Norwegian Mountains, Sogn og Fjordane

Kattanakken, Aug 8 2010


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Kattanakken seen from Oldedalen

Kattanakken seen from Oldedalen
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Anne Rudsengen and me were enjoying ourselves in the Nordfjord region this weekend. The day before, we hiked Storskredfjellet (1814m) from Åning by Strynevatnet. After this fantastic hike, we drove to Melkevoll Bretun in Oldedalen, where we had rented a cabin for the rest of the weekend.

I had of course heard that Oldedalen was a beautiful valley, and I also recognized the fact that 100,000 tourists visit Briksdalsbreen every year. But I always figured that I had seen my share of pretty valleys and nice glaciers, and didn't think I had missed much. But now that Anne took the initiative for a visit, I was more than happy to come along.

By the time we got to Melkevoll Bretun, I was already completely blown away. The valley, the peaks, the lake, the waterfalls and the glaciers above. Godalmighty! I was now bonded with the place for life...  

On Saturday evening, we took a walk around the camp site, and I was overwhelmed by all the details and effort that had been put into this place. All those pockets for tents and cars - naturally sheltered, walkways, bridges and not to forget the many huge rocks - ideal for bouldering. 

 

Our base-camp in Oldedalen

Our base-camp in Oldedalen
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Sunday morning, we were ready for Kattanakken. Bordering to childish, I looked so much forward to walk on Jostedalsbreen again. We didn't plan a long walk. Kattanakken was the main goal and a walk on the glacier would be a big bonus. The weather was outstanding, and we headed out 10:10am, just after breakfast.

This was my first walk in Briksdalen - ever! The valley was of course packed with tourists, but once we got on the path to Kattanakken, we had the area all to ourselves. Well, almost. We met a couple of French hikers who had turned around because of a flooded path along the river. We said they could follow us, on a small detour into the forest.

At 10:55am, we came to the point where the path took direction towards Kattanakken instead of the Briksdalsbreen glacier. We had 1100 vertical meters ahead of us, which isn't a big concern on any normal day. But today was a warm day, and the hike to Storskredfjellet (1600 vertical meters) still hadn't quite left our legs. While waiting for the big views towards the surrounding glaciers and mountains, I found great pleasure in diving into the macro world...

 

Busy bee

Busy bee
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At 960 meters, the plod up the forest was over, and now we were on the ridge proper. This place on the ridge is locally referred to as Sauskårholten, and offers mighty fine views towards Oldedalen and Briksdalen. We stopped for lunch, watching the French couple disappear higher up on the ridge. They were practically carrying nothing, while we were prepared for almost anything (ropes and climbing gear excluded...)

After a 10-minute break, we moved on. The ridge was definitely steep, and invited to light scrambling as well as a certain tolerance for heights. I made a mental note about stating in my trip report that this was not a route for the average tourist. Hereby done. After a while, we met the French couple, enjoying the views. They said they had been to the top, but .. no way! That said, the definition of the Kattanakken top may vary. Read on.

 

Exposure on the Kattanakken ridge

Exposure on the Kattanakken ridge
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The ridge was fun from the beginning to the end. After the initial steep section, the summit ridge appeared as a pyramid-shaped peak in the distance. The cool shape came as a big surprise to us (we had expected a far more dull ridge), and were on the border of a slight euphoria by now...

We passed a fine viewpoint at 1380 meters and found a visitor's register in a box nearby (we didn't actually discover it until we descended). The paper sheet said "Toppen av Kattanakken", although the high point was still 450 meters to the southeast. Those 450 meters would certainly not buy us any finer views, but now that we're in the trade of visiting summits, Kattanakken was still not yet ours to claim. And below the visitor's register, was the "crux" (the hardest point) of the route (YDS class 3). It wasn't difficult by any means or standards, but we still decided to pass this point without our backpacks on.

On the Kattanakken ridge

On the Kattanakken ridge
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After a fun walk across the summit ridge, we reached Kattanakken summit (approx. 1450 meters) 1:45pm - close to 3,5 hrs after leaving the trailhead. And there it was - right there in front of us; Jostedalsbreen - Norway's white roof. My Jostedalsbreen track record is short, but at least I've crossed it - and been to the most significant tops along the main glacier. But all year around, I feel a strong attraction to it. And Anne's job is (a.o.) to look after this glacier (park ranger stuff). She actually gets paid for it. Come on! How lucky can you get? Surely this glacier is big enough for the both of us? She gets the southern half, and ...

[SNAP]

After a short stay at the summit, we were eager to take a walk on the glacier and moved on. There was no need for a rope, as long as the rules were followed. The 3 most important rules are; 1) don't eat yellow snow, 2) don't step on white snow and ... (drumroll) ... 3) don't fall. And to really top our day, the sun decided to chase the clouds away...

 

 

YEAH!

YEAH!
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After a jolly good walkabout on the glacier, we returned to Kattanakken and began our descent. The hike down was altogether a different experience in the sunshine. My camera was almost cooking from taking over 400 pictures throughout the hike. The idea about the amount of pictures is that a rich person reads this report, falls completely in love with the area, buys all my pictures at an outstanding price, allowing me to get by on government wages, while I do park ranger stuff the northern half of the Jostedalsbreen glacier... 

 

Oldedalen

Oldedalen
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Hikes such as this one shouldn't really come to an end, but at some point - you start thinking about dinner. And a beer. As such, the motivation to return to civilization grew, and we kept a steady pace down the mountain. Briksdalen was still packed by tourists by the time we returned, and at least - now I understand why.

 

Briksdalsbreen

Briksdalsbreen
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We returned to Melkevoll Bretun 5:30pm - 7h:20m after leaving. After a quick shower, we headed up to Briksdalen Fjellstove for a nice meal. The main course was tasty, but it didn't satisfy my hunger. I considered a round of sour creme porrage, but ended up with a chocolate ice-cream dessert instead. And the beer was nice of course, and there was more of it down by the cabin.

