Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Fingeren, Oct 1 2011
To the main Kolåstinden & Fingeren page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
The Fingeren route, seen in Google Earth
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Knowing that buddy Trond Arne had unfinished business on the pointy Fingeren peak (i.e. never been to the summit point), I felt it would be great fun to see him up there. So I sent him a direct invitation a few days ago. After a l i t t l e while, I received a careful thumb's up reply. Excellent! If only the weather could be on our side, I was confident that we would have a memorable trip up to this fine peak.
The hike was on for Saturday, Oct 1 2010 - on the day one month after the first time I climbed Fingren to its top (18 days later, I took my girlfriend Anne up there). The weather was just fine, and we drove convertible (always a great way to begin the day...) to Standalhytta - the normal trailhead. But it was soon clear that rain was moving in - at some point. The only question was when. We headed out 10:20am, and we could feel the first raindrops already half an hour later.
On the way to Fingeren
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Scrambling Fingeren on wet rock is a bigger challenge than going up on a sunny day, and I had brought climbing gear to guarantee a safe journey up and down the peak. But the light rain didn't materialize into much more and most of it vaporized thanks to 15 degrees C. (coming down from 20+ the day before!).
Approaching Fingeren - and not quite knowing how Trond Arne felt about this steep bugger rising up in front of him, I had to check. I had seem him slightly uncomfortable in places on our hike to Liadalsnipa, but he reassured that me that he had only merry thoughts so far...
Communication...
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As we arrived on the Fingeren - Sylen - Kolåstinden ridge, we agreed to move on without a rope, but put our harnesses on in case the rain would start pouring down. Just as I was organizing my backpack, I got a crick in my back, coming out of nowhere. I screamed in pain and scared the daylights out of Trond Arne. After a quick system check, I insisted that I was good to go, but I could see the "cranky - I'll be stuck up on the summit with a buddy who can't move!" look on his face...
After reassuring him (and myself) that I was surely able to get up and down, we moved on...
Trond Arne - scrambled upwards with the utmost confidence and joy. It was altogether a whole new mountain man I had in front of me...
Moving on
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When we reached the slab section, the rock was wet and I decided to put out a sling to avoid a silly accident. Below the steepest scrambling section, I asked Trond Arne if we should use a rope here, he wouldn't hear of it. I didn't expect any other answer, as he had been scrambling the peak in rabbit style all the way. Me - on the other hand - was substantially limited by a very bad back, and the heaviest backpack I've ever brought up to Fingeren.
12:12pm, Trond Arne and me arrived on Fingeren summit, and I had the face of a very happy man in front of me. Words weren't really necessary. His face said it all. And then he pulled out coffee from his backpack. Yeah!
On top of Fingeren
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After a nice cup of coffee - and a nice chat too, we agreed to not push our luck in respect to the rain (we sort of expected it any moment). We scrambled swiftly downwards, and Trond Arne could report that scrambling down was just as fun as scrambling up. We stopped down on the ridge and finished the rest of the coffee there.
Descending Fingeren
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My back was aching, but only when I was in an upright position. I found a good walking technique, but looked like a very old man. We returned to the car 1:42pm - 3h:22m after heading out. Even if it was raining lightly, there was no reason to not drive convertible back home. We stopped in Ørsta for ice-cream - possibly the last ice-cream I'll have in 2011. A few hours after returning home, it was raining cats and dogs and the whole country was drowning in fog...
