Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Skarven on skis, Apr 15 2007

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


Trip report, Apr 15 2007

This was just an OUTSTANDING April day with summer temperatures. The eager Telemark skiers were probably looking for shady hillsides this Sunday morning, while I had other priorities. First of all, I wanted a mountain exceeding 1000m, but nothing more. I would have to carry my dog Troll to the top of the mountain, and there is a limit to how much backpack-time and strong sunlight I wanted to expose him to. Skarven by Innfjorden came up as an interesting candidate. 1100m ascent, directly from the trailhead. A hit-and-run trip, so to speak.

With the roof in the trunk, I had a most enjoyable drive to Innfjorden. For the occasion, my CD player was playing the Guerilla Funk album by Paris. A classic gansta rap disc from 1994, and even if I was on my way to Innfjorden, Norway, I felt like driving in Compton, L.A.

Ascent

The GPS brought me to the trailhead, and I got some good info about forest road forks by the owner of the uppermost house. He had a St. Bernhard dog which was just too cute. My Troll - in the backpack - and I were on the way up the mountain 10:00AM. I had to carry the skis up to 250m elevation, before I could put them on. The snow was melting rapidly, but fortunately for me, snow scooters had made the center field of the road quite hard. I didn't have to put on skins. I had chosen my vax-free Fisher Outtabounds for the occasion, and they stuck firm to the soft snow. In the meantime, the St. Bernhard had escaped the house, and scanned the forest while looking for Troll.

One hour later, I had reached the end of the forest road, and didn't quite look forward to the mountain ascent in rotten (big-time) snow. 600 to 700m was pure hell, but then the snow got firmer, and things got easier. My 0,5L of water was simply NOT ENOUGH for this hike, but I was able to dig in to a creek below the snow, and satisfy our thirst. After passing 1000m elevation, Troll WANTED to get out of the backpack, and ascended Skarven in my tracks.

We reached the top of Skarven 12:35PM. It was quite windy on top, so I had put on the wind jacket. I enjoyed the views a great deal. The Romsdalen - Innfjorden peaks are simply awesome. Store Trolltind, Finnan, Kongen, etc. Unfortunately, this kind of heat normally brings along hazy air, but most of the mountains in my field of view were still possible to identify.

Descent

One week earlier, I descended Auskjeret in powder snow up to my knees. Reaching the forest above Hovdesetra, I had rotten snow up to my knees. Contrasts! Back on the forest road, Troll wanted to walk. We were back at the trailhead 13:53PM, both with a fine tan (the dog's ears had turned pink). I am very concerned about the dog going snowblind, but haven't come across any working solution in terms of sunglasses.

The drive back home was also enjoyable. At this time of day, most people had the wisdom to be -somewhere- other than on the road. I hardly saw any cars on my way back to Ålesund. Later in the day, we visited Sukkertoppen, giving the dog some snow-free exercise and me a total of 1450 vertical meters for the day.

Pictures from the Apr 15 2007 trip

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To Skarven

1. Sunrise, Ålesund (99KB) 2. Skarven trailhead (360KB) 3. Passing the uppermost house (324KB) 4. Varying skiing conditions (319KB) 5. On proper snow (267KB) 6. Skarven in view (226KB) 7. Skjervan in view (211KB) 8. Skjervan, zoomed in (218KB) 9. Setsetra (274KB) 10. Troll, ascending Skarven on his own (195KB) 11. Arriving Skarven summit (134KB)

Wide-angle view from Skarven

12. Wide-angle view from Skarven (840KB)

50mm views from Skarven, 3 parts, some overlap

13. 50mm view from Skarven, part 1/3 (1198KB) 14. 50mm view from Skarven, part 2/3 (932KB) 15. 50mm view from Skarven, part 3/3 (944KB)

Zoom panoramas from Skarven

16. Tarløysa - Vengetind region, seen from Skarven (1695KB) 17. Romsdalen & Innfjorden peaks, seen from Skarven (627KB) 18. Litlevasstinden - Trolltinden region, seen from Skarven (1292KB) 19. Jendemsfjellet - Reinsfjellet region, seen from Skarven (1756KB) 20. Four fine skiing tops, seen from Skarven (495KB)

Other pics from Skarven

21. Kvitfjellet/Oksen seen from Skarven (220KB) 22. Svartevasstinden - Prosten - Trolltinden seen from Skarven (214KB) 23. Øspetinden seen from Skarven (141KB) 24. Skjervan seen from Skarven (243KB) 25. Store Trolltind seen from Skarven (296KB) 26. Kongen seen from Skarven (203KB) 27. Åndalsnes seen from Skarven (177KB) 28. The place Innfjorden (439KB) 29. Innfjorden landscape (357KB) 30. Airplane above Kyrkjetaket (172KB)

Views from Innfjorden

31. Skarven seen from Innfjorden (198KB) 32. My tracks, zoomed in from Innfjorden

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