Kvasstinden and Smørbottinden, Mar 4 2017

Peaks visited:

Peak Height PF Municipality
Kvasstinden 1180m 110m Rauma
Smørbottind (Smørbottfjellet) 1188m 498m Rauma
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On top of Smørbottinden

The forecast for the weekend was great and Anne and I agreed that we should explore new territory. After looking through maps, we landed on a weekend in Åndalsnes. Not that Åndalsnes was “new territory”, but it’s been a while since we’ve done anything good up there.

There are many excellent mountains for skiing in close proximity, and I was primarily thinking about Kvasstinden and Smørbottinden – easily accessible from the Skorgedalen skiing center. Anne felt this was a good proposal.

On Saturday morning, we left Gurskøya and drove to Isfjorden – a 3 hour drive. We drove up to Skorgedalen and saw that we were definitely not alone up here today.

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At the Skorgedalen parking, with view towards Kvasstinden and Smørbottinden

We found the skiing track towards Smørbottinden and headed out – looking forward to a GRAND day in the Romsdal mountains.

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Oh yeah!

The snow was of perfect quality, and that made me a bit restless. I wanted to get up as quickly as possible, so I could strap my boots and have the greatest run so far in 2017.

But more important than the snow quality was the idea of returning with 2 new tops. Anne was content with Smørbottinden only, but wished me well on my detour to Kvasstinden.

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Soon parting with Anne, aiming for Kvasstinden (left)

I reached Kvasstinden 1h:25m after leaving the trailhead. I caught up with one guy ahead of me, and we had a quick chat before I continued towards Smørbottinden.

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Smørbottinden seen from Kvasstinden

I joined up with Anne just below the summit and entered a somewhat crowded summit. I noticed that no one was at the very high point, so this is where I headed immediately. I had no desire to talk to anyone else. Anne followed, and a couple of minutes later we stood on top of Smørbottind and had an AMAZING 360 deg. view.

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Panorama view from Smørbottinden

Finally, it was time for the highlight of the day – the descent. And the descent was just – wow! Karma struggled in the deep snow, so the descent was a bit fragmented, having to wait for her. No sacrifice, though. She’s family.

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Karma, racing down from Smørbottinden

Anne had a good day on skis too…

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Just one of THOSE days…

The mountain was a bit windy, so we had to descend quite a bit to find a place to have lunch.

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Lunch below Smørbottind. Life is good…

After lunch, we returned to the trailhead, drove to Åndalsnes and checked into Hotel Grand Bellevue.

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Where we crashed in for the night

The hotel room was very nice and we had a superb view towards the most famous mountains in the region – Romsdalshorn. I’m so happy to say that I’ve been up the north wall and touched the summit…

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Romsdalshorn – #1 in this region…

I love these trips, being tourists in our own country. And especially that nice sensation of taking a shower after a perfect ski-trip, and THEN open a cold beer. The only sad part was the news that Karma’s mom Ella had suddenly died a couple of days ago. Only 8 years old. The phone call with Ella’s owner was sad, but it was still good to have talked about it.

The morale must be; life is fragile. Better live every hour as if it was the last…

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Trip tracks

Pictures from the trip:

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