Skruven

  • Skruven
  • 1584 m.
  • Primary factor 734 m.
  • Location: Norangsdalen, Norway
  • Location: North 62.17034, East 006.77150 (GPS on the summit)
  • Difficulty: YDS class 3
  • Climbed on September 3. 2017.

Information:

How to get there:
A good point of reference is the small village Hellesylt, the famous Geirangerfjord runs from here to Geiranger.
Drive uphill towards Stryn. Just as you are about to leave the populated part of Hellesylt behind, turn sharply right (Rindalen) and drive uphill with hairpin curves through an area with several family houses. Higher up, the road becomes a toll road. Pay toll (self serve, NOK 40 in 2017). This road serves the beautiful Moldskreddalen. Continue to just below the last houses, you fork left and cross a small bridge. There is parking on the right hand side about 50 meter from the houses. This location is N62.13586, E006.82407 elevation about 480 meter.
Route description:
Start up the road, the trail turns the cabins on the left hand side. Continue uphill towards Hesten. The trail becomes increasingly difficult to follow, but it really leads nowhere. Therefore, look uphill and pick out a route that climbs steeply uphill without any cliffs and try to avoid dense vegetation.
Higher up, the slope is more gentle, the best route is now to follow the right hand side of the mountain. There may be patches of snow that makes the hike even easier. Before Litlskruven a local summit (1411m) must be passed. One may cross directly over its top or traverse around on the (east) right hand side.
From the col between the two tops, ascend more steeply, the best route (avoids loose rocks) is to start up on solid rock to the right, then traverse uphill going more left. The upper part of this slope looks (and is) very steep. Ascend directly up directly below the cliff. You will then see a narrow broken crack that runs upwards with several steps and this is the route. This is class 3 climbing and definitely the crux of this route. Scramble up to the very top. From here, the profile of the Litle Akruven looks quite impressive and perhaps not all that easy. However, this scramble is never difficult, but quite fun. There is a tall cairn on the summit and good views down to the Norang fjord as well as to the well known Slogen mountain.
Descend easily to the next saddle then follow obvious tracks that regains the ridge and then lead to the main summit of Skruven. There is a summit register and perhaps even better view than from the lower summit.

Comments:
I needed to make dinner with Heidi in Bergen and that was about 6 hours of driving, thus an early start was called for. I slept well with an almost full moon between the mountains further down the valley. Woke up at 0500 and had a good breakfast. On my way at 0540. It was just getting light.
I had read that people tended to loose the trail, in order to avoid this I paid close attention. However, this was a mistake, the vegetation got cumbersome and the slope very steepish. On top of this, I ended up below a large cliff and had to traverse a considerable distance to my right hand side.
Next, the terrain was easy to the big hump before Litlskruven. I decided to contour on its east side. Patches of snow made hiking easy. Looking up at the next leg, the top part appeared very steep and one could think that the route would traverse out and around on the right hand side.
However, as I ascended directly up towards the steep upper part, I quickly observed that a traverse out right was not an easy option, while an interesting crack running steeply up seemed to provide an obvious route. This section is certainly (YDS) class 3, steepish scrambling or easy climbing, a very nice passage across what looked like a difficult section. On top of this step, the smaller summit Litle Skruven looks quite impressive. The ridge was straightforward, but nice scramble (remaining at class 2). There is a pretty tall cairn on the summit. I was there at 0900, took some photos and continued at 0910.
The traverse across to the main summit of Skruven has no difficult points. I arrived there at 0930, signed the summit register and took more pictures. Slogen is impressive and the higher Smørskredtind looks equally nice. After completing a set of panorama pictures as well as resting (There is a nice rock to sit on), I left at 0945.
On the return, I decided to take advantage of the snowfield below Skruven and skip the ridge in order to save some time. The descent to the valley went fine. I traversed downslope on the snow, then descended on a nice, but steep hillside to a point near the (right as seen when descending) end of the lake in the valley. The hike back out the valley was also fine after an initial section of boulders near the lake. I was back at my car by 1150, so only slightly more than two hours compared to almost 4 hours to ascend. This route is (YDS) class 2.
Driving at 1200, I was back in Bergen by 1800, a six hour drive.

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