but it was a welcome relief from the pressures of work and it was a fine priviledge to witness the transition from Autumn to Winter. A big thanks to Arnt for all his help and assistance! Camping trips at this time of year I have concluded are best done as weekend ventures rather than longer trips.
My flight home was suprisingly on time for a change! Withing 40minutes of touching down, I was at home with a cup of tea in my hand! |
