Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Blåhorna

Fremste (1478m) & Heimste (1354m) Blåhornet on skis from Strandadalen, Apr 4 2010


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The route up Fjørstaddalen

The route up Fjørstaddalen
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I had a standing invitation from Svein Myhre to join him on a trip to Blåhorna - two mountains tops fairly close to Ålesund, which I - for some unknown reason - never managed to visit during my 3 years in that city. But on this early weekend in April, I wanted to make the trip. Anne Rudsengen was on a visit from Sogndal, and as the weather was beautiful she wanted to go skiing in the Sunnmøre alps. I called Svein, and although he had been up there 12 days earlier, he decided to join in. Also on the team was Erling Juul. We would pick up Erling on our way to the Ørsneset - Sykkylven ferry. Anne and I had to leave Gurskøy quite early in the morning to reach the 8:20 ferry from Ørsneset, but the upside was that we got a magnificent sunrise from Hareid.

 

Sunrise

Sunrise
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We met up with Svein in Stranda, drove to the trailhead at Fram-Fjørstad and were on our way up the mountain 9:37am. After low temperatures during the night, the snow was still frozen. Quite practical upon ascent, but we hoped the sun would burn off the hard crust while we were on the mountain. Scattered clouds could possibly cheat us out of a perfect skiing day. Time would show.

After rising above the forest, we could enjoy the two Blåhorna tops above us. We passed the Heimfjørstadsætra with the mighty Emdalstindane as background. Strandadalen is indeed beautiful, and by the end of the day, I would have all of the more prominent Strandalen tops in the bag

 

Heimfjørstadsætra and Emdalstindane

Heimfjørstadsætra and Emdalstindane
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As we crossed Tverrelva river (on snow) we crossed an avalanche from Fremste Blåhornet. Spring avalanches are quite normal, but the length of it was quite unusual. That said, the preceding warm weather period had also been quite unusual.

The trip up Fremste Blåhornet's northwest slopes was a long plod, but the summit came closer and closer by the minute. Based on the (astounding) number of S's and figures of eight, it was evident that quite a number of skiers had been up here lately. It would not be the day for signatures...

 

Not exactly virgin snow

Not exactly virgin snow
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12:17pm - 2h:40m after leaving the trailhead, we stood on top of Fremste Blåhornet. Holy cow - what a view! I should have been quite used to views like this by now, but it blows me away every time. There was an odd installation on the summit, but we couldn't quite figure out what it was. Already before heading out, we had agreed to visit Heimste Blåhornet too, but first - a well-deserved break.

 

On Fremste Blåhornet

On Fremste Blåhornet
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Because of the clouds (hence the absence of sunshine), we had a somewhat bumpy ride down Fremste Blåhornet's northwest ridge. But it was still great fun. On the way up to Heimste Blåhornet, we could see a small dot - moving in the direction of Fremste Blåhornet. That was Arngeir - a colleague of mine. We wanted to meet up with him, of course, but he'd better hurry up as we were almost on the summit.

We reached Heimste Blåhornet 1:16pm, and enjoyed complementary views - especially towards Stranda. We hung around for a while - just enjoying the day, the company and the view.

 

Anne of Heimste Blåhornet

Anne of Heimste Blåhornet
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Arngeir was making progress, and we met up with him in the saddle between the two tops. We talked for a little while before he moved on to Heimste Blåhornet and we got ready for the descent. The snow was still hard, but that was OK. We had 850 vertical meters left of fun skiing, and hoped for softer snow in the forest. 

 

Anne descending from Blåhorna

Anne descending from Blåhorna
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The snow down in the forest was indeed softer, and to me - this was the best part of the descent. I simply love birch forest slalom, especially on hard snow with a tiny soft crust. We were back at the trailhead 2:23pm - 4h:45m after heading out. Yet another great day in the Norwegian mountains!

  

Strandadalen is coming closer - fast!

Strandadalen is coming closer - fast!
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  • Svein's trip report can be found here
  • Arngeir's trip report can be found here
  • Erling posted an Easter report here

It's the age of the internet...

Pictures

The first set of pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 450D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6.

 
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Early morning

1. Morning red 2. The sky is on fire 3. Fireball 4. Sea gull 5. Sunrise 6. Sunrise

To Fremste Blåhornet

0. Trip tracks 7. The Fram-Fjørstad trailhead 8. Emdalstindane 9. Heading out 10. Up the forest 11. Leaving civilization behind 12. Yup - on the right track! 13. Ridge along Tverrelva 14. Emdalen village 15. Heimfjørstadsætra and Emdalstindane 16. Erling 17. Løfonnfjellet & Heimste Blåhornet 18. Erling & Svein 19. Anne & Fremste Blåhornet 20. Overvollshornet 21. Erling 22. Svein, taking pictures 23. The slope gets steeper 24. Someone has been here before us... 25. Anne - very pleased 26. Svein arrives on Fremste Blåhornet 27. Anne arrives on Fremste Blåhornet 28. Erling joins in too 29. Hoorray!! 30. Anne and me 31. The group, on Fremste Blåhornet

Wide-angle view from Fremste Blåhornet

32. Wide-angle view from Fremste Blåhornet

Zoom views from Fremste Blåhornet

33. Zoom view from Fremste Blåhornet 34. Zoom view from Fremste Blåhornet 35. Zoom view from Fremste Blåhornet

Other pics from Fremste Blåhornet

36. Synnylvsfjorden 37. Storbua region 38. Skorene 39. Brekketindane - and neighbours 40. Jakta 41. Flosteinnibba and Overvollshornet 42. Geitfjellet 43. Urfjellet 44. Skruven 45. Smørskredtindane

To Heimste Blåhornet

46. Getting ready to leave 47. Heimste Blåhornet 48. Studying the terrain 49. And off we go 50. Skiing with fjord view 51. Action Jackson 52. Svein in a fine flow 53. Erling does not mind this one bit... 54. Not superb snow, but still fun 55. Approaching the saddle 56. Anne follows 57. Svein rushes by 58. Almost down in the saddle 59. On the way up Heimste Blåhornet 60. Looking back on Fremste Blåhornet 61. Arngeir - a small dot 62. Anne arriving on Heimste Blåhornet 63. Anne and Svein 64. Anne and me 65. Anne on Heimste Blåhornet 66. Svein

Pictures from Heimste Blåhornet

67. Stranda 68. Roaldshornet 69. Liavarden 70. Peaks across Synnylvsfjorden 71. Anne celebrates 72. Storhornet - 1309m 73. Emdalstindane

Descent

74. Back in the saddle 75. Meeting up with Arngeir 76. Svein takes off 77. Svein - in a good pace 78. And off he goes... 79. Crossing the avalanche 80. Hey! Be care... 81. Anne, with Fremste Blåhornet behind 82. Anne - sailing 83. Vrooom... 84. Anne - and Emdalstindane 85. Look out for the cliff! 86. Back at the trailhead

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