Location: North 62.41932, East 007.74990 (GPS on the summit)
Climbed July 18. 2020.
Information:
How to get there:
The trailhead is along the famous road connecting Åndalsnes and Valldal. From Åndalsnes,
drive up Trollstigen, cross the highest pass and descend into the valley on the south side. Just as
the road becomes level, you cross a river at a place called Slettvikane. There is a building on your
left just across the small bridge. There is a parking area directly on your right hand side
immediately after you cross the bridge. Turn in here and park. This location is at
N62.41690, E007.64026, elevation about 720 meter.
Route description:
Walk back across the bridge and immediately turn right on a small, gated road that runs next to
a cabin about 100 meter from the main road. Continue along this small road / big trail, it soon
shrinks to a normal size Norwegian mountain trail. Follow this trail about 3.4 kilometer to
the point where the creek (small river) comes down from lake Isglupane (1126m). This location
is N62.40758, E007.70181, elevation about 810 meter. Turn left here, a small trail will take
you up the hillside, following the creek on the left side (as you face uphill). Ascend about
a hundred meter along this trail, then turn left and walk on open, gentle terrain below the
cliffs that you will see up on your right. After about 500 meter, you approach a (smaller) creek
and here one may ascend (right) and turn (right) higher up to get above the cliff band that
blocked direct access to lake Isgulpane (1126m). Ascend (east) to this lake and pass it by
walking near the shore on the left (north) side. Continue ascending east to reach the sequence
of smaller lakes located immediately below the steep side of Skarsfjellet. It may be
best to cross this creek twice, there are big snow bridges that may last quite late into summer.
You want to end up on the north-east side of lake 1247. From here, ascend pretty much directly
north aiming for the summit. This climb of almost 500 vertical meter has a fairly steep section
in the middle. Avoid cliffs by seeking left. Follow natural ledges and vegetation upwards.
There are several variations. Beware of somewhat loose rocks along the way higher up. The
steepness eases towards the summit. There may be short sections of easy scrambling on the
most direct line, (may be avoided by a more complex zig-zag route?)
thus this route has a (YDS) class 3 grading. The summit has a pretty flat summit ridge
and a large cairn.
Comments:
I stayed at the Valldalen Fjordhotel, enjoyed their breakfast at 0800, then drove to
the trailhead. The forecast was pretty good, but the weather was more cloudy/overcast
with some rainshowers. I was ready to walk by 0915 and reached the trailfork
in about 45 minutes. Easy going until near lake Isgulpane at 1126 meter. This area
had extensive snow cover and the lake had still (unsafe!) ice. The thick snow banks
made it easy to cross the creek above 1200 meter, however I made a mistake and
ended up walking around lake 1247, a slight detour that could easily have been avoided.
Ascending the lower slope, I quickly got onto snowfields and since I carried crampons, I
decided to use them. (The snow could have been ascended pretty safely with only boots as well,
but a harder surface would have called for crampons.)
I left my crampons at location N62.41669, E007.74826, elevation about 1520 meter. There was no
snow above here. Easy scrambling, then mainly talus, I arrived at the summit shortly after
1400, so about 4:45 up.
Unfortunately, it started raining, making all rocks slippery just ahead of my descent.
The view north into Romsdalen was pretty dramatic despite of the clouds obscuring any
detailed view.
I left at 1415, and carefully (slowly) descended my route of ascent. I was back down at the
main trail by 1720, another 45 minutes brought me back to the car. Thus, almost 9 hours to
climb (net) about 1000 meter on an 18 kilometer round trip hike.
