Vinjeronden
  • Vinjeronden
  • 2044 m
  • Location: North 61:54.221, East 009:50.935 (GPS on the summit)
  • Rondane National Park, between Storronden (2138m) and Rondeslottet (2178m)
  • Primary factor 100 m
  • Saddle: Between Rondeslottet and Vinjeronden at location north 61:54.408, east 009:50.962. My GPS correctly rounded all known elevations in this area. It showed 1940 in the saddle and 2040 on the (2044) summit.

Information:

How to get there: The best starting point for (almost) any climb in Rondane is the DNT hut Rondvassbu. Rondvassbu is located near the south end of the lake Rondevatnet, the dominating lake in the middle of the national park Rondane. In the season (late March through late August) this is a full service hut, outside of the season, there is a well equipped self-serve hut available.
The easiest approach to Rondvassbu is Mysusæter where you can park your car or arrive by bus. The hike from Mysusæter to Rondvassbu is about 12 km.
Mysusæter is a short drive from the village Otta in Gudbrandsdalen. Otta is located along E-6 about 110 km north of Lillehammer.
Route description: This description is a winter route, the summer route is well marked (red "T"s) and follows roughly the same path.
Ski steeply to the left behind the self-serve hut along a natural ramp that heads up the first, somewhat steep hillside behind the hut. Consider the snow conditions wrt. avalanche danger, when we did the route the snow cover was very thin with rocks visible everywhere. Continue on a very gentle slope towards the shoulder (point 1447) at the base of Storronden. The route crosses this shoulder and enters the distinct valley north of Storronden (between Storronden and Svartnuten).
Ski up this valley and continue up steeper slopes at the end, the cairns (marking the summer route) heads up somewhat to the left, skiing was easier (less rocks) to the left of the summer route. We used our skis almost to the ridge (GPS: North 61:50.952, East 9:51.147), then hiked right until hitting the summer route. From here, hike the ridge to the summit. The drop to the right is steep, so one should stay a bit left. The summer route cairns can be seen and followed, the terrain is a mix of rocks with patches of snow. This (winter) route is (YDS) class 2.
Comments: I did this climb with my son Pål Jørgen, age 14. Our objective was to climb Rondeslottet (2178m), the highest in this area. However, the weather turned pretty bad with very strong wind and close to zero visibility. Add that Pål Jørgen got a bit cold on his feet, climbing in ski boots, the decision to define Vinjeronden as the goal came easily. It was also unclear if the rapid detoriation of the weather was a sign of even worse conditions to come. If Pål Jørgen had had his plastic boots, we might have continued, however the route from Vinjeronden to Rondeslottet stays high and is weather exposed. Careful judegement should be used before launching in early March given the conditions we experienced.
The climb from Rondvassbu took us 4.5 hours up and 1.5 hours back down. To date, this is the highest Norwegian peak I have climbed before March 21.
Vinjeronden appears to most people as a subsidiary peak to Rondeslottet. One can certainly argue that it is not an independent mountain. However, it is named and considered one of the 10 2000 meter "Rondefjell". The primary factor may be just short of 100 meter, GPS measurements indicate that the primary factor is indeed very close to 100 meter (Interpolation from the 20 contour map yields a factor of 94 meter).

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