Oppdal Storsamling

Its been hard to find time during the week to write up my blog, but finally I have a chance to sit down on the couch and do so! Last weekend was the Wing Orienteering Club 'storsamling' (social gathering) in Oppdal and since then we have been so busy working, biking in the snow and ice and eating lots of yummy food I have had no time to write anything.

On Friday night before we went to Oppdal Helen picked me up and we went over to Lene's for a girls' sushi night - which was a delicious affair indeed. Lene has some beautiful porcelain and a very stylish flat. We made some yummy sushi and had a very enjoyable time - so I had to include photo of our meal in this post.

The next morning we hopped up quite early and made our way over to the Dragvoll campus to catch the organised bus to Oppdal. It was a beautiful morning because it was snowing lightly and thin white powder was settling over the countyside. By the time we reached Oppdal it was white everywhere.

There is a prominent mountain called Allmanberget (1342) which rises steeply out of the Oppdal township with a very large aerial tower on top. We were told there was a relatively easy track which climbed directly up the snowy face. Intrigued Chris, Bård and I decided it sounded like a fun adventure to try to climb it, while most of the others decided on a run on a map in Oppdal.

Warming ourselves by the hot fire on the way up....

The track started very easily and well marked, climbing out of the valley towards a rocky couloir. We continued up as the route became more exposed, but nothing to put us off so far. We reached a small book to write our names in, then continued happily on up. Not much after this a sign directed us to climb out of the gully and onto the main slopes.

The little box

From here the route became more exposed and icy. Bård started to kick steps into the ice and it was rather tricky for Chris, given he only had one hand to use and was wearing running shoes. After a very steep section which I felt would be rather difficult to down climb we reached a sign which said "Hard route/ Easy route" pointing in two different directions.

Getting a wee bit steep!

Easy or hard? Or just cling to the sign?

We were a bit relieved as we headed in the 'easy' direction. However it wasn't long before we couldn't see any possible way up, there were small bluffs all around us and the slope was very steep and it was better not to look down between your legs too much! We traversed around - but that was hopeless. We were just weighing our options when Bård noticed a green triangle on a rock above us.

Steep.... yikes

We made the decision to head up towards it, up some even steeper ground that I was very unsure about descending. Carefully we continued up, finding some hairy ledges to kick steps into. Finally Bård said he could see the tower above us and the angle of the slope lessened. The feeling of reaching flat ground again was a very good one!

Looking back down one of the gullies gave one a slightly eerie feeling

Cold on top

It was chilly on top so we didn't spend long admiring the clouds. We found a much easier route down round the side of the mountain. There were still some very slippery patches to cross, and Chris slipped on one and hit a rock with his knee and cracked the bottom part of his cast...oops. It grew dark as we wound our way down through the forest and finally back to the main road and back to the cabins where we were staying. I won't ever be able to drive through Oppdal without looking at that mountain in the same way.

I have drawn our route on here. The dots are where we lost the way.

It was fun, but I think next time we would have an ice axe and crampons to try that kind of malarkey - and maybe not with a bung hand either - Ally suggested afterward that Chris should have had a claw or hook (-; We had a very nice evening eating yummy food and playing a quiz.

Cake, mmmm

The following day a group of us went for a walk/ run up another mountain near Oppdal. It was a beautiful crisp sunny day and this mountain was at a much more appropriate angle. We saw a massive herd of reindeer and Ally decided to chase them.

The running crowd ready to go


Up through the snow

Claw man on the way up, enjoying the sun and the snow

Ally running after the herd of reindeer

On top the wind was blowing, so it was super cold, but we got a wonderful view out towards the Trollheimen mountains. The mountain was called Blåøret (1605 m). It was really nice to run back down into the relative warmth. It was kind of slippery, so you could sort of glide back down the hill. We got back down to the bus just as the sun was setting, feeling very satisfied with ourselves.

The summit

The summit cairn with the Trollheimen mountains in the background.

This week it has been very cold and icy in Trondheim, so the snow has stayed round our place. The Kyvannet is completely frozen (although Chris decided it was hot enough for a swim!) While Chris was sitting inside today a little reindeer wandered past our front door. So now it feels like winter has really arrived and we are just waiting for some more snow so we can ski - claw man will just have to be careful (-: