Norwegian Mountains,
Nordland/Nord-Trøndelag
Romsskåla (588m), July 4 2010
To the main Romsskåla page (maps,
route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
Romsskåla
(Click for larger image)
Anne and I were on our way from
Sunnmøre to Brønnøysund, where we would base-camp at my mom's
place for two weeks. We had spent a night at Stav Hotel and explored the
Malvik back-country the evening before.
On our way up north (along RV17), we stopped by Sør-Gutvika to visit
Knut Rydgren - a professor at the Sogn og Fjordane University College - who
has spent many-a-summer up here. We hoped that Knut would join us for
hike up to Romsskåla, and as Knut's speciality is botany and biology, I
hoped to learn a thing or two about the local plant life.
We were warmly greeted by Knut
and his family, and Anne and me were invited for a nice dinner. Afterwards, we
drove up to Nord-Gutvika to pay Romsskåla a visit. I had already looked
the mountain up on the internet and found that a fun route up
Liss-bindalsaksla started at Nord-Gutvika. Knut had been to Romsskåla
before, but never along the route I suggested. We parked by the Osen bay and
headed out 3:40pm. And the route ahead looked fun!
The route up Liss-bindalsaksla
(Click for larger image)
The scramble up to the ridge was
the most exposed point of the entire route, and soon we could enjoy a nice hike/scramble
up the Liss-bindalsaksla ridge. I had always regarded Romsskåla as a rounded and
gentle mountain, but the west side was nothing of the sort. But knowing the Nordland
mountains, I wasn't really surprised. Knut found the route ... interesting,
but wasn't in a desperate need for anything more rugged...
Anne on top of Liss-bindalsaksla
(Click for larger image)
The rest of the hike
up to Romsskåla seemed just too easy, so I talked the others into scrambling up a
series of fun ledges. Anne and Knut were of course busy discussing the local
plant-life - on the detail level. Me, on the other hand, peak out at identifying a cloudberry
(before it becomes a berry...) However, flowers are interesting, and they are
represented in the picture section below, on an average above the normal...
We reached Romsskåla
summit 5pm - 1h:20m after heading out. Romsskåla was indeed a fine
viewpoint. To the north were numerous familiar mountains in the Vega, Vevelstad,
Brønnøy and Sømna municipalities. I recognized several of the Bindals mountains
to the east, with Heilhornet standing tall
above the rest. With a small exception for Leka, identifying the nord-Trøndelag
mountains was a more difficult task...
Heilhornet and neighbours
(Click for larger image)
A
round trip seemed approapriate. At least we would then avoid the awkward section
above the trailhead. We sat course towards Holdåsfjellet and aimed for a ridge
above Nordgutvikvatnet. The valley to our right was named Storbindalen on the
map, so it was only reasonable to name the ridge "Storbindalsaksla"...
From the look of it,
it seemed like a rather "dull" ridge, but it didn't take long before we ran into
a cleft. And the ridge kept offering one (pleasant) surprise after the
other...
Fun stuff on Storbindalsaksla
(Click for larger image)
We returned to the
trailhead 6:27pm - approx. 2h:50m after leaving. It was nice to finally
do a hike on the south side of the Røingen fjord. And I will most definitely
visit Leka. Perhaps already next year. There seem to be a lot of interesting
stuff on that island. We parted with Knut and sat course for Brønnøysund. The
2010 summer vacation was on!
And finally - a
representative from the Austra flora...
Pincushion plant
(Click for larger image)
|