Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Mohns & Randers Topp, June 29 2008


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The glacier below Mohns and Randers

The glacier below Mohns and Randers
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One week had passed, since ..

Troll passed away. It was a bit strange to be at liberty to go where I wanted, and do whatever I wanted. I could almost sense him communicating with me from the afterworld; "Go get'em, cowboy. All those mountain tops you saved until I could jump into the big sofa. You go on, now. I'll be watching."

While sending a grateful thought ..

to my former buddy, Molladalen came to mind. I should definitely take a closer look at this area. It was a bit grey outside. Should I check the weather forecast? I decided not to. Knowing is always a limiting factor. If the forecast promised rain in the afternoon, would I go then? Probably not. So I just tossed my hiking gear into the car and headed for the ferry to Festøya.

I arrived the Barstaddalen trailhead ..

along with two other cars, counting 6-or-so hikers. I didn't know where they were heading. Normally, I would have asked, but I didn't. I was in a strange mood. I missed the fury fellow in the backpack, my only link towards the concept of true responsibility. 1 minute after having parked the car, I limped along the forest path (10:40AM), with a bad muscle from Kvitesanden beach, telling me I wasn't 20-years-old anymore.

There was probably never a plan, ..

but along the forest path, I decided to see if I could get to Mohns Topp and Randers Topp. I knew about the Mohnsrenna couloir. Infact, I even thought I knew where the couloir was, too. And what about the snow? Never mind. With an ice-axe and crampons, I would get up that couloir. If it wasn't too steep, that is.

Arriving in Molladalen, I got Mohnsrenna in view, and had two immediate thoughts; a) shit, it's full of snow, and b) it doesn't look very steep. So I headed for it. As I began the ascent, I noticed that a ridge to my left was free of snow, and I followed it until it led me into the couloir. Then I discovered that the path was as good as free of snow too, and I was suddenly filled with a great deal of optimism. The ice-axe came in handy in the upper part, as I chose to follow the (partly frozen) snow instead of scrambling on obnoxious slab rock. Minutes later, I was on top of the ridge between Mohns and Randers Topp.

Mohns Topp...

Mohns Topp

Mohns Topp
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was pure fun. I scrambled quickly up the partly airy ridge and reached the summit 1:24PM. I figured this would be an excellent place for lunch (yes, I brought sandwiches!) and chilled out while screening the area. "So, that's Bladet!". "That has to be Giganten!" "Wow, Slingsbys Topp looks airy". Stuff like that.

Bladet

On my way towards Randers Topp, I simply had to stop by Bladet. It didn't look very impressive until I passed it. I have an ambition of climbing this cool rock later in the year, and it was nice to have a good look at it. For optimal view, I climbed up the ridge behind it (E of Bladet). This was an easy YDS class 3 climb, and now I could see every detail of the Bladet route. The thought of climbing it didn't bother me much, but would I be able to stand on the summit rock, lifting my arms? Although I've come a long way on fighting vertigo, this was something else. There's room for only one foot at the top, and what the hell am I supposed to focus on? Never mind. It's a challenge, and we're in the business of challenges now. The ridge top I was on reported 1303m, with 3-4m error margin. Bladet seemed equally high, so my guess is that Bladet is approx. 1300m high. I'll do a more thorough reading when I'm on top of it.

Bladet - the classic view

Bladet - the classic view
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Randers Topp

I proceeded along the top of the glacier and reached Randers Topp 2:24PM. It was nice to be up here. This was truly a rugged, wild and amazing landscape. I proceeded in the direction of Mollatårnet, but concluded that this wasn't terrain I fancied being in, unroped. Back on Randers Topp, I decided to stop by Tvillingane upon my descent.

The northern Tvillingane pinnacle..

was fairly easy to reach. That is, the short climbing pitch was YDS class 4, but it wasn't all that exposed. My GPS reported 1326m with 3-4m error margin.  I moved on towards the southern pinnacle, only to conclude that a rope was needed in order to reach the top. At least for me. Below was the impressive Kruttårnet pinnacle, one of the fine climbing routes in this area.

Descent

I strolled back to the top of Mohnsrenna and descended the upper snowy section using my ice-axe, before I let go and slid all the way down to the Børresteinen rock, just above Lake Storevatnet. What a quick descent! The GPS wasn't quite able to keep up. Back in Barstaddalen, I caught up with the other hikers, who had been on Middagshornet (1091m). I was no longer limping and passed them quickly. All of a sudden, the horizon behind me had a different shade of grey. Rain was moving in, and it was moving in fast. I was back at the trailhead 4:35PM after a very enjoyable (and memorable) hike. Just as I opened the car door, the rain came.

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 300D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 
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To Molladalen

0A. Trip tracks 0B. Trip tracks 1. Above the forest 2. Middagshornet 3. Along the river from Storevatnet 4. An exposed section 5. The exposed section 6. Entering Molladalen

To Mohns Topp

7. Mohns Topp 8. Svinetindane 9. Molladalen terrain 10. Rock face 11. Mohnsrenna 12. Rock features 13. Grouse 14. Grouse 15. Rock features 16. Mohns Topp 17. Entering Mohns Topp 18. Entering Mohns Topp 19. Mohns Topp crux 20. Mohns Topp crux 21. Mohns Topp crux 22. To Mohns Topp

Views from Mohns Topp

23. Wide-angle view from Mohns Topp 24. Ytstenestinden/Slingsbys Topp 25. Holtanna 26. Hjørundfjord peaks 27. Randers Topp

Bladet

28. Bladet 29. Bladet 30. Bladet 31. Bladet 32. Bladet 33. Giganten 34. On the ridge east of Bladet 35. Bladet, hi-res 36. Bladet

Randers Topp

37. Randers and Mohns Topp 38. Årsnesegga 39. Mohns Topp 40. Ytste Årsnesdalen 41. Molladalstårnet 42. Jønshornet 43. Passing Randers Topp 44. Ytste Årsnesdalen 45. Jønshornet 46. Kolaastinden seen from Randers Topp

Wide-angle view from Randers Topp

47. Wide-angle view from Randers Topp

85mm zoom view from Randers Topp

48. 85mm zoom view from Randers Topp 49. 85mm zoom view from (near) Randers Topp

Descent via Tvillingene

50. Descending Randers Topp 51. To Tvillingene 52. Tracks in the snow 53. On Tvillingene N. 54. Tvillingene S. and Mohns Topp 55. Kruttårnet 56. Passing Tvillingene S. 57. Descending Mohnsrenna 58. Rock face 59. Having descended Mohnsrenna

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