Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

"Absolute Lesten", Apr 29 2006

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Trip report, Apr 29 2006

This was a very intersting way of getting to know Lesten - Storehornet's lower neighbour to the west. I visited the top twice, and hiked 4 different routes. 2 of these routes were off-trail and quite .. bumpy. I will revert with more accurate information later on. I did not bring my GPS and have not been able to reconstruct the route 100% on the map.

The first picture below is taken from Nerlandsøya the day before and shows roughly two of the bumpy routes. Also see this page for more pictures of the routes described below.

12:45AM, I parked at Gjuv, headed along the southwest shore and scrambled a large boulderfield known as Storura or Kallefonna. On top, I hit the regular path from Gjuv to Lesten and followed it to the top, which I reached 13:40PM. My ambition had been to descend into Kjerringgjølet, a distinct gully going all the way down to the beach. This gully turned out to be a very scary thing, and no one should go down there unless safely attached to a rope.

I moved on a little further and noticed a broad ridge going west. I knew that no ridges could be followed all the way down, but then I noticed something that had to be a track made by humans or sheep. I decided to explore further.

I had to traverse a steep hillside before I got onto this ridge. I looked over on the other side and directly down into a gully, seemingly going all the way down. I believe this gully is the one called "Moldagjølet" on the Økonimisk Kartverk map. It was a bit too steep and slippery to descend directly into this gully, so I followed the ridge westbound. From time to time, I stumbled onto the tracks and I was convinced that this path led somewhere. When the ridge ended in a sudden drop, I turn right (north) and scrambled down among birch above the gully I mentioned above.

I found the (only) spot where one can get into the gully, and this was the scary part of the route. The angle down to the gully wasn't directly steep, but it was just long and cumbersome enough to call for focus. A fall into the gully would have resulted in a major "ouch". At best. Moreover, the gully was steep enough to let you tumble further down. There was no way I could climb backwards. The grass and moss only stuck loosely to the rock. So I had to downclimb face out, using friction as the tool. At one point I couldn't get up or down, and had to calm myself for a minute or two. I was able to slide the ice-axe far enough below the grass, which provided me the necessary support to continue the descent. Once into the gully, things were easy for a little while, until I was forced over to another ridge, north of the gully. I followed this ridge until I reached a large boulderfield above the beach.

I continued around the coastline, towards Alnes. There is a routed marked in red paint from Gjuv and almost to Alnes (the entire route is obvious). I passed a sign which read (in Norwegian);

Dette er kannet som visar grensa mellom Dyb og Alnes. Det blei nedset den 1 Juli i 1767. Bytet går som ei rett linje frå sjøen, og opp til fjelltoppen. For å merke av grensa ripa dei inn krissar opp over fjellet. (Eit kann er en bytestein som visar grensa mellom to gardar, ikkje to bruk).

My plan was to hike up the normal route from Alnes, but when I noticed that I could ascend the plateau before reaching Alnes, I chose to do so. My ascent route was called Søre Dalen on the Norgesglasset map. Near the top, I had the choice between a very steep section of grass and turf to my left and juniper bush jungle to my right. I ended up climbing the steep section (near vertical) and had to rely fully on the ice-axe to avoid a potential nasty fall.

I followed the cliffs on my way back to Lesten and studied a couple of potential ascent routes. None looked very promising. I was back at Lesten 16:00PM and headed down the normal route towards Gjuv. I was back at the trailhead 16:25PM.

Pictures from the hike

My routes seen from Nerlandsøya - the day before

1. Godøya seen from Nerlandsøya (142KB)

Up Kallefonna/Storura

2. Scrambling terrain near Kallefonna (294KB) 2. Heading up the boulder (378KB) 3. View down the boulder (406KB) 4. High in Kallefonna (377KB) 5. Almost on top (290KB) 6. On top of Kallefonna (269KB)

To Lesten and Kjerringgjølet

7. Storhornet (216KB) 8. Arriving Lesten high point (181KB) 9. View down Kjerringgjølet (399KB) 10. View down Kjerringgjølet (351KB)

Down Moldagjølet

11. The start of my descent (402KB) 12. Moldagjølet (390KB) 13. View back up (339KB) 14. Heading into the gully (459KB) 15. In the gully (313KB) 16. View up the gully (410KB) 17. View up the gully (309KB) 18. View up the gully (301KB) 19. The final boulder section (389KB) 20. View back up the mountain (211KB)

Towards Alnes

21. Another potential route (242KB) 22. Along the coastline (245KB) 23. Along the coastline (324KB) 24. Shelter (270KB) 25. Another potential route (205KB)

Back on the plateau

26. My route up Søre Dalen (392KB) 27. Alnes (227KB)

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