Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Gongrøra and Snøtinden on skis, Feb 18 2007

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

After a nice trip with Petter to Talstadhesten the day before, and a pleasant evening in Molde, Snøtinden was on the agenda for this Sunday. At first glance, the weather seemed marginally better than then day before. We decided to ascend Snøtinden from Åndal, foremost because of the shorter distance to the summit. The route to Snøtinden also implied ascent of Gongrøra - a bonus top.

Ascent

We left the Åndal trailhead 10:05AM, and walked 100m past a farm before the skis could come on. We followed the forest road until we reached Kvernelva, and follow the river into the basin. As we headed up the long slope between Hjulnebba and Snøfjellet (not Snøtinden), we had blue sky above, and fog everywhere else. This combination of elements often result in a fantastic light. The snow conditions changed from wet to dry, and snow began to pile up under our skis.

We reached Gongrøra, 12:10PM in fog. We could see Kaka - the small hump on the ridge between Gongrøra and Snøtinden. We skied down south of Kaka and left the skis by a cairn at the foothills of Snøtinden. The little we saw of Snøtinden did not suggest that this would be good skiing terrain, but it was only this short section that made skiing a bit awkward. The remaining route to Snøtinden was steep terrain, but very doable on skis.

On crampons, and ice-axe for support, we arrived Snøtinden summit 13:20PM, and it was no big surprise that visibility was close to zero. Once certainly sensed that it was steep terrain all around, and it would have been fun to see the Stortussen - Snøtinden ridge. Another day, and from Stortussen, I will.

Descent

The descent towards Gongrøra was uneventful. Visibility came and went. The descent from the Hjulnebba - Snøfjellet ridge would have been just OUTSTANDING one week earlier. Despite the wet snow, it was still fun skiing. Because of the "flat light", full speed ahead wasn't tempting, but my new sunglasses (with very red glass), seemed to work better than any yellow/orange glass I've ever tried. Skiing down the forest road was one long plow, foremost because of the hard tractor tracks that made turns impossible, but also because of the great speed we picked up in this downhill.

We were back at the Åndal trailhead 15:00PM and caught the 15:45PM ferry to Vestnes. An interesting week-end in the Molde region had come to its end. I promise to soon come back to this area and present sunny panorama pictures on this web-site.

Petter's trip report can be found here