Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions - Keipen, Bjørkedalen, Straumshamn

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Keipen (944m) on skis, Feb 27 2010

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Keipen
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The beautiful Bjørkedalen valley has given me a couple of "Holy macaroni!" moments. The first time I noticed the magnificent pyramid-shaped Keipen was surely one of them. And I do believe that Litletoren was involved the second time. Moreover, my first Sunnmøre mountain ever was Trollvasstinden, starting at Bjørkedalen. Little did I know then, that I would be familiar with most of the Sunnmørsalpane peaks a few years later.

February 27 2010, the time had come to visit Keipen. During January and February 2010, Anne and me had some memorable ski-trips, and Keipen was soon about to be added to the list. It was a gorgeous day when we took the ferry from Volda to Folkestad, and I looked very much forward to (finally) reach the top of Keipen. The plan was to ascend from the north, via the road to Litledalsvatnet...

Our route to Keipen
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We parked by the house at the lower end of the forest road and skied up to Litledalsvatnet. From the lake, it would be just a matter of getting through the forest and then follow the obvious route across Heida and up to the summit. It felt good to come out of the shadow side and taste the sparkling sunshine at the lake. I knew that we had a wonderful day ahead of us. And the snow was just perfect...

Crisp!
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The trip across Heida was very nice. Half-way, with amazing scenery in all directions. Matøskja to our left and Trollvasstinden to our right. A winter's day doesn't get better than this!

Across Heida
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After a very enjoyable ascent up the ridge, we reached the top of Keipen 2:54pm - 2,5 hours after heading out. As this is written, more than 1,5 years has passed, but I still clearly remember the WOW! feeling I had as I walked along the summit ridge. The sight of Litletoren was surely a contributing factor. Anne was smiling from ear to ear, and the best was yet to come - the descent, that is...

Anne - arriving on Keipen summit
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OK - the upper part of the mountain didn't offer the best skiing conditions. We had to deal with an icy crust, but down on Heida, skiing was magic! And the snow got proportionally better the further down we came. Neither Anne nor me need it to be steep and exposed to have great fun. Skiing down the forest, dealing with every twist and turn along the way is my favorite sport. Even if it doesn't always go my way...