Telemark Skiing to Mount Litleskjerdingen (15.02.2020)
Written by Solan (Atle Solholm)
Start point | Nakkedalen (219m) |
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Endpoint | Nakkedalen (209m) |
Characteristic | Randonnée/Telemark |
Duration | 3h 55min |
Distance | 8.4km |
Vertical meters | 629m |
GPS |
Ascents | Litleskjerdingen (678m) | 15.02.2020 14:05 |
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Visits of other PBEs | Blåskjerdingen p-plass (214m) | 15.02.2020 14:05 |
On this particular afternoon I actually intended to go skiing to Mount Blåskjerdingen, but while on my way up there I had to change my destination slightly due to lack of snow. Mount Blåskjerdingen is quite steep on most sides, with snow shelves and a high risk of avalanches here and there, but the south ridge of the mountain is less steep, and is located on the windward side of the mountain; hence you're unlikely to run into an avalanche when ascending along that ridge, and so, as long as you stick to the south ridge, Mount Blåskjerdingen is considered a relatively safe mountain for winter skiing (as long as you don't go upon the large snow shelves on the east side [i.e. the leeward side] of the summit area). On the other hand, as the south ridge is located on the windward side, snow tends to blow away, and collect on the east side of the mountain; hence there are winters when snow along the south ridge is so scarce that it's difficult to climb the mountain on ski along the south ridge, at least without harming your skis. And this was the case on this particular day. Down in the valley, along the road, and at the parking lot, there was plenty of snow; and even in the birch forest that lines the valley up to about 450 m.a.m.s.l., snow was plenty.
Once out of the birch forest, however, I realized that the amount of snow on the south ridge could be a bit too scarce for an ascent on ski; and that was when I decided to go to Mount Litleskjerdingen first, and only thereafter make an attempt at Blåskjerdingen; so that if I failed to climb Mount Blåskjerdingen, I would at least have climbed one proper mountain on this day. From where I was standing, snow seemed to be sufficient, though not extremely abundant, on Mount Litleskjerdingen. I therefore headed towards Litleskjerdingen on my skis. From where I came out of the forest, there is about half a kilometer of horizontal skiing to get to the foot of Mount Litleskjerdingen. You actually go e little bit down at one spot, in order to cross a little riverbed; but it's not enough downhill to bother to remove the skins from your skis. (And the river is frozen and covered by snow at this time of the year, hence there's no problem in crossing it).
I then ascended Mount Litleskjerdingen from the west, as may bee seen from my GPS tracking. The climb was more or less straight forward, though due to the limited amount of snow, I had to go around some huge stones here and there; and as I reached the top of the mountains, I even had to take my skis off an walk over to the highest point on my ski boots. Nevertheless, from the summit of the mountain view was fabulous in all directions. I captured a lot of pictures up there (Images ## 5-9), and then started on my descent.
I then actually did an attempt at Mount Blåskjerdingen, and climbed up to the edge of the south ridge, just to have a closer look in order to determine for sure whether there was enough snow or not on the ridge. Reaching the edge of the ridge at about 600 m.a.m.s.l. only confirmed what I had seen from the distance, however, i.e. that snow was to scarce, and too many stones were protruding out of the snow. It would have been possible to do the climb with snow shoes, but not on skis, and definitely not if you love your skis. So I just turned around at 600 m.a.m.s.l., and returned to my car at the parking lot in Nakkedalen valley.
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