Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Vikesandhornet (749m) from Norddalen, Jan 28 2012


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My route, as seen in Google Earth

My route, as seen in Google Earth
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While Anne was on her way to Argentina to conquer Aconcagua, I had slightly lower ambitions - heading for Syvden and Vikesandfjellet. For various reasons, I had to find a mountain (preferably a new one) fairly close to home - and Vikesandfjellet was the perfect candidate.

I'm not sure why I threw my skis into the car in the very last minute, because I had absolutely no faith in that I would be skiing today. It was more spring than winter outside. But as I hadn't been to Syvden lately, I figured it would make sense to bring the skis along. Just in case...

My trailhead for the day would be the same that Anne and me went to in Februrary 2010, when we had an unforgettable ski-trip to Høgenipa. And to my huge surprise, the forest road from Landsverk in Norddalen had snow! Today would be a skiing day, and by 11:20am, I was on my way upwards. It was certainly not powder snow after tractor traffic, and the descent would get rugged. But I was NOT complaining!

 

On the way to Vikesandfjellet - on skis!

On the way to Vikesandfjellet - on skis!
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I met 3 skiers at the trailhead who said they were heading for Høgenipa. Knowing how icy the snow was up in the mountains, I had my doubts that they would make it up the final hill. Vikesandfjellet is much less steep, and should not be a problem whatsoever. Time would show.

Above the forest, I noticed two more skiers - and my guess was that they were heading for the cabin by Lake  Tryggesteinsvatnet. Or - they could be heading for Høgenipa via Trollholegga. It was hard to tell. I was also considering Høgenipa after Vikesandfjellet, but the snow was so icy that I wouldn't find it safe to try to summit without crampons or an ice-axe. Nope - I would settle for Vikesandfjellet and be content. At 12:42pm, I reached the top.

 

Arriving on Vikesandfjellet

Arriving on Vikesandfjellet
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It was indeed a short day in the mountains, so I decided to hike a local mountain after returning to Gurskøya. But right now, I had a new peak in the bag - on skis even, so I was quite satisfied. It was snowing lightly, but it was hard to tell if it would pass or turn into a snowfall. I decided to head back down.

The descent - on ice - was rough and I stopped at the Høgenakken viewpoint to a) count my teeth and b) get a good overview of Norddalen. I'm definitely a Syvden and Vanylven fan, and the snow seemed to pass.

And - I was as seriously missing my girlfriend...

 

Norddalen view from Høgenakken

Norddalen view from Høgenakken
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The trip down the forest road was quite smooth (the snow had not been subjected to the wind in the forest) and I returned to Norddalen (1:14pm) with a big smile on my face (even if the last 100 vertical meters were a bit rough - thanks to a tractor..).

The time was 1:22pm when I joined RV652 in Syvden, and it was 8 minutes until the ferry left from Koparneset. This was completely doable though bending the traffic rules a little bit, but since I'm a law abiding citizen, I chose to take it easy and I arrived at Koparneset 1:33pm - with my law abiding smile on my face, completely happy with waiting 27 minutes until the next ferry departed. But there was never any 2pm ferry. Lunch break! 

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 550D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 

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To Vikesandfjellet

1. Koppefjellet 2. Blæja and Litleblæja 3. Syvdsalpane 4. Vikesandfjellet 5. Norddalen trailhead 6. Up the forest road 7. Up the forest road 8. Up the forest road 9. Up the forest road 10. Above the forest 11. Vikesandfjellet ahead 12. Norddalen 13. Høgenipa 14. Arriving on Vikesandfjellet 15. Høgenipa 16. On Vikesandfjellet

Wide-angle view from Vikesandfjellet

17. Wide-angle view from Vikesandfjellet

Descent

18. Vikehornet 19. Syvden 20. Storebøra and Vorkinna 21. View across Dalsfjorden 22. View towards Høgenipa 23. On Høgenakken 24. Vikesandfjellet 25. Lynghammaren 26. Norddalen 27. Fuglehovudet 28. Blåfelden and Svartetua 29. Storebøra and Vorkinna 30. Syvden 31. Storefjelltinden 32. Høgenipa 33. Blåfelden

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