Vålåsjøhøe Øst, Tverrfjellet, July 19 2020

Summer vacation, day 1

Snøhetta seen from the Vålåsjøhøe ridge

Tops and places visited

Peak/PlaceHeightPFLocationWCP
Vålåsjøhøe, Øst1400m100mDovre, Norway 
Tverrfjellet1248m75mDovre, NorwayWCP

Finally – summer vacation. I hadn’t looked especially forward to it – low on energy in the past weeks as I was. But on the other hand, I hoped that going into “the unknown” (we had just planned 3 weeks on the road) would boost some energy.

Due to Covid-19, it had been impossible to plan our “base-camps” months ahead of time. Thus, we ended up renting a RV, probably the last one available in the country. “All” Norwegians would hit the roads this summer, and many of them going north – as we were.

Our rented RV below Romsdalshorn in Romsdalen

We left Gurskøy Sunday morning rather late in the day and followed the main roads, first E39 to Romsdalsfjorden and E136 to Åndalsnes. We had never driven a RV before and driving it sucked! But the upside was that we had no problems keeping up with the general traffic. One more prejudice taken off my list! It’s not the car, it’s the driver. And, I didn’t know that waving hands to fellow RV drivers was a thing, and I hated it when we were waved at. “Please! Don’t wave your hand – we’re not one of you!

We took turns driving and had our first break below the Trollveggen wall.

Pause below the Trollveggen wall

We hit the E6 at Dombås and continued up to Hjerkinn (Dovrefjell) where we found an OK place to park for the night.

Our RV – between the other RVs and the buildings

The evening hike was only meant to go to Geitberget, but on the way, I talked Anne into coming with me towards Vålåsjøhøe. At that point in time, I hadn’t fully realized how far that walk would be.

Ready for a nice evening walk

We followed the ridge upwards and had a nice view towards the Dovrefjell 2000m mountains.

Some of the 2000m peaks on Dovrefjell

We met a guy who told us that it wasn’t unlikely that we could spot Moskusfe (bison), but unfortunately we didn’t. At point 1331m, Anne decided that Vålåsjøhøe was a too long walk this late in the evening and that she wanted to get familiar with the car, the oven, the water, heating, etc. She returned to the car with Karma while I decided to hike a little bit longer.

We’re splitting up the party

At point 1400m (the east top), I realized that the main Vålåsjøhøe top (1407m) was too far away (still 4km away, plus the hike back) and decided to set the course for the car.

View from Vålåsjøhøe Øst

My return route went straight north from 1400m to Tverrfjellet, where there is an indoors panorama viewpoint.

Tverrfjellet seen from point 1400m

We’ve been here before, but it’s quite cool.

Dovrefjell view from Tverrfjellet

Instead of following the gravel road down from Tverrfjellet, I followed the ridge to the northeast and was able to follow a path all the way down to the public parking lot.

Back at the car, Anne had now become the car expert and soon later, we could enjoy our first dinner in the car.

Our first RV dinner!

As much as I hated driving the darn thing, I soon found that I would love the evenings. Karma found peace and harmony in her bed below the dining table and we slept like logs.

Trip statistics: 7,9km, 480 vertical meters, 2h:08m

Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone8) from the hike:

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