A bit later in the evening, Inge Melkvoll (the managing director of Melkevoll Bretun) paid us a visit in our cabin. This was a very interesting visit, and I learned more about Oldedalen in one hour than I've done in all my life. I made well sure to congratulate him with an outstanding camp site, and I wish him and his family the best of success in the years to come.

At 3:30am, Monday morning, I returned to Sunnmøre. It could have been the euphoria (I don't know), but I didn't get much sleep that night. The quiet Hornindalsvatnet with reflections everywhere only added flavour to the already magnificent weekend. I took the mountain road from Hornindalsvatnet to Austefjord, and made sure to take it nice and easy when I passed the farmlands. And sure enough, a flock of deer was standing on the middle of the road. They spook easily, but the sheep at Grøndalen is a different sort. At one point, I had to get out of the car to remove a small family from the middle of the road. I got home at 6am, hit the bed 6:01am and fell immediately to sleep. And when the alarm went off at 7am - Godalmighty...

A middle-of-the-night encounter

A middle-of-the-night encounter
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Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 550D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 
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From Loen to Oldedalen (and Melkevoll Bretun), Aug 7 2010

1. Leaving Loen 2. Cruise ship in Olden 3. Cruise ship in Olden 4. Cruise ship in Olden 5. Neslenibba in Oldedalen 6. Kattanakken 7. Kattanakken 8. Volefossen 9. Our base-camp at Melkevoll 10. The Melkevoll camp site 11. Melkevoll info 12. Melkevoll camp site and Kattanakken 13. The stone age cave 14. The stone age cave 15. Tårnsteinen - one of may cool rocks 16. Oh yeah! 17. Big country

Into Briksdalen, Aug 8 2010

0. Trip tracks 1. Melkevoll Bretun 2. Volefossen 3. Into Briksdalen 4. Volefossen 5. On the Briksdalen path 6. Hanekammen 7. Time to cross the river 8. Signpost 9. A flooded path 10. Along the river

To the Kattanakken ridge, Aug 8 2010

11. Crossing a slab section 12. The route to Kattanakken 13. Hmmm (Tjøtabreen) 14. Turt - Cicerbita alpina - Alpine Blue-sow-thistle 15. Setergråurt - Omalotheca norvegica - Highland Cudweed 16. Hvitsoleie - Ranunculus plantanifolius - Large white buttercup 17. Busy bumble bee, part I 18. Busy bumble bee, part II 19. Fly family, part I 20. Fly family, part II 21. Skogstorkenebb - Geranium silvaticum - Wood Cranes-bill 22. Geitrams - Epilobium augustifolium - Rosebay Willowherb 23. Just resting... 24. Øyentrøst - Euphrasia officinalis - Eyebright 25. Briksdalen and Briksdalsbreen 26. Towards Sauskårholten 27. View from Sauskårholten 28. Melkevoll Bretun 29. Larsnibba 30. Volefossen 31. Olden spring water factory

Up Kattanakken, Aug 8 2010

32. Up Kattanakken 33. Harerug - Bistorta vivipara - Alpine bistort 34. Blåfjellet and waterfalls 35. Airy 36. The ridge gets steeper 37. Easy scrambling 38. Anne - happy above the average 39. Briksdalsbreen 40. Passing the French couple 41. More scrambling 42. The summit ridge appears 43. Melkevollbreen glacier detail 44. Melkevollbreen glacier detail 45. Melkevollbreen 46. On the Katanakken ridge 47. Still some airy sections 48. Melkevollbreen detail 49. Melkevollbreen detail 50. The crux of the route 51. Home, sweet home 52. Tjøtabreen detail 53. More fun terrain 54. Approaching the summit 55. On Kattanakken! Yeah!

Kattanakken panoramas, Aug 8 2010

56. Wide-angle view from Kattanakken 57. 50mm view from Kattanakken

On the Jostedalsbreen glacier, Aug 8 2010

58. Tjøtabreen 59. Ceciliekruna and Neslenibba 60. Tjøtabreen 61. To the glacier 62. Helicopter 63. Cramps on! 64. A very suspect bridge 65. On the glacier! Yeah! 66. Rugged! 67. A b/w moment 68. Heading upwards 69. Melkevollbreen 70. Looking back on Kattanakken 71. A jolly good walk 72. Detailed terrain 73. Oh yeah! 74. Glacier walkabout 75. Brokeoff mountain 76. Trying to find our way home 77. Hanekammen 78. Glacier detail 79. Glacier detail

Descent, Kattanakken, Aug 8 2010

80. The unofficial high point 81. The Kattanakken ridge 82. Glacier girl 83. On the fake high point 84. At the crux 85. Down the crux 86. Down the crux 87. Oldevatnet 88. Still scrambling 89. Nice profile 90. A lot to choose from 91. Down the ridge 92. Oldedalen 93. Hello! 94. Snønipa 95. Oldedalen view 96. Looking back on the ridge 97. The steep section 98. Anne scrambling down 99. Descending Kattanakken 100. Turtle doves 101. Briksdalsbreen 102. The lake below Briksdalsbreen

Descent, Briksdalen, Aug 8 2010

103. Tjøtafossen 104. Tjøtafossen 105. Briksdalsbreen 106. The Briksdalen river 107. The troll gets it 108. Modern horses 109. The Briksdalen river 110. The Briksdalen river 111. The Briksdalen river 112. Anne and the Briksdalen river 113. Me and the Briksdalen river 114. Middagsnibba 115. Back at the base-camp 116. A cabin friend

Heading home in the middle of the night, Aug 9 2010

117. A flock of deer 118. Tired sheep

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