Alpine Ski Touring to Mount Alnestind (01.07.2020)
Written by Solan (Atle Solholm)
| Start point | Alnesreset (835m) |
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| Endpoint | Alnesreset (835m) |
| Characteristic | Randonnée/Telemark |
| Duration | 2h 17min |
| Distance | 5.2km |
| Vertical meters | 866m |
| GPS |
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| Ascents | Alnestinden (1,663m) | 01.07.2020 |
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Mount Alnestinden have for years been cherished by many Norwegians as a mountain that you may summit on skis long after the snow’s gone along the trails to the summit of other mountains. The mountain has a long ridge on the east side, and the ski route up to the summit runs along the north side of this ridge. As this is on the leeward side of the mountain, a lot of snow accumulates along the route during winter, and it takes time for it to melt away during the summer months. Moreover, there’s little sun on this north side of the ridge much of the year, and this further contributes to a rather slow meltdown of the snow. In late spring, and during the summer months, i.e. when the Trollstigen escarpment road has been plowed and reopened after the winter months; the skiing trip to Mount Alnestinden starts at a point called Alnesreset (see map with my gps tracking), a spot located about 830 m.a.m.s.l. Image #1 was captured standing at this very spot, and even shows the snow trail upwards along the foot of the east ridge of the mountain. At winter time, the mountain is usually regarded as "inaccessible" due to its remote location. It is possible to climb it on ski even in winter, though, it's just that it will take you about two hours of skiing to reach the usual starting point, as you have to start at about 250 m.a.m.s.l. in Isterdalen Valley; and then climb all the way along the Trollstigen escarpment road up to the Trollstigen Tourist Center at about 700 m.a.m.s.l. Moreover, there is a substantial risk of being hit by falling ice as you climb Trollstigen at winter time, and it may at times be necessary to switch from skis to hiking shoes as the snow may have been blown away from the escarpment road several places. For more information about this winter trip, see my tour description at Hybrid-tur fra Isterdalen til Alnestinden (unfortunately the tour description is in Norwegian, but the many photos included in that tour description will give you a lot of information). I have previously attempted to climb Mount Alnestinden six times, but I’ve only made it three times to summit. By now I know the trail very well, however, so on this occasion I knew I was going to find my way, even in foggy weather; and so I set out from Alnesreset, eager to improve my statistics of reaching the summit in only 50% of my attempts.
There was still enough snow that I could set out on skis right from the roadside. You usually have to carry the skis for some distance before you can put them on at this time of the year, but due to some really heavy snowfalls in the months of April and May this year; snow was still quite abundant all the way down to the roadside. As you climb upwards along the north side of the east ridge of this mountain, it is quite important that you keep some distance to that very ridge; as there's frequently rockfalls as well as avalanches coming down from that mountain ridge. In springtime you usually have a broad mountain side covered by snow, but now that summer is here; only a narrow strip of snow remains for you to follow up towards the ridge between Mount Alnestinden and Mount Finnan.
When climbing Mount Alnestinden on skis, you follow this direction along the east ridge until you reach an altitude of about 1400 m.a.m.s.l., and the you turn south. At this point you'll see one knoll on the east ridge (Image #5), and another one on the north ridge of the mountain (Image #6); and in order to get up to the upper plateau of the mountain, you have to climb up the steep slope between these two knolls. [It's not actually a plateau up there above these two knolls of the mountain, but rather a hanging valley between the eastern and northern ridge of the mountain]. On this day the weather was indeed quite foggy, and so the view was limited. Had it been my first attempt of climbing this mountain, I would have aborted the ascent due to the limited visibility; but since I had climbed this mountain six times before, including three times all the way up to the summit, it seemed quite safe to continue. The climb between the two knolls described takes you into a hanging valley, as mentioned; the sides of which you have to climb in order to get to the summit.
Once you're in the upper hanging valley of the mountain, you have only about 150 altitude meters left to climb. The last climb up to the summit is still quite steep, however, and most skiers, including myself, will go skiing in some criss-cross manner upwards in either side of the valley. As I embarked on this final climb, however, I suddenly heard the sound of another skier behind me; and there, right out of the fog, came a young man heading straight towards the summit of the mountain. He reached the summit a minute or two ahead of me, and then he headed back down as I reached the summit. On top of the mountain I removed the skins from underneath my skis, and then had something to eat and drink; and then as I was having my lunch brake, I suddenly heard two skiers coming out of the fog. One of them was the same young man that had been on the summit a few minutes earlier, but now another young man was skiing along with him. I figured he had just reached the summit a few minutes ahead of his companion, and so he had gone back to help his friend find the way to the summit up through the fog. The descent back down to my car was incredibly fun. Whereas the climb up takes about two hours, skiing back down to Alnesreset only takes about 10 minutes; and the trip down really reminds of downhill skiing in an alpine resort, though here you have the slopes almost entirely by yourself.
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