Ersfjordtraverse (04.07.2021)
Written by Sosnovsky (Juan Losada)
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
|---|---|
| Duration | 15h 11min |
| Distance | 23.7km |
| Vertical meters | 3,084m |
| GPS |
|
| Ascents | Store Blåmann (1,044m) | 04.07.2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Hollendaren (1,029m) | 04.07.2021 | |
| Melketinden (895m) | 04.07.2021 | |
| Revbergtinden (964m) | 04.07.2021 | |
| Skamtinden (884m) | 04.07.2021 | |
| Storstolpen (977m) | 04.07.2021 | |
| Styrmannstinden (955m) | 04.07.2021 | |
| Zapffetoppen (1,016m) | 04.07.2021 |
The Ersfjordtraverse was one of the traverses I had heard about before moving to Tromsø. 18 kilometers of scrambling up and down for hours between Ersfjord and the sea sounds awesome. We decided to give it a try with Ole, with whom I had done the Jiehkkevarri traverse with skis some weeks earlier. Neither he nor I had done it before, so we were a bit unsure about what equipment we should take with us. This is the gear we carried:
- 60 meter single rope. I'd rather had taken 2 x 30m half ropes, but I only have one 30m, and my climbing ropes 2 x 50m seemed too much. After having done the traverse: To rappel from Skamtind one definitely needs at least 60m (50m would be too short and you don't want to be short in that rappel). However, it is possible to avoid the rappel from Skamtind via an alternative route.
- 7 cams (between BD .3 and 2), some nuts, several slings, and some accessory cord.
- Helmets
- Ice axes
- 1.5L water for me, 2.5L for Ole.
- Food for a banquet
- First aid kit
- Batteries
We met at 5 am. in the parking of Store Blåmann, left my car there and drove to Rekvik. We packed the gear and started around 6 am towards Skamtind. The way up Skamtind is an easy trail with some rocks and easy scrambling in the last few meters.
From Skamtind we went to the northern Skamtind top, which also has a landmark. From there we easily found a rappel anchor and did a first rappel which must be the flattest rappel I've ever done. In contrast, the second rappel is very steep and exposed.
After the rappel, we continued through a trail on the side of a cliff which reminded me of the famous "galleriet" in Store Vengetind. We can spot Store Hollendaren and Storstolpan from any point in this section, but it took a while to reach Storstolpan. We didn't use the rope in this section but there were several parts of not-so-easy scrambling where a rope might be needed. The climb up Storstolpan follows the obvious couloir, which in our case it had some snow. To avoid snow and wet sections, we climbed slightly right from the couloir which still was very easy climbing. It took us 1 pitch of about 50 meters, we started climbing after some scrambling, so it might also be possible to do it in more pitches.
In Storstolpan we stopped for an early lunch break. The day was awesome, with no clouds and no wind. Probably it would have been nice a couple of degrees less (but I'm not complaining about the weather we had!). We headed towards Store Hollendaren, and followed a wrong ridge for 100 m: It's easy to follow the ridge, but it is not so easy to follow the right ridge! After some scrambling to get into the correct route again, the ridge towards Store Hollendaren is easy terrain with an easy scrambling bit in the very end to get to the proper summit. From the summit, we followed the snow towards Revbergtind going so much faster than anything we had before. The way up Revbergtind was quite simple.
The ridge from Revbergtind to Melketinden is a bit more challenging. Quite a lot of not-so-easy scrambling and two rappels from one of the middle summits. From Melketinden to Styrmannstinden was a bit more simple, with a short scramble right before Styrmannstinden where we used the rope. The descent from Styrmannstinden was easy and fast through the snow patches. We were lucky to meet a climber near the climbing hut who explained to us the way up Zapffetoppen. We followed the ridge, Zapffeegga, with some scrambling first and some easy climbing after. We used three pitches here.
From Zapffetoppen we had first a short section of up and down in loose and easy terrain to reach an open mellow section with snow which really felt great. That snow led us to the start of the last part of the traverse: the west ridge of Store Blåmann. The first section of this ridge is quite easy. About halfway or a bit more it gets a bit more technical and we rappeled once and scrambled for a while to finally get to Store Blåmann. From Store Blåmann it is a nice easy popular trail to the road where we finished 15 hours after departing from Rekvik. Great day and a great tour with great company. I am definitely going to repeat this!
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