Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Blåfjellsegga, May 24 2009


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The route

The route
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The weather on this Sunday was definitely not promising, but still I decided to visit Blåfjellsegga, thinking it was the highest of three peaks forming a horseshoe around Kløftedalen valley. The weather was fairly OK (just overcast) when I left home, but I expected rain later on. The ambition was to get as high as possible before the rain set in.

I located the Aurstad trailhead using my GPS and headed out 11:28am. The forest path was easy to follow, and I was impressed when I got to the boulder section, witnessing the effort and labour put into this section of the path. I presume that the main reason for this work was to get horses (w/cargo) across the boulder.

I knew absolutely nothing about the mountain or the route, so I would have to play it as it came. Arriving at Aurstadsætra, I had the choice between heading up along the river from Blæjavatnet, or find a route up to the ridge up my right. I chose the ridge, and headed upwards.

 

Aurstadsætra ahead title=

Aurstadsætra ahead
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I found a route towards the west ridge across a slab-rock section. But I didn't go all the way to the ridge. A steep section above seemed to be more easily passed to the left. Eventually, I reached a viewpoint and a cairn (approx. 1000m) and had a fine view towards Aurstad, Austefjorden, and the Eidskyrkja and Matøskja massifs. And a rain shower seemed to be heading my way.

I found time for some fun scrambling before I hurried up the west ridge. The question was now if I could make it to the top before the rain set in...

 

Vassdalstinden

Vassdalstinden
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I almost did. It started raining (lightly) when I passed 1150m elevation, and the views disappeared. But the upside of a rain shower is that it (normally) passes. And it wasn't particularly windy, either. Being at almost 1300m elevation wasn't bad at all. If it hadn't been for the rain (and the lack of views), it could have been tempting to hike across Kvanndalshesten and Litledalshornet, but there was a lot of snow on the ridge, so the hike would have been long and hard. And as I hadn't brought any food, I decided to head back down.

The descent was uneventful, especially as I managed to trace my steps down the slab area. The terrain was quite steep, and the ground was wet all over after snowmelt. There didn't seem to be many alternatives to my ascent route. After a 12km hike, I was back at the trailhead 3:42pm, approx. 4h:15m after heading out. I very much look forward to come back for Kvanndalsegga and Litledalshornet, especially as it turned out that Blåfjellsegga was not the highest peak of the three..

 

Waterfall

Waterfall
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Pictures

The pictures were taken with a Canon EOS 450D + Canon EF-S 17-85mm IS USM F 4-5.6

 
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On some pictures, Aurstadsætra is referred to as Austadsætra (which is the map name)

To Aurstadsætra

0. Trip tracks 1. The trailhead 2. On the forest path 3. A nice, rocky path 4. Natural shelter 5. Årsetøy 6. Litledalshornet 7. Aurstadsætra ahead 8. Aurstadsætra 9. Litledalshornet

To Blåfjellsegga

10. Heading for a slab area 11. View towards Aurstadsætervatnet 12. In the slab area 13. Årsetsætra below Snøhornet 14. Snøhornet 15. Past the slab area 16. Trollvasstinden 17. Vassdalstinden 18. Aurstad 19. The trailhead 20. On the west ridge 21. Eidskyrkja 22. View down to Austefjorden 23. Sunndalsnipa 24. View down the ridge 25. Eidskyrkja 26. The summit ridge 27. Blåfjellsegga summit

Blåfjellsegga views

29. The neighbour peaks 30. Zoom view from Blåfjellsegga 31. 44mm view from Blåfjellsegga 32. Sandegga 33. Kvanndalshesten

Descent

34. Back in the slab area 35. Molte - Rubus chamaemorus - Cloudberry 36. On a viewpoint above Aurstadsætervatnet 37. Eidskyrkja and Matøskja 38. Eidskyrkja 39. Matøskja 40. The river from Aurstadsætervatnet 41. The river from Aurstadsætervatnet 42. The river from Aurstadsætervatnet 43. A violet

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