Eager to get back to the local mountains after a lengthy Greenland trip, I chose to explore a new route towards Austrerinden. Snøgjelet is a couloir that runs from high on Austrerinden down to lake Kurlatjørna. I had already hiked the ridges on both sides, but never been down inside the couloir.
Access is easy. Drive to lake Osavatnet and follow the main road for 500-600m. At the first junction, do not turn left (towards Redningshytten), but locate a path that begins near the junction. The path runs along the stream from lake Kurlatjørna. Cross the stream where you see fit. If too much water prevents crossing, you must cross the bridge near the Osavatnet trailhead. The Snøgjelet couloir is the leftmost couloir (the only real couloir, actually) when you look towards Austrerinden.
From distance, the couloir looked trivial. There was snow in the upper parts, and I grabbed a wooden stick to serve as ice axe if needed. The lower sections of the couloir were class 2 (US) where you only needed hands for balance. The grade soon increased to class 2+, typically where you bypass a small waterfall by a light climbing detour. Be very careful not to fall down. I passed a waterfall coming down to my left and soon I entered class 4 (or higher) terrain. A classification normally describes a pitch in dry and good conditions. A waterfall will never satisfy this intention, at least as long as there is water. It is bound to get slippery, increasing the difficulties.
At the waterfall coming down on my left, I was able to get up above the couloir and bypass the series of troublesome waterfalls in the couloir. A bit higher up, I was able to return to the couloir and continued with class 2+/3 scrambling until I reached a snowbridge that was very tempting. As far as I could see, there was a 6-8m fall below the snowbridge, and the snowbridge *almost* reached the rocks in the waterfall. Falling through here would have been very bad. I tried to poke through the snowbridge with the stick, but concluded that I was not equipped for this sort of hiking. I bypassed this waterfall by making a detour up to my right.
Again, a bit higher up, I was able to get back in the couloir and followed a snowfield up to approx. 650m. From there on, I wandered into the fog and rain towards the 808m summit.
I started out from lake Osavatnet 14:00PM and reached the summit 15:30PM. I descended via Redningshytten and was back at the trailhead 16:20PM. I will be returning to this couloir soon, not alone, and with the proper equipment.
note: On the pictures, I have used the word "gully" instead of "couloir". I guess I must have "upgraded" Snøgjelet from the time I finished the pictures to when I wrote the text. I think couloir is the proper name here.
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