Location: North 61.77990, East 006.77434 (GPS on the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed on May 27. 2017.
Information:
How to get there:
A good starting reference is the village of Innvik, this is along Hwy. 15 connecting
Byrkjelo and Stryn. From Innvik, drive uphill (south) and follow the road that
climbs into the (only) valley above Innvik. There is a self-serve toll road as you
get higher up (NOK 50 in 2017). After you have gained 500 meter of elevation, fork right
where a road descends to the river and crosses to the south side. Find parking along this
road that serves a few mountain cabins before it ends. The road ends at a private
cabin at location N61.82262, E006.66934, elevation near 590 meter.
Route description:
Ski directly uphill through reasonable vegetation that quickly gets sparser. There is a large
bowl higher up, the route should at the east (left) side of this bowl and continue more
south-east climbing the broad ridge that connects to the much more distinct north ridge of
Storlogpiken (1553m). Near the upper end of this ridge, there is a short, but significantly
steeper section of the ridge. In summer, this section may be scrambled (easy climbing), in the
spring, one may normally be able to kick steps up this section. One should bring an ice axe
and crampons if unsure about the conditions.
From the cairn of Storlogpiken, a local summit is
about 1.5 kilometer to the south-east.
The terrain is very gentle, first a slight downhill, then a much longer, but extremely
gentle uphill. This route pass slightly on the east side. Next, descend another gentle slope to
the next col, then contour around the next hill on its right (west) side. Continuing in the same general
direction, the route ascends slightly before desending into the dip before a final, somewhat longer
ascent to the peak that is located next to Ceciliekruna. This peak is almost as high, exceeding
1700 meter. Be aware of the cornice that prevents a direct descent to the final col separating
you from Ceciliekruna. Normally, this may be easily bypassed by first desending more south, then
cut left and ski back into the col. The landscape is quite spectacular in this area. From the
final col, ascend up between the two summits of Ceciliekruna. These summits are almost equal,
with good views from both, they are easily visited. The left (north) summit is supposed to
be one meter higher, it is the one with a proper cairn. There may be cornices and care should
be exercized when walking close to the cliffs.
Comments:
I had been looking forward to a traditional "Loen Rundt" trip, taking 10-15 participants along.
After driving from Bergen, we got organized and had a good hike the 1800 vertical meter to
Skåla. The brand new DNT hut next to the old Skåla tower, would serve as our
first quarter. The next day, Thursday, we continued along the glaciated Tindefjellet ridge in
very poor weather. Wind and rain with no visibility. I decided to make camp 2 kilometer before
our intended location, partly because we then would be in a good location for descending off
the glacier if the conditions persisted. The next morning was still bad and with many wet
participants I knew that people would easily be very cold since our planned route would
arrive at an exposed place where an abseil is required. Reluctantly, I decided that the team
should descend to Bødalsseter. Arriving there after about 4 hours, the weather started
to improve. (This has indeed happened before, but not always!)
New plans were needed. The best option seemed to be a visit to a cabin above the village
of Innvik. If the weather stayed nice, we could then make a skitrip on the terrain near
Myklebustbreen, an area that few of us had visited before.
This turned out to be an excellent plan. This cabin was owned
by the father of Inge, one of the participants. It was well equipped with a BBQ grill and
and outdoor hot-tub, water from the creek, with wood burning heating. We raided the local
store in Olden and subsequently had a great evening with food, drying equipment and the hot-tub.
The next morning, we could start hiking directly from the cabin and soon we were on snow skiing
up the north-facing slopes towards Storlogpiken. The upper part of this ascent was quite steepish,
but the snow was near perfect for kicking steps. We arrived at the nice cairn before 1100. What remained
was a nice ski trip along the high terrain with several smaller ups and downs to the peak located
just inside of Cecilekruna. The separating col is almost 100 meter deep, an easy way to descend was
located towards the south side. We arrived at the northern summit at
1300, good views and a very nice day. We subsequently crossed south and ascendded the south summit,
it provides a good view into the Olden valley. Leaving the second summit shortly after 1330, we had a
nice ski back to Storlogpiken, visiting
the independent mountain located South-East of Storlogpiken
along the way. Descending, one of the participants, Victoria, impressed everyone by actually
skiing down the steep section, the rest of us felt that the only "safe way" was to carefully climb back
down in the steps we had kicked while ascending. We were all back down at the
cabin by 1600.
A few now returned to Bergen, while Selina, Victoria, Åke and I slept (outdoors) near Stryn.
The next morning, we ascended the 1000 meter vertical route to the mountain called Hovden. About half
of the route is a via ferrata, including a couple of airy bridges. Hovden had just 2 weeks earlier opened
a spectacular gondola skylift, the second steepest in the world. A single span carries people from
the fjord to 1000 meter of elevation in 5-6 minutes.
A quick ride down, before we parted with Victoria and headed back south to Bergen.