Norwegian Mountains, Sogn og Fjordane
Store Haugmelen (1172m) on skis, Jan 30 2010
To the main Store Haugmelen page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
Haugmelen (right) seen from the air
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Another weekend trip to Sogndal, and the plan was Store Haugmelen on Saturday, and if all "signs" were good (and they were) - "Storehogen" on Sunday. Anne Rudsengen had been to Store Haugmelen several times before, and recommended that we should drive up Dalåker and see if the road to Goro had been ploughed. It hadn't, at least not today, but Anne decided to give her small car "a go". I gladly admit that I would never have attempted this road with the Tiger. But on the other hand - her car had more clearance and we made it all the way to Goro.
We were quite happy to see tracks from Goro. Even the Sogndal/Luster region had received its share of snow and skiing to Store Haugmelen would have been something completely different (as in; exhausting beyond comprehension) without the tracks that went all the way to the Vassløysa cabins.
Vassløysa cabins
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From Vassløysa, we followed some old tracks up to the foot of the mountain (approx. 850m), where they vanished. Our trail had to be broken from here, and for the next 200 vertical meters, the effort was .. notable.
The wind was also picking up. The temperature was approx. -10 deg. C. at the trailhead and the wind made it of course even colder. The sunshine we had while passing Vassløysa transformed into fog and a very flat light. By the time we arrived on the summit (2:30pm - 2h:30m after leaving the trailhead) it was just cold, cold, cold. But hey - I was on a new mountain top and how bad can that be?
On Store Haugmelen
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To me, the descent was a mix between plain fun and not-so-fun. The descent from the mountain wasn't bad at all. We Telemark'ed along our ascent track until we reached the forest road. The road had quite a number of flat sections (even a small uphill) which was no fun when you've got carving skis (without wax or skins). Anne had the wisdom to run on mountain skis with wax, and had probably a much easier descent than I had.
Anne descending Store Haugmelen
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But all in all, it was (of course) a very nice trip. We returned to Goro 3:45pm - 3h:45m after heading out. After two weeks with a common virus, I had been bit worried about my shape and form. But I seemed to be back on track, and on the next day, we visited "Storehogen".
