Ø. Gråhøe

  • Ø. Gråhøe
  • 2014 m
  • Primary factor 976 m
  • Location: Oppland, Norway
  • Location: North 62:04.287, East 008:06.608 (GPS at the summit).
  • Saddle location: N62:01:00, E07:20:00 (UTM: 32 412756 +6876956)
  • Climbed February 14, 2004.

Information:

How to get there: Billingen is a good point to start from. Billingen is located on Hwy. 15, between Stryn and Otta. Coming from Stryn (or Geiranger), Billingen is about 12 km after Grotli in the direction towards Otta. Driving time from Bergen is about 6 hours.
In the opposite direction, approximately 33 km after Sjåk. Driving time from Oslo is probabely about 5 hours. There is a trailhead with a DNT sign for the trail that runs up the valley Torddalen, parking for 4-5 cars in the winter. The elevation is 732 meter and the precise location, north 62:00.589, east 007:51.699.
Route description: From the trailhead by the road at Billingen, ski up the field passing a few buildings. Slightly further up, the river Torda runs in a gorge while the river Store Føysa comes down in a distinct valley slightly right when facing uphill. Locate the bridge that crosses Torda and continue up the slope just west of Store Føysa. The slope is more uniform if you stay a bit west of the river. Climb this hill (about 500 vertical meter) and then contour into the valley in order to reach the river fork at 1260 meter. One should climb almost to 1300 meter in order to do this, avoiding the steeper slope down near the river. Descend to the river fork and cross the river. The left fork comes from the lake Langvatnet (1422m), while the right fork comes from the lake Skarvedalsvatnet (1548m), where we are headed. Instead of following the river, head north-east up the gentle slopes and pick a route that contours north of point 1616 at the 1500 meter level. The route now tourns more east into the flat valley between Gråhøe (1945m) on the north and Skarvedalseggje (1961m) to the south. From here, climb slightly steeper, but easy terrain, into the valley between Gråhøe on your left (west side) and Ø. Gråhøe to the right (east side). Shortly before reaching the saddle, one can continue the gentle ski ascent directly towards the summit.
Comments: I did this trip with my son Pål Jørgen, age 14. We started from Bergen in the early afternoon on a Thursday, and stayed overnight at the hotel in Stryn. The next morning we drove to Billingen and started skiing around 0915. We established base camp at elevation 1590 meter at location N62:03.943, E008:03.719, just north of Skarvedalsvatnet (1548m). Breaking trail in fairly deep snow, while gaining almost 900 vertical meters took us 6:45.
We had surprisingly strong (gale force) wind throughout the night, building significant snow drifts around our tent. By 0700 the wind died down and we had near perfect winter conditions for our "Grand Tour" of Storebreen with adjoining peaks. We started skiing the next morning at 0800, hit the summit at 0900. Next, we continued to Gråhøe (1945m) at 1000, further across the Storbreen Glacier to Digerkampen (1944m). We left Digerkampen around noon and made Blåhøe (1959m) at 1330. A nice ski down between Blåhøe and Gråhøe got us back to base camp around 1400. We spent another night and skied back to the car on Sunday morning in about three hours.
One may note that this peak is the most isolated 2000 meter peak in Norway, also, somewhat surprisingly, it does not have a name on the M711 map. It is commonly known as Gråhøe, however, this is the peak further west.

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