Finally! Storsylen!
Peaks visited:
| Peak | Height | PF | Location |
| Storsylen | 1762m | 647m | Tydal, Norway |
| Vardberget | 1096m | 117m | Tydal, Norway |
Saturday: The day was finally here! We were getting ready for the Storsylen hike. This was a mountain that had been on my mind ever since I started hiking in 1998. I’m not really sure why, but I liked the name and the fact that it was on the Swedish border. Plus, far, far away in a part of Norway that I didn’t know at all.
The weather was OK, albeit the higher mountains (like Storsylen) had fog. We hoped the fog would lift during the day. I had spent the night in the tent with Karma, while Anne had the (expensive) room at Nedalshytta all to herself. You can read why here…
After breakfast, it was time to head out.
I have to say – the path up the forest was most excellent. When we got to the mountain plateau, our shoes (not boots) were as dry as when we left.
The fog was still present, but we had high hopes that the wind would blow the fog away. Preferably to Sweden…
As we moved on up the mountain, good things started to happen higher up…
After 6,2km, we came to the fork where we had to turn right for Storsylen. The path we were previously on continued to Storerikvollen. We now had course for the main valley, with Storsylen above – now without fog!
It was altogether a beautiful day and a beautiful walk. We were wondering where the route up the mountain went, and we didn’t figure that out before we reached lake Syltjønna and saw people moving up the mountain. The route looked quite steep, but unproblematic.
Along the way, we passed some reindeer which seemed quite comfortable with humans around…
The main thing to worry about during the ascent is rock fall. Either caused by yourself or by others. But as the route traverses after you’ve hiked the bottom moraine, the risk is greatly reduced.
Eventually, we reached the ridge – which marked the end of the “hard part”. There would only be joy from here…
Soon after, we passed “Grenserøys nr. 155 B“, which marks the Norwegian – Swedish border.
On our way upwards, we met a large Swedish group that was heading back to Sylstasjonen. After looking around a bit, we discovered it – some 4km to the northeast.
12:16pm, we reached the top of Storsylen – 3h:45m after heading out from Nedalshytta. It was really nice to be up here, given the many, many years I’ve thought about coming here!
It would have been fun to do the traverse (Syltraversen) over to Storsola (1710m). But we had checked this out on beforehand and concluded that this would not be possible with a dog. The route looked pretty straightforward from our position, except for the direct descent from Storsylen – which required exposed scrambling or a rappel. But I suppose there could be more to it, parts we didn’t see, etc.
We hung around on the top for a while, chatting with other people and just enjoyed the day and the views.
It was tempting to return via Nordsylen, but we were a bit worried about the subsequent river crossing later on, and decided to return along our ascent route.
Then we went separate ways. Anne headed back to Nedalshytta while Karma and I headed towards Vardberget.
It was a 2,8km meadow crossing across partly dry and party wet land, but less agonizing than I had expected it to be. And at 2:40pm, I could add another top to my “account”.
From Vardberget, we headed south until we joined the main trail just east of point 1030m.
Back at Nedalshytta, we had time to relax before dinner. Anne in our expensive room, and Karma and me in the tent. The mosquito problem was still bad around the cabin, so moving Karma to the car was still out of the question.
The dinner was of course the highlight of the evening. The cabin staff introduced the 3-meal course as they always do and served a nice meal that was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
Trip statistics: 26,1km, 1300 vertical meters, 8 hours
Pictures (Canon 80D/Iphone6) from the trip:
