
Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Ski-trip to Veten (556m) via Nakkane, Mar 12 2011
To the main Veten (Hidsegga) page (maps,
route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)

Our route to Veten
(Click for larger image)
The weather on this Saturday was
really bad, and Anne and me spent the better part of the morning building up
motivation for outdoors activities. The forecast indicated that the weather
would settle during the afternoon, but it was obvious that there would not be
any big mountain endeavours today...
I've been thinking
about skiing Veten directly from Moltustranda for a while, and I figured
that today would be a good day to do just that. We left home just after 1pm, and
Anne was left in the dark in terms of our target. From time to time, surprises
are quite fun. When we arrived at Moltustranda, I pointed out the route to Anne,
and I heard a small "wow!". In bad weather, everything looks big...
We decided to do
this trip from base, i.e. sea level and parked down by the main
road. We headed out 1:36pm, and had to pass a few obstacles before we got on the
ridge proper. But from then on, everything was all right!

On the way to Veten
(Click for larger image)
Snow/hail showers came and went, but
it didn't matter much. Skiing along the coastline is so nice that we could easily
accept a few challenges from mother nature. We seemed to be in shelter of the
wind and it was obvious that the weather was indeed settling, at least compared to
earlier in the day. We followed sticks marked with red paint, which
(strongly) suggests that there is a summer route up this ridge.
There was not a lot of snow, but
enough to get by. We had a nice trip up the ridge and arrived on the summit
3:05pm - less than 1,5 hours after heading out. The vertical gain was
only 550 meters, so this was certainly not a rush trip!

On Veten summit
(Click for larger image)
This was my 4 visit to Veten.
The first time, I went from Moltudalen along the
marked path. The second time, I went up via Hidsdalen and 9 days later, I went
up a steep couloir from Hidsneset. I have one or two
more routes to do before I can say that I know this mountain...
The wind was quite cold, so we
didn't stay too long. Besides, we looked very much forward to the descent. The
(hard) snow offered perfect skiing conditions and skiing with "nothing" between
us and the fjord/ocean was simply awesome!

Descending Veten
(Click for larger image)
We returned to the car 3:55pm, with
good memories and a built-up appetite. The rest of the day would be pure
leisure. What a privileged life, and what a contrast to the horrible scenes from
the aftermath of the quake and flood in Japan. Food for thought...

Returning to Moltustranda
(Click for larger image) |