Blåtindane trail head at Venås.
Upper part of skiing route to Blåtindane.
| Blåtindane from Venås
(ski) Blåtindane |
| Estimated net time | 3-4 hours | ||
| Difficulty | No technical difficulties, but the lowest part of the forest is a little cumbersome, and it gets a little steep from the small top before the main top and there can be cornices here. | ||
| Drinking water | Don't expect access to running water during winter, but there are a number of streams in the lower part of the route. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage throughout the route (January 2015). | ||
| Parking | Room for a couple of cars around trail head, but you should ask for permission to park. | ||
| Start height | 190 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 915 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 6.9 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Drive road E136 (which is also E39) east from Ålesund, and turn right towards Åndalsnes to continue on E136 when you get close to Vestnes centre. From here drive approximately 40 km (approximately 10 km shorter when the bridge across Tresfjorden opens in 2015) to Måndalen. When you reach Måndalen drive across the bridge crossing the river and continue another 650 metres. Turn right where signed for "Venås", and start measuring from here:
- At 3.1 km fork right and drive across the bridge.
- At 3.3 km turn left.
- At 5.6 km make sure you drive straight ahead.
- At 5.8 km park somewhere around the farm, but make sure you don't block other traffic, and definitely ask for permission to park here.
Start skiing by following the forest road towards the forest. Fork right a little after you have crossed a small bridge and then turn right onto a rougher forest road (approximately 200 metres from the farm). Then turn right onto an even rougher (and partly over grown) forest road after another 350 metres. Follow this slightly cumbersome road north and then west, in total 340 metres, to the highest point of the road. From here turn right and head uphill into the relatively open forest. Ski north-west by finding your best route through the forest. Continue north-west when you get above the forest, and aim for the smaller top 170 metres south-east of the main top when you get these tops in view. From the lower top descend a little towards right (north-east) down to the saddle between the two tops, and then ski up to the summit, which is marked by a small cairn.
Descend by reversing your ascent route, or alternatively find a suitable route more directly down the east slopes.
With excellent weather the whole week Odd Arne and I discussed options for leaving work early one day and ski a mountain we hadn't previously been to. It turned out that Thursday was the only possibility for both of us, and hence agreed that we should aim to keep Thursday afternoon free of meetings and go somewhere.
We left work a few minutes after noon on Thursday, and had agreed to ski Blåtindane in Måndalen. Johnny had also managed to find time for this hike, and we were all ready to start skiing at 13:35.
The route through the lower part of the forest was supposed to follow a forest road, but parts of this forest road was heavily over grown with small spruce trees, making skiing quite cumbersome. Fortunately we were soon through this section and the forest above the forest road was nice and open with birch. Unfortunately the snow was hellish, with a thick crust that didn't carry our weight. This wasn't an issue when skiing uphill, but it was clear that descending this section would be a challenge and not very enjoyable. This awkward snow lasted up to approximately 550m, from where there was excellent powder all the way up to the summit.
We didn't spend much time at the cold summit, and we were also keen on getting down before it got dark, realising we would most likely spend some extra time to get down the awkward snow (at least me). The descent down to 550m was very enjoyable, and below this it was about as bad as expected. Johnny and Odd Arne did OK down here and were kind enough to wait for me as I came tumbling down amongst the trees.
After the hike we stopped at the local shop down in Måndalen centre and treated ourselves with chocolate milk (Johnny's suggestion, clearly being the more sensible of us), and in addition chocolate bars for Odd Arne and me (the less sensible ...). Then back home after a very enjoyable afternoon.