Norway II

My older daughter Molly is now working at Trollheimshytta in the heart of Trollheimen, a mountain region just a bit south of Trondheim where we live. We hiked in for a two-nighter at the hut, to bring her some supplies but also hioping for good weather to hike up Snota (1668 m). As it turned out, it was rainy during the 16 km hike in and during our rest day, but we got good weather and made a side trip up Snota on our way out.

The mountains in central Trollheimen are more rounded with somewhat lower relief than those closer to the coast, but there are still cirques, remnant glaciers and steep faces enough to give them their own charm.

Trollheimsytta is in a broad valley called Folldalen, surrounded by pine woodland and big and beautiful sedge bogs. On our "rest day" we hiked several km up the valley towards a self-service hut called Vassendsetra, across and alongside a huge open bog and past Lagmannseter, and old summer farm. It's a beutiful stretch of valley. (Otto, you might think about doing the Trollheimen 'firkant' and include Vassendsetra as a fourth hut. If you have the legs and weather you can make a side trip up Neådalssnota and/or go over Gjevilasskammen between Vassendsetra and Gjevilvasshhytta.) We finally turned around when we were faced with a waist-deep stream crossing due to all the rain. With all the boggy ground the hiking around here is mostly pretty wet no matter how you do it.

(That's Snota in the background)

We stoked a fire in the little accessory hut that Molly is living in and spent the rest of the afternoon reading and playing games. The rainy weather began to break in the evening (rainbow picture above), giving us a hope for good weather the next day. Dinner was baked trout with the usual boiled potatoes, better than average at a TT hut.

Some of that rain came down as snow at higher elevation -- still some fresh snow on the shady north slope of Trollhetta in the photo above, also a good example of the mix of bog and pine woodland in upper Folldalen.

Snota is unusual in that there is a marked summer route right to the top -- on most Norwegian summits, you're on you're own even if there is some kind of summit register. The big white patch is a remnant glacier, and the route crosses the snowfield at the right end of it to gain what looks like a ridge but is really the broad, bouldery north slope of the mountain.

Whenever Sebastian comes to the first snow patch of the day, he has to roll in it, then he'll chase snowballs for as long as anyone is willing to throw them.

And at the top of the mountain, he always peers right over the edge -- we say he's contemplating suicide.

Here's a view down towards Folldalen -- Trolheimshytta is down there somewhere, and you can see the big bog we crossed the previous day.

A rare photo of my wife and I relaxing by the summit cairn (photo by Zoe, I'm usually the guy behind the lens).

Looking down on the upper part of the glacier/snowfields, the little lake under Litjsnota is still mostly iced in.

We took our time and were pretty late getting home, but it was a beautiful day. I'll be going back in to do a speed hike/run around the Trollheimen Triangle with Molly, hoping to beat last year's time of 12:18. Since I won't have the dog, I'll use a kayak to get to about 5 km from the hut, saving a lot of muddy hiking above Gråsjøen.

Full gallery at http://gallery.me.com/rstrimbe#100219. Enjoy!

Beautiful country. I often wonder what it would be like to live in a much colder climate, but nothing ever comes of it. I like short winters. :-)

Not very nice to toss the snow-ball off the edge of the precipice and tease the dog!

JK

Beautiful country.

I wonder if I could move there and make a living...... Hmmmm?

Norway has just been added to the Places to Go list. Great pictures. I take it this trip was within the last month? What are the temperatures like there this time of year?

On my to go list. Thanks for the pics.

Both trips were in July. Summer temps in the mountains are chilly to cool (50s and 60s F) on cloudy/rainy days, often warmer (70s) when the sun shines, but very rarely anything that could be called hot. I actually miss hot days for swimming holes and kayaking, when it's nice for a skinny guy like me to warm up after getting wet. Otherwise it's nice to be able to keep cool.

Here's an old web page on a longer hike in Tafjordfjella (2003), (where we also went on our Easter ski tour this year, I think I posted a report on that):

http://web.mac.com/rstrimbe/iWeb/Personal/Tafjordfjella/Tafjordfjella.htm

Ande here's the first of a series of pages on our 10-day crossing of Jotunheimen (Home of the Giants, Norway's highest mountains, up to about 8000 feet) in 2004:

http://web.mac.com/rstrimbe/iWeb/Personal/Summer%202004/Turtagro-Leirvassbu/Jotunheimen1.htm

Finally, if you're interested and haven't seen earlier posts, we are working on a "how-to" website on Norwegian huts, mow a bit stalled out although I have a new page on Jotunheimen almost ready to go:

http://www.norwayhut2hut.com/Home.html

BTW, if huts aren't your thing, there are almost no restrictions on camping on undeveloped land, and for a day use fee you can camp near a hut and use the facilities up until about supper time. Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam

I think I could deal with that kind of weather. I guess its the other season that gets you. Cool site, thats unbelievable that there are over 400 huts.

Fabulous. The hut to hut trek would be a great time. Someday.

@bccroney: yes BigRed has certainly done a good job explaining the norwegian hut system. But the number of about 450 huts refer to only the DNT-huts. In my area they represent merely 1/3 of the huts I may use. 1/3 are other open huts/shelters. Some of these are modest but some are as big as the DNT-huts. These huts are free of charge. The last 1/3 are JFF huts. (JFF= hunter-/fishermen club) These huts may be rented but there is no universal key to unlock them. To view the complete DNT-huts use this map http://ut.no/kart Until you zoom in too close the map also show Sweden and their huts.

@BigRed: Now I have ordered the map of Trollheimen! Next year I simply must hike the Trollheimen triangle, with perhaps one or two detours :)

Is that some Norwegian or Swedish code talk or what.

Did not the map work for you noddlehead or what?

I think ut.no is in Norwegian only, but has very nice maps. For info in English, the DNT web site is much improved, and also has pretty goos zoomable maps:

http://www.turistforeningen.no/english/

bccorney -- FYI here's a link to the report from last summer's trip, over Romasdalsalpene and Sunndalsfjellet, which are a little more off-the-beaten-path than, for example, Trollheimen, but really rugged and beautiful.

http://www.trailspace.com/forums/trip-reports/topics/58383.html

I checked out your trip from last summer and pictures are stunning. When you said huts I kind of imagined...a shed/lean-to. Some of those seem fairly sophisticated with even the most primitive looking ones trumping the open air lean-tos I've used. I just have to get across the pond now.

I have stayed and worked in huts of one description or another in NZ and the Alps as well as the AMC huts and GMC and USFS cabins and shelters in the White and Green mountains (NH/VT). The Norwegian huts are easily the most comfortable and user friendly of them all -- unfortunately also costliest (for a given level of service), especially f you are converting from dollars. But if it's not too cold or blustery or buggy (or crowded) an open shelter can be really nice, watching the sun set or the rain drip or the squirrels in the trees... I kinda miss that simplicity.

I work for a Norwegian-owned company and I see them all the time in pictures so have to ask. What is the function of the grass on everyone's roofs I see in the pictures of Norway?

I'll pass the buck on this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sod_roof

These days I think it's mostly tradition. Ironically I think it's pretty expensive to do a "modern" turf roof (special heavy duty plastic underlayer) , and I don't know that there's any special advantages, just looks cool, except maybe with trad log houses as noted in the wiki article. I will say I'm impressed at the tightness and quality of log fitting here, even in new huts in the mtns.

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