I started to walk from Turtagrø Hotel in the middle of the night (approx 3 AM). One hour later I could see the whole ridge. Unfortunately all the peaks were covered in clouds.
At 5.30 AM I reached the Keiserpass and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. The clouds were starting to disappear, and I was not concerned about the weather conditions anymore. Moreover, I had a lot of other things to worry about.
Halfway up the ridge I finally had a glimpse of the Gjertvasstind summit. For the most part it was a long snow plod with a couple of rock sections (grade I).
I reached the summit of Gjertvasstind (2351m) approx 9 AM. From nearby the summit there was a tremendous view of the saddle between Gjertvasstind and Styggedalstind.
Styggedalstind east summit (2387m) was an easy snow plod and it took me less than half an hour to ascend from the saddle. The tricky rock band of Gjertvasstind can be seen in the left background (above the crevasse).
To continue to the west summit seemed to be very easy at the first glance. Thus I was surprised when I came across an obstacle on the ridge. I had to take of my backpack to get up the vertical step, which was partly covered in ice and snow. But finally I reached the west summit of Styggedalstind (2380m). From there I could see the continuing ridge to Sentraltind (see picture).
I steadily made progress and finally I reached the point where Sentraltind starts to rise from the ridge. I could see that the steep ridge to Sentraltind was going to be a challenge (see picture). The first section was very exposed and I had to belay myself (IV-). In fact I could have circumvented this section, by taking to the easier north side of the ridge (normal approach), but that was out of the questions because of dangerous snow and ice. After I had climbed the first step I had to rappel down and pick up my belays.
The last obstacle on Sentraltind, which I expected to be the hardest one, contained a lot of good handholds on the right side and thus I found it very easy to climb.
I reached the summit of Sentraltind (2.348m) at 1 PM and I decided to take a long break next to the cairn and eat my lunch. At the same time I had perfect view of St Skagastølstind (left) and the climbing activities going on over there, or rather the lack of activities as I only could see 2-3 persons making their way to the summit.
From the summit of Sentraltind, I could observe the narrow and snowy ridge that I had descended from Styggedalstind. The picture shows that I had to cross a lot of dangerous snow and ice on top of the ridge, to reach the saddle between Styggedalstind and Sentraltind. The snow was very unstable and several times I felt like it was going to collapse underneath my feet. This was indeed a horrifying place to move unroped, with a 500 metres drop on both sides. Occasionally I tried to circumvent the snowy ridge, by going 5-10 metres beneath the ridge when possible, but in most cases I only found wet and slippery slabs just as dangerous as the snow.
My initial plan was to traverse to Mohns Skard and continue to the summit of Store Skagastølstind (2405m), the third highest summit in Norway. But when I saw all the snow, ice and melting water on the slabs towards Mohns Skard, and also the ridge continuing to Store Skagastølstind (see picture), I decided not to. It would have taken me ages to belay all the way, and I felt I was already running out of time, bearing in mind that I was only halfway on the ridge. In dry condition this would have been an easy grade II climb (yes, the ridge seems much more difficult on the picture, but it's not).
When I reached the summit of Vesle Skagastølstind (2340m) at 2.30 PM, I could see that there was some snow/ice on the ridge continuing to Midtre Skagastølstind as well. I knew that this would take a lot of time.
Not far below Vesle Skagastølstind, there was a steep wall named Halls Hammer (grade VI). Fortunately I was moving down this wall. Once I had dug some snow/ice to fix my rope, I could easily rappel down the wall. People moving in the opposite direction can circumvent the wall on the north side by crossing a slab (Patchells Sva), making it a grade III climb only.
After some tricky and very exposed sections on mixed ground and without belays, I reached the summit of Midtre Skagastølstind (2284m) at 4.30 PM. From there I had a wonderful view of the ridge back to Vesle Skagastølstind.
When I reached Berges Stol and could see the 50-80 metres vertical drop to V-Skardet, I felt privileged to be alone in such an overwhelming environment. Initially I had some problems finding my way down. Was it on the left or right side? Finally I could see some old slings 5 metres below Berges Stol, and I prepared the first rappel down. Well down I started to pull the rope, and every thing seemed OK in the beginning. But then the rope suddenly jammed. What a terrible place to get trapped, in the middle of this intimidating wall. First I belayed myself to a rock, so I could use all my force and weight to pull the rope. After 4 or 5 pulls, my rope finally came down, and I could see that the 3 cm end of the rope had a mysterious 45 degree shape, indicating that the taped end had jammed somewhere up there. The second rappel was easy to find and finally I was standing in the bottom of V-Skardet.
A few metres below the summit of Nordre Skagastølstind, I had a look back to see all the snow I had crossed on the ridge from Midtre. Partly VERY exposed, especially the first pitch down from Midtre. First I tried to climb it down, but that was simply to risky on the treacherous snow, so I decided to rappel down instead.
I reached the summit of Nordre Skagastølstind (2.167m) approx 7.30 PM. From there I could see the whole ridge that I had traversed on this long day. The first summit (Gjertvasstind) to the far left.
The day after the climb, me and a friend (and his dogs) had a short and pleasent walk on Sognefjellet, from where we could observe the ridge I climbed the day before.
An English Setter is enjoying a day on Sognefjellet
