Raudskreda

  • Raudskreda
  • 1219 m
  • Prominence 779 meter
  • Location: North 66.38953, East 013.48656 (GPS on the summit)
  • Lurøy, Norway
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 2+
  • Climbed September 16. 2021.

Information:


How to get there:
A good point of reference is Mo i Rana. Take Hwy. 810 west from Mo i Rana. When you meet Hwy 17, turn right (direction Bodø). Drive through a long tunnel, approximately 2.7 kilometer long. Shortly after exit, you will go through a very short tunnel. Pay attention, turn sharp right onto a small farm road, the very first such road after you exit the short tunnel. Drive a short distance, you will have a building right in front and a very tall gate in a similarly high fence. Park here, make certain that you do not block access to the gate. This location is N66.34435, E013.46323, elevation perhaps 4 meter.
Route description:
Your first challenge is to pass the big gate. The farmer locks it! I met him and recommended that he stop this practice, but that may be ulikely. Climb the fence next to the gate pole carefully. Continue up the forest road, you will pass another similar gate, but this one can be opened. Close it carefully behind you. Continue until the road ends near location N66.35097, E013.48306, elevation about 210 meter. Head uphill from here. Traversing a bit right may help avoid some bushwack, but some seems unavoidable. The mountain birch trees grow on this slope. There are also some rock bands that must be negotiated. There are breaks so they really pose no big problem. You will get up to 750m-760m of elevation on Nordfjellet, cross here, the summit will be up on your left. Next, descend to a small lake just above 700 meter. Head north towards the mountain that is located between your location and Raudskreda. This mountain is marked as 1147m, you should pass on the west side of the summit, but you may have to get close to the 1100 meter level before you can do this. The terrain between 900m and 1000m is generally steepish, this is the crux on this route. It may be best to scramble a bit to your right, then follow some small creeks and gullies upward. Head north along the main crest, stay well below the highest ridge on the left (west) side. You will cross some permanent snow, then descend in a gully to the lowest saddle. Walk through the saddle and follow a natural ledge that will connect you with a larger permanent snow field on the east side of Raudskreda. Ascend this, the snow has a short break, then essentially continues to gain the north ridge of Raudskreda. Turn south and follow this nice ridge to the summit.
Comments:
A local from Mo i Rana, Rolf Einar Jensen, suggested the route I decided to try. He had never done this, just looked at the map. The first issue was the locked gate and an extraordinary tall fence. I walked along the fence (left) looking for a gate to pass through or a place to possibly get under. No luck. I eventually was able to climb through in a place where the fence went on top of a small cliff. This whole thing wasted quite a bit of time. The ascent of Nordfjellet went just fine. Some annoying bushwack in mountain birch, I also kept an eye on all the long rock bands that ran across the slope, but they turned out to cause little problem.
I arrived at the nice bypass east of Nordfjellet summit and decided that it looked best to just descend to the small pond. The slope of the mountain 1147m, looked steep, but I figured it would look better as I got closer. I made quick progress uphill and it looked pretty easy, however, not quite as easy as it looked. I reconsider my initial thinking and traversed right to find a gully that led upwards somewhat more safely. This passage was still definitely (YDS) class 2+.
Higher up, things got easier. I was happy to discover a nice bypass on the north side of the summit. Descending a bit, it was still interesting to explore the terrain between here and the col immediately before the peak. This all worked out very well. In the col, it was pretty clear that the best route of ascent would be to take advantage of the snow on the east side. The new snow provided good footing and I ascended efficiently all the way to gain the north ridge. From here, an easy walk to the summit, arriving there at 1135, about 4:30 after my start.
Good views all around, but the weather was not as good as yesterday. I left after 10 minutes, and decided to make a rest after descending back down from the peak between here and Nordfjellet. The return hike went smoothly and I improved slightly on my route. On Nordfjellet, I also met 2 reindeer, a very nice encounter. When I got down to the upper end of the forest road, I actually met the farmer. He was working on a slight extension of the road. I mentioned that he should make access a bit easier by not locking his gate. He was surprised to hear that I had been all the way to Raudskreda. He gave me the key to the lock, agreeing that I would just leave it there. Back at my car in 3:15 at 1500. A nice and pretty interesting route had been accomplished.

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