Norwegian Mountains, Møre og RomsdalVeten/Hidsegga via Flådalen, Mar 19 2009To the main Veten/Hidsegga page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
The story behind this hike is this; I drove past Hidsneset for the first time on March 5 2009. I was very surprised when I looked up the mountain. This was seriously cool and steep terrain! I didn't know that Hidsegga has mountainsides like this! On March 10, I came back, intending to become familiar with it. But I chickened out before I even got started, and hiked Hidsegga on the normal route from Hide. On Mar 19, I returned with the same intention. Again, I chickened out, but this time I only drove 300m before I changed my mind and returned to the scene.
View from Hidsneset
The new deal was just to see how far I could get. "Points of no return" would not be crossed. My only technical aid was an ice-axe, and I decided to play this one safe. I headed out, and followed a small ridge which led me into a couloir. The couloir had better shift direction, or there was no way I would get up. It did, and I was now into what I would like to call a steep and narrow valley. The couloir wasn't intimidating, but the slippery grass was. While it was quite easy to ascend, I dreaded a potential descent. There was just no way I could simply walk back down. A fall would quickly send me to the bottom of the couloir, and I wouldn't have any say in the matter. I've never practiced self-arrest on grass before. Perhaps it works, but I wasn't mentally prepared to learn... I gladly admit that I seriously respected this terrain, but it never ran into any problems. When I topped out on a ridge and got the rest of the route in view, I knew that I was home free. That was a good moment. View down the couloir
I reached the top of Veten/Hidsegga 6:40pm, 1h:02m after leaving the trailhead. The vertical ascent was approx. 550m over a distance of 1,5km. I planned to descend the path I descended on Mar 10; along the west ridge, and then down to the forest road from Hide. But I discovered a new path that took me directly down to the forest road. After a number of short-cuts, I ended up in someone's backyard, with a woman in it. I assume she was taken by surprise when this stranger greeted her with an ice-axe, but it didn't show. I asked her if the couloir I had ascended had a name. "Probably", she said, and forwarded me to another house. I decided to pick up the car first, and was back at the trailhead 7:31pm. It was dark by now, and I drove up to the house the woman had pointed out. I then had a nice chat with a guy who visits Hidsegga 5 times a week. He told me that the couloir I had ascended was called Flådalen, and gave me "extra credit" for having done the route. Having aquired new and important information, I left Hide (the place) and headed towards Huldrehornet for some nice, after-dark scrambling.. Goodnight..
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The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 450D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6
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