Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Attempt on Skagetåa's SW ridge, Apr 24 2008
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The SW ridge
(Click for larger image)
The plan..
was to investigate Skagetåa's southwest ridge. Along for the hike came my colleague Rune Olsen. Based on looking at photographs, we based our plan on being able to just scramble the ridge up to a distinct cliff (the type that Norwegians call a hammer) that surely would require climbing. If we were able to climb the cliff - marvellous. If not, then we could always scramble our way back down. And return with more information than we had on beforehand.
Getting to the ridge
We parked at Skagetåa's regular trail head, walked along the shore for about one kilometer before we had to ascend up to a shoulder. From this shoulder, we traversed a small valley which led us onto a ramp. From this ramp we were able to scramble (using good handholds) onto the SW ridge.
A ridge not quite according to plan
The ridge was steeper than we had expected. The exposure was greater than we had expected. And the cliff (hammer) appeared much more intimidating than we had expected.
The ridge was a mix of slab rock, intersecting rock features and rotten bush. There were few good handholds, at least for descent, and the bush just snapped on contact. This meant that we ought to use a rope. More precisely; the ridge was easy to climb, but harder to descend without a rope. My claim is that only experienced climbers would feel comfortable about descending this ridge without a rope. I've descended similar (or worse) terrain without a rope, but it's always a bit odd upon the first visit.
Now, why all this talk about descent when the idea was to climb? Well, the cliff (hammer) seemed a bit too challenging. Rune hadn't brought his climbing shoes, which seemed like an obvious requirement. And the faith sort of vaporized. It can happen. We had to make a decision. Should we go up to the cliff and get the best view possible or turn back around?
To continue, knowing we had to descend, would mean that we would bleed hardware. We saw very few natural places to anchor a sling, and we could only rappel 25m at a time. When we made the decision to turn back around, we would still have to leave some hardware on the mountain. I did try to scramble down. But it was just too awkward and just too exposed. Very annoying. It was just .. just.
But all in all, it was a nice trip. This area is very scenic, and it was nice to spend time with Rune in a bit steeper terrain than Skafjellet. And it was a lesson learned regarding preparations...
So here I am, wondering what my next move towards this mountain will be...
