Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Trollvasstindan north top from Kvitlane, Sep 7 2008


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The east ridge route

The east ridge route
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For some odd reason, I had never hiked from Kvitlane. From Overøye, yes. From Seljebotn, yes. From Innfjorden, yes. From Øvstedalen (Tresfjord), yes. But never from Kvitlane. Hiking out of Kvitlane would be a proper thing to do before I leave Ålesund. My interest in Trollvasstindan had grown over time, and even if Innfjorden would be a good starting point, I had decided to hike from Kvitlane.

But on this Sunday morning, I had no idea about where I would end up. Morning fog was covering the coastal mountains. I would be driving until I found a mountain area without fog, and as far as I could tell while driving on highway E39, I would end up in the Stordal region. I called my friend Hildegunn i Seljebotnen, and asked her if it was possible to reach Trollvasstindan's south top via Fokhaugtinden. Hildegunn was leading a trip to Kvitegga and handed the phone to Jan, the other guide.

Jan obviously knew what he was talking about, but I feared there was a slight confusion. First, I explained that I wanted to do a roundtrip across Fokhaugtinden and Trollvasstindan's south top, then descend to the west into Dyrdalen. Jan told me to follow Ådalen until it dropped into Stortrollvatnet and head up to the left. As I hadn't studied the map, I couldn't really argue, but it just didn't sound right. In any case, I appreciated that he took the time to explain the route to me, and I decided to follow his advice.

The valley towards Innfjorden

The valley towards Innfjorden
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I left Kvitlane 11:32am, and followed the trail towards Innfjorden. A guy told me I would reach Fokhaugstova in 30 minutes. Damned! He shouldn't have said that. Now I just had to beat that time. Yes, I'm sick beyond repair. Foobar, if you will. I passed Fokhaugstova 11:52am, slightly relieved...

The hike along the Innfjorden trail was just boring. The trail was wet, boggy and simply not fun to walk on. I figured that the sooner I headed into Ådalen, the better. That was a very, very bad decision. I ran into a dense low birch forest which made agony seem like shear pleasure in comparison. These birch forests force you to go upwards, while I should really have been crossing it. I was on my way towards Fokhaugtinden, whether I wanted to or not.

Once I was above this forest, I crossed into Ådalen and could focus on the real mission of the day. I will settle for almost any degree of exposure, as long as I don't have to deal with these dense birch forests. I passed Lake Ytste Brynbotnvatnet on the west side and realised that I was about to pass the south top, which was originally my target for the day. I was obviously heading for the north top, which was fine. The two tops had the same height, so it didn't matter much.

Ahead of me was a steep wall and a steep ridge. I wondered exactly how I was supposed to get up there, but I decided to follow Jan's advice, and continue until I looked down on Stortrollvatnet. A very disturbing factor was that the cairn (which I could easily see from the valley) didn't seem to be the high point. This was simply unbearable. This looong walk, only to reach a cairn from where I could marvel at the summit? But there was no turning back now. Come what may. Bring it on...

The east ridge

The east ridge
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The east ridge suddenly appeared as a ridge, and was no longer a part of a steep wall. It seemed indeed doable. The ridge was a bit steep at first, and the scrambling was proper scrambling. But higher up, it was just a stroll. I headed up to the summit ridge, and had a good view down to Stortrollvatnet and the north ridge. An amazing view. I thought the walk along the ridge crest would be easy, but I was wrong. All of a sudden, a nasty gap appeared in front of me, and I didn't like it one bit.  

I needed a short time-out from this problem, and had a look around. Down to my left was something I refer to as a "balcony". If I could get down to this balcony, I could get on the ridge on the far side of the gap. After searching around a little while, I found a ledge leading onto the balcony. The only problem was that a huge rock was blocking the way.

The rock was barely touching the ledge. I tried to push it off, but it wouldn't move. I decided to climb across it. As I was climbing it, I almost wished it would fall. That would have been so incredibly stupid that I almost wanted to be a part of it. But the rock sat firmly, and I was on the balcony, now looking up towards the nasty gap. Gaining the ridge leading to the summit was easy, albeit it required more scrambling. And by 2:56pm, I was on top of something that appeared to be Trollvasstindan's north summit.

