It should have read “Klovtinden”, but unfortunately not…
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Nordre Klovtinden | 1258m (est.) | 23m (est.) | Ørsta, Norway |
This Monday afternoon (Week 27), had the potential of being one my very best afternoons in the Sunnmøre region – ever!
I had been invited by my buddy Odd Arne Maridal to climb Klovtinden (1274m) – which is the peak with the toughest crux in the Sunnmøre alps. Somewhere in the range 4+/5- on the Norwegian climbing scale, and on the list of the 10 hardest tops in Norway – because of the grade on a short pitch. As a whole, many Norwegian mountains is of course harder than this one…
Odd Arne had for some time promised me to take me up there, as this I’m not capable of leading such a route on my own. And today he would deliver on his promise, if it hadn’t been for the fact that a was already totally psyched out – from looking at the pictures.
I haven’t climbed for a long time, and this peak looked like a monster. I would definitely go up with him, but could not promise that I would go for the final climb. Good thing he brought his friend Arnfred Iversen, so Odd Arne at least had one buddy to celebrate the top with.
We met in Bondalen and drove up to the Skårasalen parking. By 5:45pm, we ready to go. Definitely an “adult” after-work hike…
We crossed the river and followed a path that didn’t seem to lead upwards. So we went off-trail and had our fair share of bush-fight until we came above the forest.
Then we found a neat path that we followed until we saw a place where we could get up to the ridge towards Kopphornet.
The weather was definitely something we kept our eyes on. It was worse than forecasted, but at least it didn’t rain. With respect to the fog, we could only hope for the best.
We passed Kopphornet and reached the northernmost of the Klovtindane peaks – now “officially” named “Nordre Klovetinden” on peakbook.org. Odd Arne and Arnfred got the equipment ready while I found peace with myself. “OK, I got the chance, but wasn’t mentally prepared“. Nothing to complain about, whatsoever…
I watched the guys walk down to the saddle between the two tops as there was nothing to it. When I tried to follow, I couldn’t figure out the moves. What the hell had happened to me? I used to love this?
So, I sat down and watched Odd Arne lead on. Partly in sunshine, partly in thick fog. Odd Arne didn’t seem to have any particular worries along the way, and when he yelled “Arnt, you should be really glad you didn’t try this! This is really hard“, I had to laugh. OK, so I could probably do this, but not with the present head on top of my body.
Odd Arne reached the top and Arnfred followed – in the fog. I gave the route down to the saddle another try and all of a sudden – there were no problems. It was like a light bulb coming on. A binary revelation. I went up to the point where they started to climb and saw that the first moves offered lots of handholds. Oh well…
I went back up and waited for the others, now rappelling down. They were happy, and I was happy. Happy about the little sunshine we got, happy for the guys and happy that my head was working again. If a 2nd chance should ever present itself, I would be ready.
On the way down, we followed the “neat path” to small, but distinct valley – which offered a whole lot of boulder down the forest. Boulder is much better than evil bush, and we agreed that this ought to be the normal route up the mountain.
Possibly could one follow this boulder and valley straight up to the col between Klovtindane and Kopphornet, but we didn’t see the details of the route good enough to say for sure.
We returned to the trailhead and parted – 4h:20m after heading out. After posting my pics on FB later in the evening, Ole André Lukkedal – whom I met through Odd Arne and climbed Kvanndalstinden and Torshammaren with, 4 years ago – wrote on FB that he would be taking the trip in August. So if I could lead the way up the forest, he would lead me up to the top.
Wow! My 2nd chance – already. And now I was ready. At least mentally. Physically – only time would tell…
Trip statistics: 7,0km, 780 vertical meters, 4h:20mins
Pictures from the hike:
