A perfect end to our Flora weekend!
Sunday: After leaving our rented cabin at Klauvane by Norddalsfjorden in a presentable state, we split company with our friends Anne May and Jan, whom we had spent two nice days with, including the hike to Haukånipa, the day before.
Anne and I had decided to hike Lassenipa before parting. It felt as quite a long drive from Klauvene to Sunndalen, but finally – we had Lassenipa in view.
After checking with a local, we learned that we could drive almost 1,5km on the road to Budalsvatnet and find parking at the Lassenipa trailhead. That was a bonus, as I had imagined we would hike all the way from Sunndalen.
We followed a tractor road upwards and then got on a – vaguely marked – but visible forest path.
It was a nice stroll up the forest, but we both looked forward to getting onto solid rock!
As we rose above the forest, we still had to wait a while to get on rock, but at least the terrain was less boggy and wet.
We then reached the river from Langevatnet – one we hadn’t given a single thought to. Until we got there…
We decided to take our boots off and forded the river. The water was so cold that I’m not sure I could have made many more meters. Once across, a young man came jogging down the mountain and crossed the river by jumping from rock to rock with impressive precision. We felt a bit silly, but those are the kind of prerogatives that locals should have!
Just above the river crossing, we passed a cabin and could now focus on getting on the high ridge.
Getting onto the ridge wasn’t difficult at all, even if the route could be hard to see at times. And we were a bit surprised by the amount of snow.
A bit later, we met Anne-Mari and Dag Atle, coming down the mountain. We had a nice and long chat with them before moving on towards the top.
I particularly enjoyed the view towards the Ålfotbreen glacier. I had never seen it this close before. One day, I’ll be skiing up there!
And then we were on top of Lassenipa. Big joy!
My Canon battery was almost flat, hence most of the pictures were taken with my Iphone. I hoped the battery would last so I got my panorama pictures, and the battery went flat just after the last shot. Perfect timing!
We had tremendous views in all directions. Haukåbøra was easy to recognize.
So was Plogen (the plow) and Maratinden. We could just see the very top of Keipen from our position.
Then it was time to head back down. We took the same route down the mountain, but we crossed the river without taking our boots off. I don’t remember how it was for Anne, but my feet were quite dry afterwards.
I really enjoyed this hike. I love this region and I’ll definitely be back more times to explore the nice region around Ålfotbreen!
Trip statistics: 9,8km, 985 vertical meters, 4 hours
Pictures (Canon80D/Iphone):
