Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal
Ringshornet (1532m) on skis, June 5 2011
To the main Ringshornet page (maps, route descriptions, other trip reports, etc.)
The route to Ringshornet
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Resuming traditions...
After skiing Alnestinden + Finnan in 2006 and Breitinden in 2007, the concept of spring skiing in the Trollstigen mountains had now definitely become a tradition. I followed up by skiing Storgrovfjellet in 2008 (and hiked Bispen and Kongen later that year), but after leaving Ålesund in 2008, this tradition came to a sudden halt. Trollstigen was a long way from Gurskøy...
However, in 2011, I became determined to resume the tradition, and after spending a couple of days in the Geiranger region, Anne and me rented a cabin in Valldalen - being able and ready if the unstable weather suddenly became a bit more stable. The original plan was to ski Trollryggen, but because of the high temperatures lately (rotten snow), the plan changed and Ringshornet became the new target.
One June 5, we woke up to a gorgeous day, and we got up to Slettvikane just after breakfast. We found a place where the snow (as good as) reached the road and parked the car. Man, it was good to be back! I had almost forgotten how beautiful the Trollstigen region is, and even Anne (spoiled rotten with her Jostedalsbreen glacier) had to admit that the scenery was absolutely stunning.
At Slettvikane - ready for Ringshornet!
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Upwards...
We left the car 10am and quickly realized that we were a bit too far to the south. We had to adjust our course to avoid steep terrain. The slight temperature drop during the night had done wonders to the snow, which was now just perfect. Alnestinden was bound to cause "traffic jams" on days like this, but so far we had the mountain to ourselves.
Nice view!
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Company...
After a while, we got company. Kyrre and his friend Dominique (I hope I spelled his name correctly) caught up with us and kept us company up to the top. Kyrre had indeed "been around" in the Norwegian mountains, and it was very interesting to speak with him and his friend - a computer programmer (just like myself)...
As we reached the ridge, Anne and me chose not to carry the skis up to the top. We planned to continue towards point 1473m while the others were heading back down. After a short hike up the ridge, we reached Ringshornet summit 11:57am - almost 2 hours after heading out.
Arriving on Ringshornet summit
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To Småholtindan 1473m
The stay on the summit was very enjoyable. The views and the company were just excellent. As we prepared to leave, two other skiers turned up. Ringshornet was quite popular today! I could only imagine how Alnestinden looked like...
When it was time to leave, Anne and me headed back to our skis further down on the ridge, while the others skied directly off Ringshornet. We skied over to point 1473m, which we - at the time - assumed was the northwest spur of Ringshornet. Later, I learned that point 1473m belongs to the Småholtindane group. The trip up to the top didn't take long and Ringshornet looked very elegant from here!
Ringshornet
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Descent!
We didn't stay long on top of point 1473m. There wasn't much to see that we hadn't already seen from Ringshornet, and we were eager to get going with the skiing. And the descent of mountain was ... well, I can't explain it through words so I will just have to point you to the pictures further down on this page. And hopefully, you'll understand what I mean...
Descending Ringshornet
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Back at the trailhead.
We returned to the car 1:45pm - just in time to meet 4 people from DNT (The Norwegian Mountain Tourist Association) - whom we met in Geiranger a couple of days earlier. They were biking from Geiranger to Åndalsnes, and return to Oslo by train. Quite impressive!
