Hiking in Sunndal: Hoåslia

Hiking Hoåslia is the startingpoint for getting to several summits in Trollheimen. Hoåsnebba, Trolla and Furunebba amongst others. To get up Hoåslia you can either take the path from Hoås which is furthest east of the two alternatives. This path goes close to the cliff underneath Hoåsnebba and is therefore more exposed of rockfall. Even though rockfall is more common during spring and early summer there was a rockfall when I was there in July. I would therefore recommend the path from Løykja instead. Hiking here you should also be aware of vipers crawling about...
Done with the warnings! This hike gives a great view of Sunndalen long before you are at the top. It also gets your heart pumping as the hill is very steep. The path can be difficult to follow at times but once you have a good look around it is easy to figure out where the path must go. But remember to look back to where you came from from time to time so it will be easy to find your way down. When you see the mailbox you're at the top of Hoåslia. The hike's total ascent is approximately 800 meters and takes you to about 950 masl in almost no time:)


Hoåslia



Trolla seen from Hoåslia



I hiked a bit further and got an even better view of Sunndalen:)

Sunndalsfjella on the other side of the valley



The view up the valley

A viper in my way!

Hiking in Sunndal: Vollasætra

Driving towards Oppdal from Sunndalsøra and just before you start the ascent to get to Oppdal(Gråura) there are several nice pastures up in the mountains. One of them is Vollasætra which you can hike to from Vollan farm. There is a small spot to park your car, just remember cash to pay for it. Then you head up the tractor road and follow the signs leading to Vollasætra. It goes upwards all the way so there is no place to relax unless you stop for a break. Some parts of the path vegetation is taking over, but look for the signs and there will be no problem finding the right way. The pasture in itself is beautiful, but the view could be better. Therefore I decided to follow the path and head for the nearest top to get a better view. All in all a nice and easy hike without any difficulties, but remember to check for ixodidaes!

Notice the sign to get to the path from the tractor road

Not much of a view from Vollasætra

Vollasætra

The pasture a bit further up

At the top I just wanted to head further and go for long hike in Trollheimen

Hiking in Sunndal: Viromsætra and Grasdalen

Finally a warm and sunny Saturday and of course my friend Tanya and I could not let it go by without taking advantage of it and go on a decent hike. We set of from the parking-lot at the end of the road in Nerdalen a parallel valley of Sunndalen (also the place you park when you want to visit the beautiful Innerdalen).
From the parking we walked towards Innerdalen, but after passing the farm we took a right turn and headed for Viromsætra and Grasdalen instead. At first we followed a tractor road along some fields with sneaky cows grassing on the left. After crossing the river Ulvåa we followd a nice path to the pasture. All the way up the to the pasture you get great views of the river finding its way down.
After reaching Viromsærta we still had energy left and since the surroundings were especially lovely this evening we continued up Grasdalen till we reached the end of the valley. Grasdalen is a lovely valley giving a great view of the Vinnu mountain and glacier. To the left we had the highest mountain in Trollheimen: Trolla. It is an infamous mountain known to be very dangerous and difficult to climb. We did not go to the top! But we fallowed a steep hill for a while until we were met by a wall... Time to head back home, but before we did, we really had to stop and take in the atmosphere and the exceptional nice view=) The best way to spend a summer evening:)

Vinnu mountain and glacier

Difficult to get much further than this...

A friendly sheep that wanted to cuddle! There's a first for everything..

Somewhere behind the wall the summit of Trolla is hiding

Grasdalen

Grasdalen

Couldn't be happier:)

Tunga

The queen / Dronninga

Last Sunday I finally got to have a go at the queen, a majestic name for a summit right? With nice weather, good companionship, just enough snow, low risk for avalanches and enough skiing training through the winter the trip should be nothing but a joy. And it almost was=) The trip starts at the bottom of Viromdalen (only a 20 minute drive from home) and the first part is up a hillside with a quite a bit of vegetation. Luckily the late snowfall made it possible to ski almost from the parking lot and we only had to take the skies on and off a couple of times in the beginning.
I did this trip with my dad who is in very good shape, and from the pace he started in it was no doubt this would be no slow trip, but a good exercise.
Due to my father's tempo we soon came above the tree line and we could see the 800-meter-hill getting closer. The queen is a very popular and almost famous trip and the tracks we fallowed made it clear we were not the only one thinking it was a good day for skiing. Just before we started on the hill we past a large crowd of tourists having a break, maybe gathering strength before the hardest part, and we got a good cheer=)
(Er alltid gøy å høre "hu-og-hei" heiing, selv om jeg ikke er student lenger)
Apart from some wind we had not had any difficulties so far, but a short time after we started on the 800-meter-hill I realized the hill was going to be more demanding than planned: it was sticky snow! There was nothing to do but to carry on, and take one step at the time, and so I did:) My clever dad had brought a scraper with him so we could remove the snow from underneath my skies for the last part of the trip. Which was really sweet as the last couple kilometres are rather flat.
Already at the top of the 800-meter-hill I was amazed by the fantastic view I got, and standing at the summit after three hours of hard work, I just looked around and enjoyed it all:) Standing at the summit at 1816 masl it was not hard to understand the name of the mountain, it really deserves it! It was no wind so we could take our time without getting cold.
Skiing down from Dronninga was very nice indeed, but my thighs were hurting really bad before I reached the bottom of the 800-meter-hill:p It was quite challenging getting down the hillside since there were little snow and it was rotten, and we ended up carrying our skies the last part of the trip.
All in all an amazing trip which I recommend to anyone who enjoy using skies both up and down mountains!

The 800-meter-hill ahead!

Almost at the top=)

Not too comfortable at the edge, but happy to be at the top:) Kongen (the king) in the background

Many people at the summit:D

Very satisfied with the day's effort and reaching the goal:)