Back again, 13 years later…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Municipality | Location |
| Trollvasstinden | 1285m | 1002m | Volda | GPX |
| Grøthornet | 1012m | 142m | Volda |
Anne has decided that she wants to climb all the 26 peaks in southern Norway that has a prominence (primary factor) > 1000m. She had already been to 10 of them and was keen on getting one more. So the trip this Sunday would be to Trollvasstinden – on the bottom of this list, with a prominence of 1002m.
I visited Trollvasstinden on Jan 5 2003, on skis with my friend Petter Bjørstad. We skied from the Bjørkedalen side back then, so today I was interested in a new route. The route across Geitmjølkhornet seemed like an interesting one, and from what I had assumed – we could get Karma across without any problems.
When we left Gurskøya, it was raining. But we had high hopes that the weather forecast was correct and it would stop raining. We took the ferry to Folkestad and drove to Dale, where we drove up the Dalsbygdveien road to Litlebøvatnet. It had stopped raining by now, which was a big relief. We parked at approx. 660m and decided to take a direct, off-trail route towards Geitmjølkhornet as we didn’t see any path.
The ascent up to Geitmjølkhornet (915m) was quite easy, and the first part of the ridge ahead looked quite trivial.
As we progressed up the ridge, there was a slight confusion about where the summit was. The quite familiar peak ahead us was the same peak as I had marked as “Trollvasstinden” on numerous panorama pictures. So what was the distinct peak straight ahead of us?
It didn’t take long before we realized that the unknown peak was point 1230m, and Trollvasstinden was indeed Trollvasstinden.
The ridge was a bit more narrow by now, but still unproblematic for Karma. I enjoyed this route, and Trollvasstinden was indeed a beautiful peak!
We arrived on the summit 1:35pm – 1h:45m after leaving the car. It was really good to be back and enjoy towards the familiar view towards the beautiful peaks in all directions. I have been to most of them…
After lunch on top, we discussed our options. We were tempted to descend to the Trollvasstinden – Bytingstinden saddle and see if we could find the path that was marked on the map. For starters, we would at least go down to the saddle.
In the saddle, we figured we would be able to descend into the valley below (Kvernadalen), but we had to cross a slightly steep pitch of snow. Fortunately, I had both an ice-axe and crampons in my backpack. I put on the crampons and gave Anne the ice-axe. Karma would handle herself. It wasn’t a long pitch, and it wasn’t very steep. Quite unproblematic, really. But if we lost the grip, we would have a rough encounter with the rock below. So the ice-axe and crampons came in really handy. I didn’t expect to encounter snow on this hike, but wise from previous experience, I try to bring this gear whenever I can.
The “path” was just a number of ‘T’s painted in red on rocks. We didn’t like where the path was going, so we found our own way into the valley.
Once down in the valley, it was just a matter of rounding Kvassehornet – which was a stunningly beautiful ridge, and I can’t wait to get back and try to scramble it.
We were able to follow the T’s until we reached Trollvasstinden’s northeast ridge. Anne decided that she would descend to Litlebøvatnet from the Kilsskardet pass and walk the south shore back to the car.
I decided that I would go across Grøthornet with Karma and follow the north shore back to the car. I had been to Grøthornet before, but it is a nice hike and I wanted to revisit the mountain. I increased my pace so Anne wouldn’t have to wait long for me. The time was 3:37pm when Karma and I reached the top of Grøthornet.
Karma and I descended the northwest ridge, which is an easy ridge if you choose the easiest route. When we reached the lake, I found it best to jump from rock to rock down by the lake. There was a path nearby but I prefer rock over grass.
We reached the car 4:15pm – 4h:25m after leaving it. And Anne didn’t have to wait long for us…
Pictures from the trip:
Kremtopp i nydelig område. Gikk den frå Laurdalen i fjord. Skjult perle!