Norwegian Mountains - Route Descriptions

Norwegian Mountains, Møre og Romsdal

Snaufjellet from Skytebanen, Nov 12 2006

For Information, maps, trailhead and route descriptions, click HERE.

This Sunday offered severe hailshowers, which made driving very difficult and dangerous. I was on my way to Snaufjellet (Vestnes) and almost turned around after passing the first white, slippery carpet in Brusdalen. Even if there was asphalt just 1cm below the hail, a brake-test told me that the drive would be the toughest part of today's trip.

The good thing about showers, is that they come and go. In other words, one can "get lucky". As I turned onto Rekdal Seterveg, I wondered how high I would get. At 100m elevation, the road was white, and "slushy" (if such a word exists in English) from melting hail. Higher up, melting was slower, and at 220m elevation, I decided that I didn't want to leave my car this high, in case of more hail.

I drove back down to the shooting range and figured it would be fun to ascend the mountain directly from here. I saw cliffbands, and hoped that the terrain could offer a couple of challenges along the way.

To Snaufjellet

11:40AM, I was on my way through the forest with my dog ("Troll") in the backpack. The lower forest was easy, as long as I made my way around the junipers. At the cliffbands, I could have bypassed on the right-hand side, but decided to scramble up the cliffbands. There was nothing trivial and nothing difficult to it. I then aimed for a distinct ridge that seemed to run all the way to the top.

It did, and once above the tree-line, I let Troll out of the backpack. He celebrated fresh snow with a good "roll", and joined me for the remaining walk up to the summit, which we reached 12:30PM. Another hailshower passed just as we reached the top, but this was a "quickie", and lasted only a minute. I was very happy about being able to take summit pictures without raindrops (or snow) on the lens. This was certainly a bonus!

We didn't stay long. Troll didn't want to walk, and I picked him up again. I decided to head down the south side and get a good and lengthy walk down the mountain road. On the way, I noticed I was "drifting" to the right, but still was convinced I was heading down the south side. In the forest, I lost the overview, and in even denser forest, even more so. I was a bit surprised when I hit the road only 250m away from my starting point, at 13:10PM.

Eagles

Back on the main road, I noticed a couple of large birds, seemingly "playing" above Midfjorden. I stopped for pictures, and they moved in the direction of Rekdalshesten. Two more large birds came into view, and now there were 4 birds which I suspected all were eagles. I know for sure that the one(s) on the pictures below are eagles, but cannot rule out if some of the others were crows. I'm now sure if crows and eagles mingle, so it could have been a full eagle family. In any case, it was a very pleasant sight.

I got back to Ålesund, safe and sound, after only one ferocious hailshower in Brusdalen. It was a low and modest mountain, a short hike, but a good trip! Lots of good moments; long periods without rain/hail, cool rocks, first hike on fresh snow this autumn, a new mountain, a nice sky and fine eagles.