Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Melshornet, Mar 24 2006

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I had been working in Ulsteinvik this Friday, and decided to visit Melshornet on the way home. The weather was gorgeous, but this trip didn't quite turn out the way I planned. I stopped by a house to ask where people went if they wanted to ski the mountain. I was given advice and directions, and was on my way to the car. I raised my hand to signal "thanks for the info, have a nice day" and in the next second I was airborn in a horisontal position. I had stepped on ice, taken a rotation but landed in a way that would impress a cat.

A nasty feeling came creeping right away. I had helt the car keys (and also the keys to the house) in my waving hand as I was falling. The keys were nowhere to be seen. A 10 minute search came up empty. There was 50cm of fresh snow and the keys must have sunk in deep, not leaving a trace. I had no clue in which direction they went, and decided to give up the search.

The really weird thing was that my spare car keys had been stored in a box (back home) for 10 years. The day before, I was tidying, and figured that the keys should be stored in a more practical place. So I put them in my portable PC bag. I added the house keys also, and since I was on my home from work, the spare keys were inside the car. I had mixed emotions; annoyed and relieved. Mostly relieved now that I didn't have to take the long way home to Ålesund without a car.

When I finally found a place to park, I managed to step on the backpack, destroying one of the "belt" clips. Very impractical since this "belt" is vital for moving the weight of the backpack (which normally includes a dog) from my shoulders to my hips. The time was 16:10PM and it was time to get moving. I put my dog "Troll" in the backpack and made a very bad decision about leaving the wind-jacket in the car. It was a gorgeous day and a fairly low mountain. I would be up and back down "before tea". That was the plan, anyway.

I found excellent tracks up the forest road, but they ended along with the forest road. They turned aound HERE?, I remember thinking. I met a guy who had traversed the mountain (coming from Hareid) and followed his tracks up the forest. I'm not sure how useful the tracks where, but after a cumbersome forest struggle in deep snow, I finally reached the open space on Melshornet's south ridge.

On the ridge, I was exposed to a insanely cold wind and regretted the wind-jacket decision. It was so cold that I strongly considered turning around, but things got slightly better when I sought towards the western side of the ridge. I reached the top 17:40PM and it was a very cold place. The wind whirled up the snow and it was difficult to see clearly. I put the dog in shelter behind the cairn while taking a very fast round of pictures. I did not bother about the visitor's register. I wanted to get off this mountain as fast as possible.

After skiing down the ridge, it was good to be back in lower elevations. I could barely feel my fingers at the summit, and I reminded myself (again) how stupid it is to swap gloves on mountains exposed to the wind. We were back at the car 18:20PM and I made a mental note about going back in late spring, looking for my keys.