Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Nonshornet, June 7 2008
To the main Nonshornet page (maps, route descriptions, etc.)
Nonshornet's north wall
(Click for larger image)
on a ski-trip to Sylvkallen, last month. At first, I noticed the impressive north wall, and then I became aware of that the normal routes leading to it were quite trivial. I put Nonshornet on my peaks-I-can-dog-with-my-dog list. Few speak of this mountain, probably because there are so many fine peaks in the neighbourhood. On June 7 2008, I decided to take the trip. I had a feeling that most of the snow had melted, so this would be my first hike above 1000m in 2008.
I already knew the trail head, so ..
it was just a matter of heading up the mountain. I could have chosen a less steep route by heading into Nøvedalen first, but I didn't fancy the detour. The grass was wet and slippery after snowmelt, and the ice-axe came in quite handy. Troll was in the backpack and had all the time in the world to enjoy the mighty scenery surrounding Standalsdalen. Or Standalen, whatever is correct...
A "marvellous" avalanche came down from Søre Sætretind. It was just the seasonal event when the snow fields below the summit lost their grip and came tumbling down into a narrow gully. Very impressive. I hope the sheep have the wisdom to stay away from this area, as nothing below will survive.
I was now on the ridge proper ..
and had crossed just one minor snowfield. The rest of the route seemed to be on solid rock, with exception of a snowfield below Fremste Kopphornet. The ridge was overall trivial, but a section after having passed Fremste Kopphornet forced me to plan how further progress should be. Given the exposure to my left, I had to use my left hand to make sure Troll didn't fall out of the backpack, leaving me only one hand for the scramble. My right hand was carrying the ice-axe, so things were a bit more awkward than strictly necessary.
Once past this section, the rest of the route was plain and simple. I reached the summit 12:42PM, and it took me 2h:15m to get there. Which was a bit surprising, as I normally ascend 1000 vertical meters in 2 hours or less. But there was of course no hurry. It was a gorgeous day. I gave the dog lunch and water before taking pictures. I was on the brink of sitting down and enjoy the views, but knew I would be bored. I spend enough time annotating the pictures afterwards, and I let the views sink in that way instead.
Descent
I considered descending via Koppen, but in the end, I chose not to. Upon descent, I had passed a long snowfield that was just too nice to miss out on. I figured I could boot-slide 300 vertical meters, non-stop. When I arrived on this snowfield, I concluded that the snow was just perfect. Hard enough to slide without stopping, and soft enough to maintain control. The descent might have been the highlight of the trip.
I was back at the car 14:20PM, and drove down to Standal for some additional pictures. The sea was tempting, and I seriously considered going for a swim. I chose not to. I enjoy swimming, but I enjoy driving a convertible even more. The combination of a wet hiker and a convertible can lead to a cold, which means no mountains for a while. Indeed, we deal with serious questions every day of our lives...
Standal view
(Click for larger image)
