Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Storknubben, June 17 2007

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.


Trip report, June 17 2007

My friend Torill and I agreed that it was high time that we took another hike together. I told her that I wanted to visit Litleskorka in Tresfjord, and that was fine by her. During my little planning session the night before, I couldn't make up my mind about the ascent route, and then it struck me that when I later visited Rollsbotnskorka, Litleskorka would be an easy bonus. As Torill had already been to Rollsbotnskorka, I went for plan B.

Plan B was Storknubben, a mountain that had kept me pondering about whether I could bring the dog or not. And since my most excellent neighbour Pål volunteered to look after my dog Troll this Sunday, I figured Storknubben would be the ideal target. Torill had never heard about the mountain, but I think she fully trusts me, when I say that it's going to be an interesting hike.

To Storknubben

We left the Hoem trailhead 10:15AM. I knew this trailhead from my hike to Hoemstinden, but now that it was summer, the path didn't reveal a high traffic pattern. Possibly, the normal route to Hoemssætra runs from Sætre, a bit further north. We kept a steady pace up to Hoemssætra. I had been off-line for almost two weeks, due to a inflammation in my left foot. The screaming pain had gone away, but the foot was aching every step of the way. So was it smart to head for a 1200m mountain so soon? Of course not, but what's that got to do with anything? I was turning mental, and just HAD to get out. OK?

We passed Hoemssætra and had a short break for lunch east of Måsvatnet. Then we took on the steep ridge, and took it step by step up the boulderfield. When we had the upper cliffband ahead of us, it was time to make a decision. Should we just keep on straight ahead, or turn right and stay with the ridge? We chose the ridge, and found a good route up among HUGE ridge rocks. At times, we had to seek for a better route further right, but got quickly back on the ridge. Without any sort of problems, we reached Storknubben summit 13:10PM.

We stayed a good while on top. I took a closer look at the north ridge, descending 50 vertical meters. I had a slight problem getting back up, but managed at last. I *convinced* Torill that it would be in our best interest to have a closer look at the ridge towards Øspetinden. A full traverse was not on the agenda. That would be overkill for my foot, besides, descending from Hoemsskaret pass wasn't something that was high on my priority list. Due to shades, I could not get a clear picture of this descent.

To Kvitknubben

13:45PM, we moved on along the ridge. Down by Kvitknubben, we spent at least 20 minutes trying to figure out how to pass it on the east side. I had a short rope, a carabiner and a sling - not much to rely on, and finally I decided that IF anyone passes on the east side, it's during the winter.

Then we headed down to the right and found a route that led us in the direction of Svartknubben. The terrain was in general steep, and the gravel was loose. We ran into a point where crossing a gully was something we simply didn't feel like doing, and decided to head back up the ridge to see if there was a possible route. There was, but not free of risk. We decided that this would be the end of the exploration tour.

We headed up to Kvitknubben from the back side, on slabs with a less trustworthy surface, but reached the top without any major difficulties. I measured the elevation for a short period of time. It read 1182m, with an error margin of 2 meters. On Økonomisk Kartverk, Storknubben was marked as point 1178m, and it was impossible to conclude which of the two tops was the higher one. We descended Kvitknubben directly westbound, and reached the point we had passed on our way towards Storknubben.

We passed Storknubben 15:05PM and descended our ascent route. We were back at the trailhead 17:15, which meant it had taken us longer to descend the mountain, than going up. Strange, considering that we also had a break for lunch. A 7 hour content-rich hike had come to its end. It was a tremendously hot day, and the car was boiling inside. What a luxury it is to pull down the roof of the car and drive back home to nice music while the wind blows through your hair. When I dropped Torill off in Skodje, she said it had been a good hike, with emphasis on good. I strongly agreed.

Pictures from the June 17 2007 trip

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Pictures are grained because of a too-high ISO setting on my camera

To the west ridge

0. Our GPS tracks (274KB) 1. Our trailhead at Hoem (294KB) 2. Hoemssætra ahead (263KB) 3. At Hoemssætra (415KB) 4. Storknubben (210KB) 5. Storknubben - Øspetinden ridge (260KB)

Up the west ridge

6. The west ridge (384KB) 7. Up the west ridge (286KB) 8. Up the west ridge (399KB) 9. Shifting course, slightly (278KB) 10. Light scrambling along the ridge (477KB) 11. Torill creeping through a hole (360KB) 12. Torill on Storknubben (314KB)

Wide-angle view from Storknubben

13. Wide-angle view from Storknubben (1390KB)

Various zoom panoramas from Storknubben

14. Zoom view from Storknubben (1385KB) 15. Zoom view from Storknubben (944KB) 16. Zoom view from Storknubben (1726KB) 17. Zoom view from Storknubben (1026KB) 18. Zoom view from Storknubben (680KB) 19. Zoom view from Storknubben (764KB) 20. Zoom view from Storknubben (638KB)

Other pics from Storknubben

21. Arnt - checking out the terrain (274KB) 22. Svartevasstinden - a vertical view (1213KB) 23. Molde seen from Storknubben (910KB) 24. View north (525KB) 25. The northern flank (346KB) 26. The east side of the Storknubben - Øspetinden ridge (559KB)

To Svartknubben

27. Heading towards Svartknubben (498KB) 28. Below Kvitknubben (232KB) 29. Towards Svartknubben (305KB) 30. Torill in steep terrain (309KB) 31. Intersecting gullies (402KB) 32. Torill - still in steep terrain (363KB) 33. No crossing here (366KB) 34. Back up to the ridge (377KB) 35. Turnaround point (295KB)

To Kvitknubben

36. Up to Kvitknubben (411KB) 37. Up to Kvitknubben (448KB) 38. View from Kvitknubben (740KB) 39. View from Kvitknubben (670KB)

Descent

40. Kvitknubben entry point - the quickest way (348KB) 41. Torill - bypassing the hole this time (394KB) 42. At this point, Troll was on Giskemonibba (414KB) 43. Descending the west ridge (289KB) 44. A small snow slide at the end (294KB)

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