Location: North 69:16.378, East 020:08.611 (GPS at the summit).
Troms, Norway
Difficulty, YDS class 2+
Climbed on September 19. 2010
Information:
How to get there:
From Tromsø, drive to Nordkjosbotn and turn north on Hwy. E-6.
Drive approxiately 30 kilometer north on E-6, pay attention as you approach
the small place Elsnes, first a small road heads uphill on your right, shortly
thereafter there is a small turnout (space for one car) on your right hand side
and a trail heads uphill fro this spot. This location is
N69:20.064, E020:03.048, elevation about 40 meter. Turn off the Hwy. here and
park.
Route description:
Head uphill along the nice trail, first climbing moderately,
then more steeply before it levels off at about 160 meter of
elevation. Continue to follow the trail as it enters the Elnes valley.
After approximately 2.5 kilometer, the trail closes in on the river, this
is shortly after you have descended slightly from a small ridge and subsequently
crossed a small meadow. Leave the trail and cross the creek that comes down
from the Reppidalen valley. Continue uphill on what turns into a pretty
distinct ridge, you will have a small, but clear gully running down on
your left hand side. This ridge extends uphill to location
N69:18.791, E020:05.281, elevation about 620 meter, where the ridge shifts a little
right. Continue uphill and climb a somewhat steeper step to reach location
N69:18.491, E020:05.012, elevation about 970 meter. From here, the last and steepest
part of the ridge begins. Proceed uphill towards the cliffs higher up, traverse a bit
left and gain the plateau at location N69:18.297, E020:05.098, elevation 1205 meter.
This last section has pretty loose rocks and care is needed, but there is no
climbing.
From here, the route is essentially on flat and rocky terrain, but the rocks are
generally small and provide good footing. Proceed south-east and pass the local tops
Sommarfjellet (1493m) and Point 1540 on your left hand side. From the broad saddle between
Point 1540 and the summit, ascend the final, gentle slope to the summit of
Didnojiehkki. Late in summer/fall, this slope may be blue ice and crampons can be
helpful. Note: It appears that the ice dome Didnojiehkki is melting fast. previous
and current maps give the elevation 1562 meter, however, in September 2010, GPS measurements
showed only 1544 meter. This is also consistent with a GPS measurement performed a few
weeks earlier. If this trend continues, Point 1540 may become the highest point on
this massive mountain. It should also be noted that Didnojiehkki was the highest point in
this general area and therefore commanded a prominence exceeding 1000 meter. This distinction
has now shifted to the mountain Mannfjellet, elevation 1552 meter.
Comments:
After a great, but fairly heavy climb of Trollvasstinden
on Saturday, we had decided to try climbing Didnojiehkki, the following day. We stayed
in Trollhytta and left pretty early after a nice breakfast (egg and bacon).
We drove via Lyngseidet and observed the recent landslide that sent several houses into
the sea. Arriving at the trailhead shortly before 0800, we felt that we were on schedule
for another long climb.
The weather was overcast, but with a nice
view of the lower part of the mountain.
The fall colors in shades of yellow and brown providing a fantastic frame of a most
beautiful landscape. We
climbed the ridge and were pleasantly surprised to see how
high up the soft (to walk on) vegetation extended. Some short section of
more loose rocks and we
topped out on the flat mountain plateau at 1130 (3.5 hours).
From here, we experienced fog and then it started to snow. The seemingly endless
landscape of flat rocks just carried on. We finally hit the glacier, it was blue ice
with a thin layer of new snow. Not very steep, but slippery. We put on crampons and walked
to the highest point, arriving
at 1345. Big surprise as our GPS units both gave an elevation
of 1543 to 1544 meter, a significant difference from the 1562 map elevation. We headed back down
around 1400, as we had no view and it quickly felt pretty cold to just linger around.
When we made a brief stop at the edge of the
plateau, we observed a stoat (Mustela erminea), very curious, it seemed like he had never
seen a human before.
Descending, we had great views of the valley below and
the very impressive Reppifjellet straight across.
The formations are similar, very steep sides and a large, fairly flat mountain plateau.
The ridge extended
down below us and the colors grew
richer as more plants and trees could contribute.
We kept a somewhat higher pace and
reached the car by 1830.
Dinner at Nordkjosbotn, a beer at Egon in Tromsø, then an early morning
departure to
Oslo where a meeting was scheduled at the airport, starting 0930.