Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Skåla on skis from Løndalen, Feb 28 2010


To the main Skåla page (maps, pictures, other trip reports)
 

The route

The route
(Click for larger image)

Approx. 1 year after visiting Snøhornet and Løndalen for the first time, I was back again. This time, to ski Skåla together with Anne. There were probably half a dozen other trailheads we could have picked, but Løndalen is a convenient starting point. We had beautiful weather, and it looked as if we would have a memorable trip ahead of us. 11:42am, we were on our way.

The plan was to get up to the Dyna - Skåla saddle, and follow the ridge from there. We followed the toll road for a little while, then turned northeast, crossed Ulvestadelva and the forest road on the north side of the river, before heading into the forest. The lower forest was easy terrain, and so far, everything was just fine.

 

 

Up the forest

Up the forest
(Click for larger image)

The next 150 vertical meters up to the saddle was a bit more strenuous. The snow was a bit deep, and it got steeper and steeper. At times, we were a bit concerned about avalanche danger. The risk wasn't massive, but you really don't need a big slide to get into trouble. Once we reached the saddle, the avalanche hazard was no longer present. Instead, we were now facing a mix of very hard snow - and no snow at all.

On the most icy section, we decided to carry the skis. At one point, I was worried about a potential fall (we didn't have ice axes or crampons). Anne didn't share my concern at all, and I called for a "time-out". This meant that I would advance up the ridge to make sure that we didn't get stuck in an ice field. After concluding that there was softer snow higher up on the ridge, I returned to Anne, collected my equipment and then we proceeded upwards.

 

What a view!

What a view!
(Click for larger image)

 

The rest of the trip up the mountain was a pure delight. The snow was perfect and we were already looking forward to the descent. It would be a blast! This was winter at its best, and even though the summit was still 1km ahead of us, the hike was already memorable

 

Cottage

Cottage
(Click for larger image)

 

We reached the top of Skåla 3:24pm - 3h:42m after heading out (!). I had promised Anne a phenomenal view, and she was not disappointed!  Volda, Ørsta, Herøy, Hareid, Ulstein and Vanylven mountains racked, packed and stacked! If you're interested in the Ytre Søre Sunnmøre region, Skåla is the best viewpoint. Bar none!

 

Ørsta peaks

Ørsta peaks
(Click for larger image)

 

Finally, it was time for the dessert - the descent. We didn't exactly have Fivlenosi conditions, but we still had good fun. And skiing directly towards the fjord brings that extra dimension.

Neither of us were particularly keen on going down the icy ridge, so we agreed to attempt a descent on the south side of the ridge. The concern was that the light in the shadows wasn't all that good, and it was also a bit steep (avalanche hazard). But we found a good route down and returned to the trailhead 4:41pm, safe and sound.

I'm not quite done with Løndalen just yet. I still have a traverse of Kjerringa on my to-do list, so stay tuned for further updates from this region...

 

Descending skåla

Descending Skåla
(Click for larger image)

 

 

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 450D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 

Javascript slideshow

(Full size images)

 

  Flash slideshow

(Images scaled down.
Right-click on images and select 'open in a new window' for full size version)
(No panoramas)

 

 

To the Skåla - Dyna saddle

0. Trip tracks 1. Our Løndalen trailhead 2. The toll road to Ulvestadsætra 3. Heading out 4. Kjerringa 5. On the toll road 6. Skåla ahead 7. Across the meadow 8. To the Skåla - Dyna saddle 9. Up the forest 10. Getting a bit steep 11. Dyna 12. View from the saddle 13. A short break 14. Checking out the route ahead

To Skåla

15. Up the ridge 16. Not just soft snow... 17. Up the ridge 18. Anne 19. What a view! 20. On foot in an icy section 21. Volda 22. Passing Litlenipa 23. Passing Litlenipa 24. Tracks in the snow 25. That fjord thing... 26. The final hill 27. The summit is in sight 28. A cottage 29. A cottage, and views 30. Anne on the summit 31. Me on the summit 32. Loke on the summit

Wide-angle view from Skåla

33. Wide-angle view from Skåla

Zoom views from Skåla

34. Zoom view from Skåla 35. Zoom view from Skåla

Misc. pictures from the top

36. Liahornet 37. Liadalsnipa 38. Ørsta peaks 39. Volda 40. Eidskyrkja and Matøskja 41. Gjegnen 42. Saursegga, Gursken 43. Hareidlandet 44. Gurskøya 45. Skoratinden 46. Kjerringa

Descent

47. Leaving the summit 48. Move! 49. Soft and nice snow 50. Yi-haa! 51. Yes! Yes! Yes! 52. Unfortunately, all this fun will have an ending 53. Breeeeeak! 54. Schwiiing! 55. I can tell you - Anne liked this! 56. Evening light 57. The last pocket of sunshine 58. Rocket girl! 59. Time to plan for a descent route 60. Løndalen 61. About to get steep 62. Saudehornet 63. Anne gets the overview 64. A steep descent towards the forest 65. Almost down 66. Across the meadow 67. Kjerringa

Pictures from Lauvstad and the ferry

68. Snøhornet and Volda 69. The mountains above Lauvstad 70. Helgehornet 71. Saudehornet. Note the tracks 72. Sandhornet

No Javascript:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

 


westcoastpeaks.com Other Møre & Romsdal mountains Other Norwegian mountains