Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Grødet round trip, Oct 6 2007

This trip follows routes #3 and #1, also described on the Grødet main page

Trip report, Oct 6 2007

What to do, what to do..

On-duty day, and hiking options were limited. I was looking for a nearby mountain and a route that I hadn't done before. My choice fell on Grødet, and the route that runs past Hovsetsætra. Should a call come in, I would be back in the car within 30 minutes. And then on-line via the laptop and my cell phone. I have no complaints about modern technology.

I was kind of of familiar with this mountain. On my first visit to Otrefjellet and Grødet back in March 2006, I had really bad weather. On my second visit to Otrefjellet (Apr 2007), we had a strong gale. And I had only been to these mountains on snow. My third visit to this area would now be on path, without any wind, and best of all - on a new route. Unfortunately, the weather was really gloomy and the pictures needed post-processing in order to show anything at all.

Kollen

Along on the hike came my dog Troll, enjoying a good period after pulling a bad tooth and after having been treated for a stommach inflammation (he vomited blood a week ago). We left the Ulvestad trailhead at noon, and followed the forest road upwards. Troll felt old and tired after a few minutes, and I put him in the backpack. I had excpected to carry him all the way to the top, but I was in for a surprise.

As I passed Kollen, I was thinking that it was sort of stupid to just pass it without visiting the top. I found a trivial route up the - somewhat steep - north side and reached the top 12:17PM. The views weren't all that bad, and I could clearly see Råna and the neighbouring peaks.

Kaldkleiva

Soon, I was back at the meadow (Bakkedalen) between Kollen and Grødet. After some fumbling, I found the forest path, leading to the Kaldkleiva ridge. Shortcuts do not always pay off. The ridge path was a pleasant surprise. Well worn and visible. I put Troll down to see if he would walk. He enjoyed the path too. A helpful push, here and there, was necessary. Besides that, you would NOT guess that this dog is turning 14 years next month.

Grødet

We passed Hovsetsætra at approx. 420m elevation. The path was still easy to follow. I let Troll have a break and carried him up to Lake Hovsetvatnet (525m). Along with Lake Veslevatnet (approx. 550m), these two lakes are called Hovsetvatna. The path turned southwest and we followed the gentle hillside up to Grødet summit. The time was 13:40PM when we reached the summit cairn.

Troll laid down to gather strengths. Cute indeed, as he was resting his head on his paw. Like from the other high Haram mountains, Grødet had superb views. From Romsdalen to Runde. Quite a panorama.

Descent

We then descended the south flank, joined the forest road from Ulvestadvatnet and were back at the trailhead 14:45PM. Troll walked all the way down. Even if the weather wasn't all that great, and even if I had already been to Grødet, I felt exceptionally good about this hike. Most of all because of the nice ridge path up Kaldkleiva. It was truly a pleasure aiding Troll on his "endeavour" up the forest. Everytime I stopped for pictures, he looked back at me; "Are you coming, or what? We've got a mountain to climb".