Estimated net time	5-6 hours
Difficulty	No difficulties, but care must be shown with respect to cornices in some places.
Drinking water	No access to drinking water during winter.
GSM coverage	Coverage throughout the route, except north-east of Blåfjellet.
Parking	Room for many cars at the Sunnmørsalpane ski centre parking area (NOK 30, in 2008)
Start height	357 metres
Vertical metres	1200 metres for the roundtrip
Trip distance	15.8 km
GPS-file	X
Map
Route photo

The start point for this round-trip is Drabløsskogen, which is located 1.9km along the south side of lake Nysetervatnet from the parking area by the Sunnmørsalpane ski centre. To get to the ski centre drive 21.9km on road 60 from the ferry harbour at Aursneset, then turn left towards the ski centre, and continue for 2.1km until you are at the car park.

From Drabløsskogen head directly south towards Blådalsvatnet. Just before you get to Blådalsvatnet turn right (south-west) and ascend Kleivdalsfjellet on its northern ridge. From Kleivdalsfjellet continue east towards Roaldshornet, and then north to Blåfjellet. From Blåfjellet you continue east along Trollvardegga. Just before you get to the end of this ridge it is possible to turn left (north) and ski down a small gully. Ski north for approximately 500 metres, before turning left (west) and head for the foot of the steep part of Blåfjellet. When you get to the foot of Blåfjellet try to gain a little more height in order to get to the shelf that will take you back down to Blådalen. Once in Blådalen follow the ascent route back to Drabløsskogen.

15. March 2008

This was the first day of the Easter holiday, and the weather and skiing conditions were fantastic. I had already planned for a long ski trip this Saturday, and when I woke up and looked out the windows of my cabin at Fjellsetra I got the confirmation I wanted.

I set out from Drabløsskogen at 10:15, heading straight up towards the foot of Kleivdalsfjellet, by Blådalsvatnet. The temperature was -2°C, there were no clouds, no wind, and the sun was shining brightly and warming. It was more than 1 metres of snow, with a hard crust, but with a few centimetres of powder on top of the crust.

From Blådalsvatnet I headed up the north ridge of Kleivdalsfjellet, and from here continued towards Roaldshornet. There was a continuous stream of people coming up from the Roaldshornet ski lifts and moving across to Kleivdalsfjellet to find powder for their descent. From Roaldshornet I descended down the steep north ridge towards Blåfjellet, and then up to the Blåfjellet summit. From here my plan was to see if it was possible to find a route down the north ridge of Blåfjellet. I searched the north and north-west part of Blåfjellet, but couldn't find any descent route that I felt comfortable with. I therefore skied back to the north-east ridge of Blåfjellet and decided that I had to ski down Trollvardegga. At the end of this ridge I turned north and then west, hoping to be able to find a route back up to the foot of Blåfjellet. Once again I had to turn around and find a better route, which led me up to the foot of Blåfjellet.

At the foot of Blåfjellet I did another misjudgement; instead of gaining more height I decided to ski downhill in hope of finding a suitable route back to Blådalen. Again I had to turn around and go back, this time having to gain almost 100 vertical metres in order to get onto the shelf that would take me safely down to Blådalen, and then back to the cabin. By the time I got back to the cabin it was almost 15:00, and Elisabeth and the boys were now also installed at the cabin.

With the three de-tours I had to make I ended up doing 1450 vertical metres this day, but with almost no exceptions the snow made for easy skiing and the weather was perfect throughout the day. The only place I didn't feel comfortable was when I was looking for a route down the north ridge of Blåfjellet; this area consisted mostly of rock hard ice, and without crampons was not a nice place to be messing around.

Photos 15.03.2008