Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions - Øverøystolen, Overøystolen, Ørastolen, Stolen

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Øverøystolen traverse on skis, Feb 25 2007

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.

It is always a small challenge, for experienced mountaineers like Åsmund and Svein, to locate a (resonably) nearby mountain that none of them had been to - and that might offer a good rundown on skis. Having only lived in this region for one year (++), there are still heaps of tops that I haven't been to. But for the nearby region, the list is getting shorter. None of us had been to Øverøystolen, all of us wanted to, so the choice was easy this time.

Ascent

The plan was to arrive Øverøye before the ski-lift started running 10:00AM, and by 09:45AM, we were on our way up the slalom hill. On a steep, but prepared slope. By Lake Heimste Øverøyvatnet, we left the convenient track and began the ascent towards Kollen. The weather was very nice - no winds and sunshine. This condition did unfortunately not last very long.

Passing 800m elevation, skiing conditions deteroriated. Recent winds had given Kollen's east ridge a good "beating", and the hillside offered nothing but banks of hardpacked, windblown snow. We reached the top of Kollen 11:30AM. A cold wind made the short summit stay not very pleasant.

We moved on to Øverøystolen's south ridge, which looked quite narrow and .. thus .. airy. In addition, the light became very "flat", making it difficult to see 10 meters ahead. Øverøystolen's east ridge looked quite steep, and with these kind of skiing conditions, I started thinking (loud) about descending the same route. On crampons, I would attempt the summit, but perhaps without carrying the skis.

As the others decided to bring their skis, I decided to bring mine along, too. The crampons were not necessary, but it was difficult to judge from distance. The icy crust didn't hold our weight, and the walk up the ridge became quite trivial.

We reached the top of Øverøystolen 12:35PM. It was quite chilly on top, and the focus was on taking pictures and get the skis ready for descent. I had worn two types of sunglasses, one yellow and one red. Neither did me any good, and I didn't look forwards to the long downhill.

Descent

While Åsmund didn't seem very affected by the difficult conditions, the flat light caused problems for Svein and myself. In addition, I'm not a very good skier, and I guessed that skiing down stairs would feel the same way. Normally, I control a sudden stop. Here, the frozen banks of hardpacked snow determined my sudden stops. As snow conditions improved further down, the light got worse. At one point, Åsmund wanted to toss a snowball, but the snow didn't allow for a snowball to be built. It turned out that the slope was quite straightforward, and when we reached the forest, trees provided good reference. We were back at the trailhead 14:05PM, after a tiresome descent from Øverøystolen. At least, speaking for Svein and myself. The elapsed skiing time was 4 hours and 20 minutes, and there was absolutely no rush involved.