My biggest interest is alpine climbing, combined with hiking and skiing in the mountains. My favorite country to do so is Norway. Why? Because it´s close to Sweden, they´ve got higher and more beautiful mountains, more glaciers and nice people. The only disadvantage is the weather, but with the right gear and the "wrong" weather you´re alone in the mountains. The area Jotunheimen in Norway is a real alpine area with several peaks reaching over 2000 meters. Jotunheimen is the home of Galdhöpiggen and Glittertind.
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The first area I´d like to recommend is the area my friend, Mikael Lilja, and I visited on my first trip to Norway. We went to Valle in Setesdal for rock climbing. In Valle you can climb long granite routes, up to 20 pitches. The rock is firm and the friction is excellent. Valle is a perfect place for beginners. Many of the routes are easy with bolts or pitons on stand, although the possibilities to place runners aren´t always what you wish for. In Valle you can live very cheap and I can recommend the campsite Steinsland, where they also have cabins. You can obtain a guidebook over the climbing in Valle from the tourist information office in the village. It´s not cheap and it´s in german! The illustrations are good and route finding should not be a problem.
The next area I would like to recommend is Jotunheimen
.This is a great area where you can climb alpine style the
year around. You can also go mountain biking, hiking, skiing,
fishing or just stay in one of the cozy hotels and enjoy the views.
In Jotunheimen lies the famous area Hurrungane
with Skagastölstindarna.
In 1997 we, me and my friend, visited
Hurrungane twice. The first trip in August we wandered up on
Galdhöpiggen, the highest mountain in Norway (ca: 2469 m). We also
climbed Skeia (2118 m, left), via a narrow, icey colouir
on the north face. The route was not found in the guide, so it
seems to be a new one. We camped at the mountain hotel at Krossbu.
A very nice hotel with warm showers and cold beers. The tour to
Skeia took about 13 hours, 6 h glacier travel to the mountain
(moderate speed), 3 h of climbing, 4 h descent and glacier travel
back. A highly recommended tour!
This trip, the one mentioned above, started whith us trying to
do the Syl-traverse at Sylarna on the swedish/norwegian border, close to the swedish
ski resort Åre. We went to Nedalshytta on the norwegian side
and from there we wandered of to the mountains. We camped at the
foot of the mountain and went to sleep. The next morning it was
+5 degrees centigrade, fog and rain. There was also a heavy wind
to top it of. We started climbing up the steep rocky slopes, but
when we reached the summit ridge we didn´t see sh.. Tired of
crawling in rain and rock, and bored due to the weather we
turned around and descended the mountains. If you´re going to do
the Syl-traverse, do it in the winter!! The area where Sylarna
is located is on the swedish side called Helags, and its
a beautiful mouintain area for sports and recreation.
The second (third actually, Trysil back country skiing in april)
trip to Norway in 1997 also went to Jotunheimen, in october. We made
an attempt on Store Skagastölstind (2400+ m), but due to the
norwegian weather we only reached 1700m. The wind bent the
aluminum tent poles! We got happily of the mountain and went to
Beitostölen, a norwegian ski resort. We camped at a superb new
site with sauna, Bietostölen camping,and ate at Peppes Pizza. Exelent
norwegian pan pizza, don´t miss it! We "climbed" Bitihorn
, a small mountain. On this mountain the germans trained horses
during world war II. It´s steep! From Bitihorn you have a
beautiful view into Jotunheimen to the west.
In november 1996 we went to Sulitjelma in northern Norway. It
was some -20 degrees centigrade. We were supposed to climb
Suliskongen, but time and motivation ran out. We turned south
and drove to Åndalsnes, in Romsdalen. Romsdalen is most famous
for its Trollväggen (The Troll Wall), but the climbing is great
in all ranges. I can recommend Bakken camping. It´s cheap
but good!
