Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Blåskjerdingen via Tindfjellet, July 24 2008
To the main Blåskjerdingen page (maps, route descriptions, etc.)
The route
(Click for larger image)
The sole purpose of this trip was to figure out if it was possible to traverse the Tindfjellet - Skjerdingen ridge. I had been walking this ridge from Skjerdingen in May 2006, and ended up bypassing the "crux" of the route - a gap which made further progress along the ridge difficult. Bypassing obstacles is never good sport, and today I would do this route in the opposite direction - from Tindfjellet.
I called my friend Torill and asked if she wanted to join in. She did, and she hadn't been to Tindfjellet, either. Thus, a new top was awaiting her. We met at the Krogsætra trailhead, left one car there and drove down to the Vestresætra trailhead, 2,8Km further down in Nakkedalen. We were on our way 5:25pm and it was a tremendously hot afternoon.
Tindfjellet
Ascending Tindfjellet from Vestresætra is hard work on warm summer days. The hill just never seemed to end. We reached the top of Tindfjellet 6:55pm, and I was mighty relieved about the fact that the main ascent part of the trip was over, even if we might choose to stop by Blåskjerdingen on the way down.
The Tindfjellet - Skjerdingen ridge didn't offer any difficulties. Going straight across the gap on the ridge would have been exposed climbing, but we found an easy way around (YDS class 3), without getting off the ridge. It was a fun ridge; narrow in a few places and with a significant drop down on the sides. But overall, the ridge was easy.
Blåskjerdingen
To Blåskjerdingen summit
(Click for larger image)
Once across, we agreed to stop by Blåskjerdingen. We quickly passed Skjerdingen and scrambled our way up to Blåskjerdingen's summit, arriving the cairn 7:50pm. I made a mental note about the scramble being far more easy than the first time I did it. Far more! Torill scrambled like a cat, and her mountain mojo seemed to be in good shape for the summer.
I had an idea about a different round trip route that I wanted to do at some later point in time, and now I could verify that there didn't seem to be any problems attached to it. After having a good look around (there's so much to see from this top) we began our descent. We arrived at the Krogsætra parking 9:21pm, without having seen any other persons throughout the hike. Actually, the GPS waypoint time at Krogsætra was 21:21:21PM.
The drive back to her car was only 2,8Km, but
I'll bet my hiking boots that the next time Torill buys a car, it'll be a
convertible. 
