Njunis
  • Njunis
  • 1717 m.
  • Primary factor 1305 m.
  • Troms, Norway
  • Location: North 68:44.952, East 019:29.278 (GPS at the summit)
  • Difficulty: (YDS) class 2.
  • Climbed May 5. 2012.

Information:

How to get there:
From Tromsø, drive E-8 to Nordkjosbotn and continue to Øverbygd or via Øvergård, to Hwy. 173 running south in Dividalen. To proceed south beyond the farm Frihetsli requires a self serve payment of toll (NOK 50 in 2012). Drive approximately 5.5 kilometer, there is a small turnout on the right hand side of the road, just before the road crosses a small bridge. This is the trailhead, location N68:43.826, E019:45.192, elevation approximately 305 meter.
Route description:
From the trailhead/parking locate the trail that runs downhill or just proceed downhill until you find the trail and/or the first small bridge. Continue across the river using 3-4 small bridges that span narrow, but very deep gorges. The river runs far below and has carved several deep channels inthis area.
Continue slightly left then directly up the hillside on the opposite side. There is some vague ridge line coming down slope that is pretty good to follow. That is, there is enough space between the trees to make skiing quite adequate. We crossed the treeline at location N68:43.537, E019:42.707, elevation about 600 meter.
From here, continue uphill to about 950 meter of elevation, then start a long traverse south of Dreggfjellet. Contine across the creek that runs from the lake between Dreggfjellet and the south summit of Njunis (1606m), and enter the very distinct and narrow valley just east of point 1343. Proceed up this valley and continue up the higher valley that turns a bit east of north (more right). Alternatively, as a safer route wrt. avalanche danger, continue up the ridge on the west side (left) of this valley. This ridge broadens higher up and turns into the main (south) ridge connecting to the summit of Njunis.
The top part is flat, but beware of the steep side to the east. There is a (rotating) radar on the very top, near the cliff. This radar can be lowered into the mountain. In fact, there is a tunnel from the farm Frihetsli serving this defense installation. (Must have cost a fortune to build!)
Comments:
I came to Tromsø Friday evening with the sun hitting Tromsdalstinden. Sondre had arranged a place that I could rent for the weekend near Olsberg. It was a nice evening drive, near midnight with a little bit of darkness, just enough to get the moonlight illuminating the many white mountain slopes. The forecast for Saturday was nice and I had agreed with Sondre that Njunis would be our goal for the day.
I did this climb with Sondre Kvambekk, age 21. He has been very active in mountaineering since early teenage years. Currently, he is doing his military service in Troms, and this was a nice opportunity to meet. We had a late start since the military only starts breakfast around 1000 in weekends. Thus, the time was already 1220 when we headed down towards the river.
The forecast had been promising sunshine, however clouds dominated and it became pretty obvious that this would be a grey day. As we skied south of Dreggfjellet, the clouds got thicker and gusty wind started to push around. We skied up into the clouds at around 1200 meter. From here, no visibility until we cautiously approached Sindre II, the radar located on top of Njunis. (Sindre is an acronym for Silo based radar that can be lowered into the mountain and protected.)
We arrived around 1820, so 6 hours up. There was no reason to hang around, in fact, radiation from the radar provided an extra incentive to leave this hostile place without further delay. We were back at the car around 2200. Bad weather, but good company!

Resources: