Store Russetinden (10.06.2012)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Characteristic | Hike |
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| Duration | 7h 00min |
| Map |
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| Ascents | Store Russetinden (1,405m) | 10.06.2012 |
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Fjellsportgruppa in Tromso arranged this trip to Store Russetinden, the first hike of the year to begin the summer season. I was very excited to not only be joining a group of new people and have their company, but also to be making an ascent of one of the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen from the E8. So we met up at Nansenplass at 0900 and had a short briefing from the turleder Harald before making the road trip down to Nordkjosbotn in a convoy of 4 cars. I had in my car 3 other girls; Mona from Trondheim, Maja from Denmark and Lena who was from the Balsfjord area (quite a local!). We had a nice chat while driving through a sunlit Ramfjord, and then through Lavangsdalen toward Balsfjord. All the familiar mountains were starting to come into view for me, but the difference was on this journey I actually had people to talk to :-) We met another car of hikers at the Shell garage in Nordkjosbotn, and then it was a short drive down a side road to where we parked up near a bridge beneath the E8. At least being so close, at the foot of the mountain, we didn't have to walk too far along the road to access the trail. It was very warm when we started the hike through the forest on the lower slopes ofthe mountain, and soon I was regretting not putting on a pair of shorts instead of the soft shell trousers I was wearing. But once we started to climb the steep slopes out of the forest and up towards the glacier, things started to get cooler with a breeze blowing down and gradually it became more cloudy, so I decided that actually wearing shorts wouldn't have been so ideal after all, and I was quite glad of leg protection!
We took many breaks to have something to eat and drink and it was a nice atmosphere with people chatting to each other. Nearby, from time to time we heard some rockfalls, which was a little bit distracting, but at least they didn't seem to be happening too close to us. We took lunch on the moraine, which was at about 800m above sea level. So after lunch we still had another 600m to ascend, but it was quite a direct route up the west face of the mountain, so the height was gained very efficiently! Fortunately for people in the middle and rear of the group, we had some nice footsteps to follow, all thanks to the trailbreakers at the front. It was nice not to be doing it all by myself as I'd had to do on so many other trips throughout the winter and spring :D
Looking back down the slope was sometimes enough to instill an element of nervousness just thinking about the descent, but some of us who were a little more fearful of this managed to forget about it for the moment and just concentrate on getting to the top. Once we'd reached the top of the face though, and onto the summit ridge we were treated to the most magnificent views, and it was quite an airy feel to do the last few metres to the top. I would have probably felt a little more happy to have crampons on at that point but given that everyone else seemed to be managing quite fine without I got the impression I was a bit more cautious, I don't know? Anyway, regardless of that we all made it to the top and spent probably a good 1/2 hour enjoying the 360-degree jaw-dropping panorama all around. It was quite an accommodating summit too, given that all 18 of us fit perfectly around the cairn! It was perhaps a bit of a shame that we hadn't had clear blue, cloudless skies above us, but the fact that it was a bit overcast did nothing to spoil the magnificence of where we were and what we could see.
We soon left the summit though, as we were getting a bit chilly, and began the descent back down the ridge and toward the west face again. Some of the more fearless had come well prepared and dressed their bums in Coop bags for glissading down, but I had not intended to do anything quite as scary as that and decided to do the descent in a thoroughly sensible and British manner but kicking good steps and planting in my ice axe! Having said that, after about 100 metres of rather good progress in this style, I did end bum sliding unintentially, and for a lot further down the mountain than I perhaps wanted! It was a bit fun and a bit scary - in fact more scary than fun because I wasn't sure where or when I was going to stop! But somehow I slowed down and got back onto my feet again, which I was very happy about. One or two people maybe hadn't gone down with so much control, and I think one of the girls got a bit freaked out by that because at one point she was going head first, rather than feet first. Very fortunately though she stopped before encountering any rocks and everyone emerged at the bottom of the face uninjured!
The rest of the descent went very quickly, and there were some nice runs down the snow. It was light and fast underfoot, and at least the non-snow part was not too far either, because by that time my knees were starting to feel tired! We got back to the cars again by 5pm. It had been a superb day and everyone had had a great time. Maybe we hadn't had perfect weather, but it seemed more than good enough for me, and I was quite glad to have had the views that we did!
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