Vasstinden (29.07.2012)

Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)

Start point	Lauklines
Characteristic	Hillwalk
Duration	4h 00min
Map

Ascents	Vasstinden (900m)	29.07.2012 18:00

There is nothing more satisfying than spending 5 hours in warm coastal sunshine while the rest of the city is covered in fog. That's exactly how things turned out on the last Sunday afternoon in July. For everyone living on the eastern side of Tromsøya, it probably would have appeared to have been a dull and grey day. For people like me living on the western side however, I could see a huge patch of blue sky and glorious sunshine illuminating pretty much the whole of Kvaløya for the whole day (although the cloud and fog were kind of moving slowly across from east to west by evening), and it would have been such a shame not to snatch the chance to enjoy it too!

Ilona - clearly satisfied with Vasstinden

So that it how the Vasstinden plans were made. I suggested to my friend Ilona that we head out for a hike, as far west as possible because this seemed like the only place left which wasn't in fog by the time she was ready for a hike. Vasstinden has been on my list of mountains to hike for a while, so this is where we ended up going. We left Tromsø behind in fog and gradually as we drove towards Kattfjord and closer to Lauklines, more and more blue sky began to creep over us - and by the time we parked up, it was at least 3 degrees warmer than when we'd left the city. Fortunately for us too, the path up Vasstinden was pretty well marked because it had been a Ti på Topp peak in previous years.

We started at about 6pm and the first half of the hike went pretty quickly, with a steep ascent straight up the mountainside. The views were awesome, and you could gaze straight down to the pretty cabins at the beach at Lauklines, where the three fjords - Nordfjord, Sørfjord and Kattfjord were meeting. The only thing that really spoiled the experience were the endless flies, with the majority of them being the really fat and annoying ones which just swarm around you without actually biting (I was quite amazed that despite spending 2 hours with these horrible bugs, I didn't actually get bitten). The track got a bit muddy in places because of the recent rain, but after about halfway we started to gain the rocky slopes to the top of the mountain, which in some ways were more pleasant to walk on but harder on the feet.

Enjoying the views at the top, looking toward the north

It was such hot work though, and neither Ilona or I could decide whether it was better to have been wearing long trousers or if shorts would have been nicer. I think if the bushes and forest had not been so thick at the lower part of the mountain then shorts would have been perfect. Anyway, higher and higher up the views over the fjords just got more superb; soon we could see out over several small islands and it was just a perfect evening. And still no clouds and fog above us. Clearly we had chosen the right place to hike - today west was definitely best! Many times we stopped to take photos, but even despite the number of stops we made, it only took about 2 hours to reach the top. And from there suddenly all the peaks to the north and east rose up in front of us and a whole new vista was to be seen. It was really spectacular.

We get rewarded for our patience with the bugs by a vast expanse of peaks at the top

The drop down to the northeast side the mountain was quite a surprise too, and very impressive. There were some really elegant ridges and rock faces plunging straight below the edge. Photos were obligatory! The real summit was not actually the best viewpoint on the mountain, and we found that it was more scenic to walk a short distance to the top slightly to the north to get the best views in all directions. We dwindled around there taking photos and having some things to eat and drink for quite a long while before we started to feel cool enough to want to start walking again.....and by that time the cloud that we'd left behind in Tromso had now made it's way over to Vasstinden, so it seemed like the ideal time to make our way back to the car.

In some ways though I think the cloud was quite helpful because it created some very stunning colours in the sky and over the fjord - and I think that we quite possibly stopped more times on the way down for yet more photos than when we'd come up!

Panorama over Sørfjord and Kattfjord on the way back down

There were, fortunately, fewer bugs trying to eat us on the descent than when we'd walked up - so that made it more pleasant. But it was still really humid as we went through the forest and it felt more like a jungle than being among some trees in northern Scandinavia! By the time we got down it was 10pm, and we were both feeling very pleased. It had been a very satisfying evening hike.