Norwegian Mountains, Nordland

Across Torghatten, Aug 23 2005


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Torghatten

Torghatten
(Click for larger image)

 

It was my second visit to Brønnøysund in August. I had left my dog "Troll" with my mom in early August and then climbed a lot of cool mountains. Now it was time to bring him back. Those 15 hour non-stop trips between Bergen and Brønnøysund are killers. I have never a strong urge to climb a high mountain the following day. I had been "challenged" by Kjell Iver Johansen to visit the top of Torghatten, and I wanted to take him up on the challenge. Kjell Iver has visited most of the significant mountains in the Brønnøy - Grane region and his web pages are a great resource for mountains in this region.

As I grew up outside Brønnøysund, I had visited the Torghatten hole "countless" times, but I had never been to the top. Until "Fjelltrimmen" surfaced, I didn't know that there was a trail to the top. But on this day when my left foot was still clutching and my head was still driving a car, Torghatten seemed like a sensible project. I combined the trip to Brønnøysund by visiting friends along the way and the time was 13:30PM when I was ready to walk up the mountain.

The weather forecast was OK, but some clouds made me ask one of my friends what the outcome would be. "A rainshower within the hour" was the response, and I was mentally prepared when I headed up the mountain. Some tourists came down along the wires as I headed upwards. I don't like wires, so I stayed far away from them, closer to the east face. Those 4 people were the only ones I saw on my hike across the mountain.

I reached the top 13:55PM and signed the guestbook. It was nice to be up here. I knew most of the mountains from north to south and I liked the views. But the weather didn't seem to match the forecast. I didn't really have any plans. I had spoken to someone who knew the mountain well, and he told me that I couldn't traverse the mountain, but I could descend to the west - which would result in some footwork on the road before I reached the car. I pictured I would be standing on the west side of the mountain, with several kilometres to walk back to the parking. But I found that seemed to head in the right direction (northbound) and as I started the descent towards the north, I was pretty confused - and curious about the outcome.

The path took me across Lesshatten before my friend Torbjørn called me to discuss the upcoming Gygrastolen project. As we were talking, I felt the first raindrops. I finished the conversation and moved on. The path took me down to a meadow, and I felt that I was really close to the hole. I stuck as close to the east face as I could, and a few minutes later, I was staring right into the hole.

I headed down to the hole on a very faint path, which meant that some people do take this round trip. I headed into the hole and felt a stench of human droppings hit my face. I yelled "thanks!!!" loud and hurried across to the other side. It was pouring down by now. I had made plans to descend the west side along the way, but my I was carrying a digital camera with several lenses, a cellular phone and a GPS. Only Garmin thinks it is a good idea to combine rain and electronics, so I ran down the tourist path as quickly as I could.

I passed a few tourists that were heading down as I was going up. They stopped and stared at me as I came running down the mountain. I felt an explanation was needed, as I was thinking back to a similar situation when I ran down Mt. Elbert in Colorado. A group of hikers that I caught up with turned around and ran towards me while yelling "What's wrong? What's wrong?" This time, to avoid confusion, I yelled "camera" while pointing towards the backpack. I heard "hee?" as I passed. It was pouring down, but I stopped and repeated "c-a-m-e-r-a" and pointed to the backpack once more. The tourists were looking at each other. "CAMERA!", I yelled loud and clear. "Oh, camera", they responded and nodded to each other, and I was free to go.

I reached the car 15:00PM sharp and after making sure all electronic items worked as intended, I headed back home. Interesting hike. Strongly recommended.

 

Pictures

To the summit

1. Torghatten seen from Bronnoysund (139KB) 2. Approaching Torghatten (138KB) 3. Traelneshatten seen on the way to Torghatten (172KB) 4. Not designed for everyone (141KB) 5. Mardalsfjellet (149KB) 6. View up the mountain (189KB) 7. The south ridge (454KB) 8. The south ridge (full view) (1164KB) 9. Torghatten summit (178KB) 10. The trailhead (245KB)

Summit views

11. Torghatten summit views (587KB) 12. Torghatten summit views (569KB) 13. Vega seen from Torghatten (174KB) 14. Leka (274KB) 15. Islands outside Torghatten (494KB)

Descent

16. View back to the summit (188KB) 17. The northern coastline (320KB) 18. Descent route (269KB) 19. Syv Sostre seen from Torghatten (185KB) 20. Hoyhomstindane seen from Torghatten (102KB) 21. Trollvasstinden seen from Torghatten (151KB) 22. Terrain during descent (339KB)

The hole

23. The Torghatten hole (327KB) 24. The Torghatten hole (325KB) 25. The Torghatten hole (165KB) 26. Inside the hole (105KB) 27. Inside the hole (127KB) 28. West side of the hole (248KB)

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