Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Næremstindan
Høgsvora, Dec 31 2007
This route is described on the Høgsvora main page.
The routes up & down Høgsvora
(Click for larger image)
There could not be a better way ..
to end 2007. Gorgeous weather, a beautiful peak and awesome
snow conditions (fresh powder). Svein Myhre (fjellinordvest.net)
suggested this trip, and since I had reached my personal ambitions in respect of
bagging new mountains this year, I was quite happy on visiting a mountain
that I'd been on before. My March 2006 ski-trip was fresh in mind. At least I
remembered the fun south ridge and that my dog walked all the way down from the
top. On this day, however, my aging little friend would enjoy the company of my
neighbour Pål.
I asked Arngeir Syversen to come along. He's now into the
peak-bagging business as well, and hadn't been to Høgsvora. I had a very
nice hike with Arngeir to Melen on Dec. 25th, and a
fantastic ski-trip to Ådalstinden on Dec. 22th,
where I met Svein on the summit.
Who breaks the trail?
We agreed to met 10:30AM at the Høgsvora trailhead on
Vaksvikfjellet. In one way, it's a late start. On the other hand, we had more
than enough time for this mountain. Besides, chances are that someone has left
earlier and broken the trail. As we headed out 10:45AM, we were quite happy to
see that the trail had been broken, and I had talked to two people who were
heading up the south ridge. Everything was set for just enjoying the day.
The south ridge ..
.. is an aesthetic ridge. At least I think so. It's narrow in
a few spots, and while some could find it a bit airy, it's not a difficult
ridge. As the cornices change, it impacts the route to a certain degree. I
remembered one point from last year's trip that was a bit airy. I was standing
on top of a large cornice and
because of the shade, I couldn't see the ground ahead of me. At least not very
well. It took me a moment or two to move on. I was also carrying my dog, which
made balance a bit more awkward.
Today, the same cornice was a different ball game. The cornice
was much higher, and could certainly not be skied. The guys ahead of us had made
a detour around the cornice. It was not a big deal, but added flavor. The ridge
could have been long, flat and boring.
I enjoyed every moment of the ascent. Skiing up here without
the weight of the dog in the backpack was overwhelming. Arngeir struggled
with skins that did not do what they were supposed to, and had to work hard for
this pleasure.
Windy top
We reached the top 12:46PM, which meant that the ascent had
taken us 2 hours. Carrying Troll up here in 2006, it took me 1h:45m to reach the
top. As I figured we had kept a fair and normal pace today, I reckoned I must
have been skiing quite hard in 2006.
I almost caught up with the two (other) skiers ahead before
they reached the top. They headed out almost half an hour ahead of us. They
turned around immediately, and found a sheltered spot below the top. It was
evident that the summit was quite windy and cold today.
It was indeed, and taking pictures was work and not pleasure.
I've never seen Svein spend less time on pictures. He skied back down to the
sheltered spot.
Now ..
.. what we came for. The descent. While Svein cruised
down and seemed to have as much fun as you can get, I struggled with skis
(170cm) that were not adequate for deep powder snow. The skis buried themselves
into the ground and sent me deep into the snow. Face in, time after time. Longer
and wider skis are now on my shopping list.
But even while looking more and more like a snowman, it was
still fun. A whole lotta fun. A number of skiers were on their way up. Probably
betting on good tracks up the mountain...
13:55PM, we were back at the trailhead. Next on the agenda was
Sukkertoppen. The dog needs the exercise. No rest for the wicked. |