![]()
Norwegian Mountains, Møre og RomsdalSkårasalen (1542m) on skis, May 17 2013To the main Skårasalen page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
![]()
Few things beat... ... skiing a mighty fine peak on Norway's Constitution day! And so on this gorgeous day, Anne and me chose to visit Skårasalen. Foremost because Anne hadn't been up there before, but also because it's one of the few mountains that gives a good run this late in the season. Weighed against how far we have to carry the skis, of course... We started fairly late in the morning and knew that the snow would be soft, and the big question was how Karma (8 months) would do. This would be her first high mountain ascent, and we hoped that the tracks would carry her weight. The first part of the ascent looked promising and we hoped it would stay that way.
![]()
We headed out ... from the parking in Kvistaddalen at 10:22am. We carried the skis for 0,7km and at 10:38am the skis were on. And with two small exceptions, they stayed on for the rest of the trip. We joined Thomas Strand on our way upwards. The combination of the Svalbard expedition and losing 5kg on the same expedition made it easy to keep a good pace upwards. I got a few comments about my pace from the others and we stopped for a break in the valley east of Blåhornet. After some nuts and chocolate, Anne's engine was firing up again and we continued upwards. And Karma seemed to be doing just fine!
![]() A good day in the mountains!
We skipped the city parade ... ... but were part of the "parade" of skiers aiming for Skårasalen summit. Above us was a group of 5-6 persons - also carrying flags and one of the flags was huge! I had a feeling that we might get to see some kind of celebration on top, and my hunch proved to be correct... I put Karma on leash when I felt that descending skiers were just around the corner, but we didn't meet anyone until we reached the flats before the summit. A group of skiers came skiing down the mountain and Karma decided to go for the kill. My hips will never be the same again...
![]() If it had not been for the leash...
We reached the summit ... ... 12:45pm - 2h:22m after heading out - and could witness that the group that had been ahead of us had planned a very special celebration. Fellow mountain buddy Håvard Myklebust (in the lower left corner on the below picture) was photographer and his picture made the front page of the local newspaper. Good job, Håvard!
Celebration on top of Skårasalen
We had a long and good ... ... stay on top. Especially by my standards. But I enjoyed serving Anne sandwiches, something warm to drink, nuts, chocolate and apricots. The Svalbard expedition changed me in a few ways. Now I think it's dumb to not bring anything to eat. And Karma got a luxury meal of course. She did a great job by ascending more than 1000 vertical meters on snow.
For the family album...
I haven't been to Skårasalen ... ... many times, but every time seems to be memorable in some way or another. The first trip ended up with a very special picture and the previous trip was as a guide for the police academy. I do hope that my next visit to this mountain will be on skis and includes a descent to Skår. That would have been quite something... But today, our descent followed our ascent route and even if the snow was soft and a bit rotten, we enjoyed that most excellent sensation of sailing down a mountain in spring. Thomas passed us, rocket speed. I'm always fascinated by Telemark daredevils...
Descending Skårasalen
We returned to the trailhead 2:14pm, strongly uplifted by the trip, the weather, the skiing, the tan and hundred other things that I just couldn't remember there and then. Still, the most memorable of all things was probably that soft ice that Anne bought me in Ørsta. I had no idea that I liked soft ice that much. I've probably just had one for the last 10 years, and that was the one. Many thanks to Anne for a wonderful day in the Sunnmøre mountains! And to Karma of course - for being such a wonderful buddy!
Me and Karma
|
The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 60D + Canon EF-S 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IS
Javascript
slideshow (Full size images)
|
Flash
slideshow (Images scaled down. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
To Skårasalen
On Skårasalen
Skårasalen panoramas
More pics from Skårasalen summit
Descent
No Javascript:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
|