Skiing route from Gråsteinmyra towards Røyrhusnibba.
| Røyrhusnibba from
Gråsteinmyra (ski) Røyrhusnibba |
| Estimated net time | 4-5 hours | ||
| Difficulty | The climb up from a little below 1000 metres to the saddle south-east of Røyrhusnibba is steep and is likely to be avalanche prone. There's also likely cornices towards east along the summit ridge. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water during winter. | ||
| GSM coverage | Coverage in the first part of the route and at the summit (April 2014). | ||
| Parking | Room for several cars around trail head, and it's common to park along the road (road 60). | ||
| Start height | 385 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 905 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 11.2 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
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| Route photo |
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Start measuring from the 3-way junction on road 60 above (west of) Stranda centre, where road 60 goes towards Sykkylven, Stranda centre and Hellesylt. Drive towards Hellesylt and Stryn.
- At 27.0 km continue on road 60 by the Hellesylt exit.
- At 37.9 km continue on road 60 where it's signed left for "Røyrhus".
- At 38.6 km turn right onto a gravel road and find parking next to road 60.
Walk 50 metres back along road 60, cross the road, and ski south across the marsh called Gråsteinmyra. Continue south, towards the north end of Røyrhusnibba, up to 500 metres (this is 1.5 km from road 60). Turn a little right (south-west) and find your best way through the open forest, and then turn left (south) and aim for the valley Terdalen on the right (west) side of Røyrhusnibba. Continue through the valley and a little past the summit, gradually gaining height in Røyrhusnibba's west slopes, and then steep up just before a ridge that comes down towards south-west. The 100 vertical metres from 1000 metres is steep and avalanche prone, but an alternative is to follow the ridge. This will take you up to the saddle south-east of Røyrhusnibba, from where you turn left and head up to the small summit cairn (note that there's another small cairn a few tens of metres before the summit). Show care with respect to cornices towards east.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
With good weather forecast for this Tuesday in the Easter week I decided to take a day off work and do some skiing. Elisabeth, Sigurd, Njål and I left our cabin at Fjellsetra at 09:30, dropped Sigurd off at Strandafjellet ski-centre, and then continued towards Hornindal. After a little bit of scouting to find the best trail head for Røyrhusnibba we ended up parking next to Gråsteinmyra, where we found tracks heading towards Røyrhusnibba.
The tracks we had followed ended at around 800 metres, and we met the skier who had made the tracks. He had had problems with wet skins and snow sticking to his skins so had decided to turn around. And a little after this Elisabeth and Njål had also had enough and we agreed that I should go for the summit while they rested for a while before skiing back to the car and wait there.
When I got past Røyrhusnibba's summit, down in Terdalen, I was very sceptical to the steep hill up the west slopes, and by now the visibility was very poor so it was hard to judge the actual steepness. From 1030 metres I had to take my skis off and continued directly uphill with my skis on the back pack. This was hard work since I had to kick hard into the snow for every step, and I was definitely outside my comfort zone since I didn't have neither crampons nor ice axe.
From the saddle I put the skis back on but took them off again after 40-50 vertical metres since it was getting steep again, and there were a lot of rocks sticking up from the snow. But continuing on foot was tough, with sections of waist deep snow, and I really had to dig deep mentally. The last tens of metres were easier, but my challenge now was that I wasn't 100% sure if I had reached the true summit. I hadn't loaded any way-points on my GPS, but a check on altitude told me that I was very likely to have reached the summit. I took one photo of the summit cairn, called Elisabeth to tell her that they would have to be prepared for a longer than expected wait, and then started my descent.
Descending the steep section below the saddle was another mental challenge, and I was seriously relieved when I got down and could put my skis back on. Skiing was still not good because of the terrible light, but as soon as I picked up my ascent tracks I had some contrast which made skiing much easier. And soon the skiing became very enjoyable, and down in the forest it was pretty good despite slightly wet and heavy snow.
Back at the car Elisabeth told me they had been waiting 1½ hours, so I quickly changed into dry clothes before heading back towards Stranda for shopping, and then back to Fjellsetra.