The top I had assumed was the high point was close by, but as it was closer to the valley, it appeared higher. This top was probably not higher than the top I was on, so it was fair to assume that I might be on a real peak. This was a good moment. The walk had been a long one, and getting up wasn't straightforward. This was clearly one of the finer peaks that I had been on.

 

Trollvasstindan, seen from the north top

Trollvasstindan, seen from the north top
(Click for larger image)

3:06pm, I left the summit, and headed directly towards the gap. First, I concluded that I could jump the gap without any particular risk. Next, I tried to climb across it. The exposure was tremendous, but it didn't affect me that much. But I struggled with the climbing sequence. I could not descend face out, so I tried to climb down backwards. After struggling with this for a little while, I concluded that I could climb this gap if need be, but as I had another option, I didn't want to. So, I descended my ascent route. And the rock is still firmly stuck on the ledge..

I passed Lake Ytste Brynbotnvatnet on the east side and followed a path which obviously would lead me towards Innfjorden. I left the path, crossed the river and headed down to the main valley. The long walk towards Kvitlane was just as boring as I feared it would be. I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and I figured that this would be a good time to enjoy my one and only chocolate bar.

At Fokhaugstova, I ended up on a different path than the one I ascended. After a little while, I understood that this path ran on the north side of the river, and that I would end up close to the trailhead anyway. I reached the car 5:40pm. I had walked approx. 20km in 6 hours. I would say that the overall hike was strenuous, and that this top is slightly challenging without being very difficult. If I had brought company, the pictures would have shown the terrain in a more realistic manner. In any case, it was a good hike. A 2008 top-10, no doubt. 

After the hike, I stopped by Hildegunn and Dagfinn and I was treated to coffee and ice-cream. Yum! It was nice to see Balder too. Balder rolled on his back and whined from pure pleasure when I petted him on his belly. Balder is a very nice dog. I enjoyed his company very much on Ådalstinden and Kvitegga.

Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 300D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

Important note: The picture header texts indicate that hike started from Pjusken.
The correct starting point is Kvitlane. Thanks to Bjørnar Midtbust for setting me straight on this.

 
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To Ådalen

0. Trip tracks 1. Approaching Kvitlane 2. Trollvasstindan south top 3. The trailhead 4. The Kvitlane area 5. Heading out 6. Crossing the river 7. Storådalshornet 8. Auskjeret and Øverøystolen 9. Fokhaugstova 10. Fokhaugtinden 11. Nonstinden 12. Kammen 13. Fokhaugtinden 14. Lake Litlevatnet

To Trollvasstindan north top

15. In Ådalen 16. Ytste Brynbotnvatnet 17. Trollvasstindan 18. The east ridge 19. Stortrollvatnet 20. The east ridge 21. Stortrollvatnet 22. Up the east ridge 23. Trollvasstindan 24. A small gap on the east ridge 25. The north ridge 26. The north ridge 27. The south top 28. Viewpoint cairns 29. The summit ridge 30. The gap 31. The gap bypass 32. Looking back on the crux 33. Trollvasstindan 34. The summit cairn

Hi-res pics of the Trollvasstindan ridge

35. Trollvasstindan, hi-res 36. Trollvasstindan, hi-res 37. Trollvasstindan, hi-res 38. The second summit

Wide-angle views from Trollvasstindan north top

39. Wide-angle view from Trolvasstindan north top 40. Wide-angle view from Trollvasstindan north top

Zoom views from Trollvasstindan north top

41. 85mm zoom view from Trollvasstindan north top 42. 85mm zoom view from Trollvasstindan north top 43. 85mm zoom view from Trollvasstindan north top

Misc. pics from Trollvasstindan north top

44. Månvatnet 45. The west ridge 46. Månvatnet and Stortrollvatnet 47. The south top

Descent

48. Descending into the balcony 49. The route into the balcony 50. The tricky ledge 51. Down the east ridge 52. View up towards the north top 53. Ytste Brynbotnvatnet 54. Kammen 55. River crossing 56. Litlevasstinden 57. Litlevatnet 58. Ådalen valley 59. Nonstinden 60. Taskedalshornet 61. Storådalshornet 62. Storådalshornet 63. Back at Kvitlane 64. Geitebottinden 65. Seljebottinden

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