Norwegian Mountains, Sogn og Fjordane
Utvikfjellet
Utvikfjellet - Sandane on skis, Feb 19 2011
To the main Snøfjellet/Dunheia/Svinestranda page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
The route from Utvikfjellet
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This weekend, Anne Rudsengen and me decided to check into Gloppen Hotell in Sandane and do some good in the Gloppen mountains. It was Anne's idea to ski from Utvikfjellet to Sandane, and through this trip report I want to tell her (again) what a brilliant idea it was.
To me, Utvikfjellet had been nothing more than a mountain pass where you stood a good chance of running into a snow storm just after changing to summer tires. We poked our friends Lise & Ove @ Lotsberg, letting them know that we were in the neighborhood. They pinged back and informed us that their plan for Saturday was Skjorta (1472m) above Breimsvatnet.
I met up with Anne in Sandane on Friday afternoon and we checked into the hotel. On Saturday morning, we left one car at the hotel and drove the other up to Utvikfjellet. It was a gorgeous day, and I was as merry as I can possibly get. Anne had talked me into trading my Telemark skis for something lighter, so with a touch of blue extra, I was ready for a ski-trip across Utvikfjellet on my Madshus Glittertind pair. The prepared tracks seemed to run all the way to Snøfjellet, which was (of course) a most excellent start...
On our way
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Our first stop was Fløtravarden (869m) - a hump 2,2km southeast of Snøfjellet. It took us 50 minutes to get there. After a short stay, we moved on, still a bit confused about the mountains ahead of us. What was Dunheia and what was Snøfjellet?.
Snøfjellet summit appeared all of a sudden in front of us. We mistook Dunheia for being Snøfjellet, and this was naturally a big bonus. The time was 11:55am, we had skied 6,1km in 1h:37m (not very fast, I know) and bagged our first peak for the day.
On the way to Snøfjellet
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Dunheia stood tall to the west, and Anne uttered that it looked like an incredible big mountain. I agreed, and found the name (Dune hill) quite on the money. 99% white, with only a few spots of shadows.
The descent from Snøfjellet was semi-fun. The snow conditions were not the best, and my thin skies didn't handle the crust very well. But I managed. On the way up Dunheia, we saw the tracks of the Utvikfjellet reindeer herd, and we were on the alert. If we could get a glimpse of the herd, that would surely be a big bonus!
To the south, Skjorta rose tall and mighty. This is one of the most amazing peaks in this area, and I felt a certain "envy" - knowing Lise and Ove were on their way up this mountain. I will certainly stand on top of this mountain one day, hopefully already this spring. Knowing that, I was able to shake it off, and returnto fully enjoying the trip that was in the making...
Skjorta
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We arrived on top of Dunheia 1:30pm - a little more than 3 hours after heading out from Utvikfjellet, and now we had Svinestranda - our 3rd top for the day - in view. At this point, I felt like I could go on skiing forever, bagging peak after peak. The plan was to descend to Sandane after Svinestranda, but in the back of my mind, I was contemplating Haugsvarden (862m) - 5,3km west of Svinestranda. Time would show...
We moved on, and descended towards the Eggene ridge. And suddenly, we noticed the herd of reindeer below point 1128m, and adrenaline was rising...
In order to get to Svinestranda, we would have to pass the herd - fairly close. We didn't want to disturb them, so we approached them very carefully - paying close attention to their reaction. When they noticed us, it seemed that they were about to take off, but then they settled down. As we approached them, half of the herd kept watching us, while the rest didn't pay any attention at all. They have a reputation of being tame (although classified as wild), and they certainly lived up to their reputation...
The reindeer herd on Utvikfjellet
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This was simply the big bonus of the day. We left the reindeer without causing any stress and sat course for Svinestranda. Although being almost 2km away, we could see people next to the cairn. They seemed to be standing up, watching us. This puzzled me. Perhaps the locals were not accustomed to skiers coming this way?
On the way down to Svinestrandvatnet, Anne and me went in different directions. Anne found the easiest route, but chose to stop to put on skins. I kept moving on, with minimum wax under my skis. As such, I reached Svinestranda summit first, and I could see 4 skiers waving at me.
"Keep on waving", I thought to myself, assuming they mistook me for a local. I waved back, polite as I am. But it didn't take long before I realized that it was Lise, Ove and 2 others. What a surprise! It turned out that they had changed their plans and skied Haugsvarden and Svinestranda instead. They knew that we were skiing from Utvikfjellet, and had noticed us as we came across Dunheia. And shortly after, Anne appeared...
Gathering on Svinestranda
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It was a good thing that we met them, as we didn't have any clue about where to go from Svinestranda (except for down). We didn't have a map, and would have to find our way to Kleivane by using the GPS. Now we could just tag along...
The tentative plan about Haugsvarden got effectively cancelled. It would be late enough by the time we had picked up the car on Utvikfjellet. The mountain is not going anywhere...
On the way to Kleivane
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We arrived at Kleivane 3:52pm - 5,5 hours after heading out from Utvikfjellet. We parted with Lise, Ove, Hege and Torleiv and continued skiing towards Sandane. I had set my mind on skiing all the way down to E39 and we succeeded. Then we called a taxi, returned to the hotel and went back to Utvikfjellet to pick up the car. The next day, we met up with Lise, Ove and Torleiv on Utvikfjellet to ski Skavegga and Nuken. Trip report to follow soon...
To Sandane...
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