Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions - Reinsfjellet, Litlreinsfjellet

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Reinsfjellet on skis, Mar 3 2007

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.

Reinsfjellet - and the expected views - had been on the to-do list for quite some time. The weather forecast promised OK weather for the upcoming Saturday, so Reinsfjellet entered "Go" state.

The Saturday was fairly OK as promised, and I got a brief sense of spring. Not enough to pop down the roof of the car, but close. Driving from Ålesund to Reinsfjellet is a reasonable long trip - 2,5 hours (ferry included), and approx. the same as driving from Bergen to Gudvangen near the Hordaland / Sogn & Fjordane county border. But I was now probably just halfway through Møre and Romsdal county, and it struck me that this is a BIG county to know in-depth.

Upwards

But the target for the day was Reinsfjellet, and the dog and I was ready to leave the trailhead 11:25AM. A tractor passed and told me that I could either walk or ski to the top. Snowscooters were driving up and down the mountain, and the snow was beaten down hard. As I had planned to visit Litlreinsfjellet on this trip, I chose the skis. The road was diffcult for my four-legged pal Troll, as the tracks were just like cattle guards for him. But there was a tiny track in the middle of the road that he could balance in, and he gave his best until I put him in the backpack, just before I left the road for Litlreinsfjellet.

Litlreinsfjellet

For a brief moment, I thought Litlreinsfjellet was the small hump next to the road. It wasn't, and the detour took one hour, total time. It was well worth it, as Reinsfjellet looked great from this point, and I got some pictures of Tustnastabbene that I missed from Reinsfjellet. The trip to Litlreinsfjellet was straightforward, although I had to bypass a couple of cliffbands.

Reinsfjellet

I had reached Litlreinsfjellet 12:55PM and was now on my way up the steeper switchbacks to Reinsfjellet. It felt a bit weird knowing the fact that I still had 400 vertical meters ahead of me, while the summit seemed to be - just up the hill. Troll did a tremendous job, and walked (almost) all the way up to the top, which we reached 14:15PM. A man was working up there, but quickly escaped indoors.

The views were just great, and it was especially cool to see the Molde/Eide/Fræna tops from this angle. The large antenna (mast) made me a bit nervous. Ice fell down, and I was quite content with my safe spot on the southeast side. As I already had my northeast views from Litlreinsfjellet, I skipped going around the antenna.

Descent

Troll was "unstoppable" and seemed to be happy about the descent. High on Reinsfjellet, we met 6 chaps from Kristiansund Turistforening. They seemed surprised to see this little fury fellow, in a fine pace down this snowy mountain. Troll ran on the road, while I practiced Telemark on the fine, snowy slopes alongside the road. It was a fine descent, and it was tempting to imagine that the dog and I had a fine MOMENT down the mountain. The truth of the matter, though, is most likely that the dog just wanted to get to a warm car, roll over on his back, and be done with it.

We were back at the trailhead 15:33PM, and except for a 5-minute pitch on skis, Troll walked all of the way. He curled around in the passenger seat, made a deep sigh, which I took for "don't disturb me for the first hour". I had driven along Batnfjorden on my way to Reinsfjellet, and for the return, I chose to drive via Heggem and Fosterlågen. Both roads were OK, and I didn't pick a favourite. I was very lucky with the ferry, which arrived when I arrived, and being one of the first cars off the ferry, the trip back to Ålesund was just a smooth, nice cruise.