Gråtinden on snowshoes (01.05.2013)  5

Written by hanneke (Hanneke Luijting)

Characteristic Snowshoe trip
Duration 3h 00min
Distance 6.6km
Map
Ascents Gråtinden (587m) 01.05.2013

On the first of May we decided on a sunset trip to Gråtinden on Ringvassøya. You can start from the highest point on the road to Skarsfjord, which means you only have to climb about 400 m. The first part is quite steep, but after that it's easy going until it again gets steeper near the top. We went on snow shoes, snow conditions were variable (icy at times, crusty at others, and plenty of bare patches of rock).

After about 1.5 hours (note: I am about the slowest person in Norway :P) we reached top, and we had a bit of a "hallelujah" moment when we saw the view towards the west...

Glorious view from Gråtinden
Glorious view from Gråtinden

The wind was strong so we sheltered behind the cairn to drink some tea. Luckily the weather gradually got better while we were on the top, in the end the wind died down completely. There is a large plateau here that we explored a bit - next time I'd like to make it all the way to the westernmost point for an even better view!

Paul on the plateau, Kvaløya in the background
Paul on the plateau, Kvaløya in the background

The sunset was just fantastic, we hang around taking lots of photos...

Another panorama from Gråtinden. You can see all the islands on the outer coast of Troms from here, like Musvær, Gåsvær, Sandøya, Sørfugløya :)
Another panorama from Gråtinden. You can see all the islands on the outer coast of Troms from here, like Musvær, Gåsvær, Sandøya, Sørfugløya :)

But as it was getting late (sunset was after 22:00) eventually we hurried back down to the car.

On the way down, with views towards northern Ringvassøya, and in the background Vannøya
On the way down, with views towards northern Ringvassøya, and in the background Vannøya

A great little trip, I'll be back in the midnight sun season :)

User comments

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    Ringvassøya's secret corner?

    Written by hmsv1 04.05.2013 06:48

    Beautiful panoramas as usual, Hanneke! I of course expected nothing less ;-) I have never thought about visiting this end of Ringvassøya and getting such good views towards Kvaløya - next time I will join you and see if for myself!

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