Kyrkja (21.06.2011)

Short and sweet summer daytrip from Leirvassbu.

We ascended along Høgvaglen to Kyrkjeoksle (kept a little north of it to spare some meters) and then straight up the south side of Kyrkja. That took us the expected 2.5 hours with moderate walking and several breaks to enjoy the scenery. Kyrkja looks more difficult to climb than it actually is - as I'm sure most people will report. It's well manageable even for families if the kids are not too small. On the same day a father and his 6 year old son came up an hour after us and little Frederic can be proud to have made his first 2.000m mountain! We had an all sunny day with a breathtaking 360° panorama right from the heart of Jotunheimen: Stetinden, Galdhøpiggen, Glittertind, the Hurrungane and of course many more peaks to the south behind Kyrkja's direct neighbours Høgvagltindane, Visbretinden and Semelholstinden all with their beautiful glaciers seemingly at arms length reach...

We scrambled down the same path as we had gone up but utilised a long snow field for a quite steep but fun downhill sliding on our backsides. (Don't get too far to the left or the downhill might go muuuuch deeper than it would be healthy...). For the way back from Kyrkjeoksle to Leirvassbu we chose to walk counterclockwise around Leirvatnet. That way we could use another 3 or 4 snow fields along the westside of Kyrkja for backsliding and for easy walking.

Fabulous trip for half a day. You will want to stay up on the top for a while. So make sure to bring a windbreaker and something to keep you warm if the weather is not that sunny and calm as we had it.