Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Langedalsegga, Jan 13 2008
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On the way up Langedalsegga
(Click for larger image)
Discovery..
A couple of days before this Sunday, I discovered that Langedalsegga qualified for the westcoastpeaks.com list of Møre og Romsdal mountains. The pattern shows that soon after I "discover" a forgotten mountain top, I visit it shortly after. A kind of an apology, I suppose.
The "problem" was that now it was Sunday, and snow had just fallen. The ski-centres on Strandafjellet were bound to be crowded. But I reckoned I could sneak past the crowds and have a nice ski-trip in solitude. I decided to leave my dog Troll back home, where he would enjoy the good company of my neighbour Pål. The plan was to descend one of the ski runs and doing so with a dog in the backpack would just be ridiculous.
A short trip
The weather was so-and-so, but well above acceptable for a ski-trip up to 1000m elevation. I guessed right. Strandafjellet was very crowded, and after paying the parking fee of NOK 30,-, I was on my way 11:20AM. I headed for a hill where I couldn't see any skiers. The snow was quite deep (30-40cm) and I decided to follow a Telemark track upwards.
At the hut by the upper ski-lift, I was completely alone on the mountain. How strange. The upper mountain was completely unspoiled. Not a track could be seen, except from on the road that connects the two lifts. The snow depth made me seek for the northeast ridge, where I hoped the wind had wiped the snow off the ridge. After all, there had to be a reason for why the upper lift didn't run.
I was partly right. In some sections, rocks popped up and in other places I was in knee-deep snow. But all in all, it was a fairly trivial trip up the mountain. I reached the top 12:30PM, 1h:10m after leaving the car. The forgotten top was now in the bag, and I could return with a good conscience.
I descended below the upper ski lift, where the snow was deep and reliable. As I couldn't see much (poor light), I decided to just take it nice and easy. For novice skiers like me, the practice was highly valuable, and I had good fun. Down by the open runs, I chose a run that offered a combination of off-piste and slalom. By 13:04PM, the (short) trip was over.
