Norwegian Mountains,
Nordland/Nord-Trøndelag
Romsskåla (588m), July 4 2010
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Romsskåla
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Anne and I were on our way from Sunnmøre to Brønnøysund, where we would base-camp at my mom's place for two weeks. We had spent a night at Stav Hotel and explored the Malvik back-country the evening before. On our way up north (along RV17), we stopped by Sør-Gutvika to visit Knut Rydgren - a professor at the Sogn og Fjordane University College - who has spent many-a-summer up here. We hoped that Knut would join us for hike up to Romsskåla, and as Knut's speciality is botany and biology, I hoped to learn a thing or two about the local plant life.
We were warmly greeted by Knut and his family, and Anne and me were invited for a nice dinner. Afterwards, we drove up to Nord-Gutvika to pay Romsskåla a visit. I had already looked the mountain up on the internet and found that a fun route up Liss-bindalsaksla started at Nord-Gutvika. Knut had been to Romsskåla before, but never along the route I suggested. We parked by the Osen bay and headed out 3:40pm. And the route ahead looked fun!
The route up Liss-bindalsaksla
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The scramble up to the ridge was the most exposed point of the entire route, and soon we could enjoy a nice hike/scramble up the Liss-bindalsaksla ridge. I had always regarded Romsskåla as a rounded and gentle mountain, but the west side was nothing of the sort. But knowing the Nordland mountains, I wasn't really surprised. Knut found the route ... interesting, but wasn't in a desperate need for anything more rugged...
Anne on top of Liss-bindalsaksla
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The rest of the hike up to Romsskåla seemed just too easy, so I talked the others into scrambling up a series of fun ledges. Anne and Knut were of course busy discussing the local plant-life - on the detail level. Me, on the other hand, peak out at identifying a cloudberry (before it becomes a berry...) However, flowers are interesting, and they are represented in the picture section below, on an average above the normal...
We reached Romsskåla summit 5pm - 1h:20m after heading out. Romsskåla was indeed a fine viewpoint. To the north were numerous familiar mountains in the Vega, Vevelstad, Brønnøy and Sømna municipalities. I recognized several of the Bindals mountains to the east, with Heilhornet standing tall above the rest. With a small exception for Leka, identifying the nord-Trøndelag mountains was a more difficult task...
Heilhornet and neighbours
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A round trip seemed approapriate. At least we would then avoid the awkward section above the trailhead. We sat course towards Holdåsfjellet and aimed for a ridge above Nordgutvikvatnet. The valley to our right was named Storbindalen on the map, so it was only reasonable to name the ridge "Storbindalsaksla"...
From the look of it, it seemed like a rather "dull" ridge, but it didn't take long before we ran into a cleft. And the ridge kept offering one (pleasant) surprise after the other...
Fun stuff on Storbindalsaksla
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We returned to the trailhead 6:27pm - approx. 2h:50m after leaving. It was nice to finally do a hike on the south side of the Røingen fjord. And I will most definitely visit Leka. Perhaps already next year. There seem to be a lot of interesting stuff on that island. We parted with Knut and sat course for Brønnøysund. The 2010 summer vacation was on!
And finally - a representative from the Austra flora...
Pincushion plant
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