Climbing Skjæringen

I’d read on a tourist website that Skjæringen was one of the easier hikes in the Seven Sisters range, and suitable as a family hike. Family hike, my a**e! Maybe it would be for a fit Norwegian family, but not your average British family! That said, it was a good choice for our first Norwegian mountain. Although the climb was steep and relentless… nearly 1000m in under 5 kilometres… it wasn’t technically difficult and the weather was good, so we could take our time.

We used the scooter for the first time to reach the trailhead, which saved us from having to move Molly. It was fun… I’d forgotten the feeling of freedom from being on the back of a motorbike.

The trail began by meandering through the forest and over a stream, before we reached the start of the climb up steep granite slab. The rock was grippy so at least I wasn’t worried about slipping and sliding. However, the gradient varied little, with no relief for short, tired legs!

The beautiful sound of waterfalls accompanied us for almost all of the hike, as snow melt bounced over the rock slabs. There were some inviting plunge pools. One in particular would have been great for swimming but we hadn’t brought towels or swimming costumes.

Navigating was simple. We just had to follow the numerous red Ts and dots, which clearly showed the best route in both directions. Only one patch of snow was left on our route and there was a clear path through that. It was very steep and wet, but luckily, the rock was grippy enough that we didn’t have any problems.

Finally, we reached the col at about 750m. It was really hot… 27 degrees C… and at times I’d wondered whether I’d make it to the top, but now I’d got this far, summiting wasn’t in doubt. At the col, we could see down into the opposite valley, where there was a lake with slabs of ice and, beyond, another fjord and more islands. To one side was our destination, Skjæringen, and to the other Tvillingan, a twin peak.

The last 250m of our climb was over boulders and we now needed our hands at times to scramble over the rough rocks. I managed to avoid any grazes, thankfully! When we reached the summit, there was only one other person there. We had our sandwiches, then John used Dave the drone to take some fab photos and videos. The views were stunning in all directions. We could even see our campsite, far beyond the car park where we’d begun the hike.

We were amazed how few people we saw on the way up, but we later realised the Norwegians must be late starters compared with the Brits. As we left the peak, more people began to arrive, including a fit Norwegian family who appeared to be hiking more than one peak… maybe even all of the Seven Sisters!

It seemed to take a long time retracing our steps, probably because of the steep and constant gradient, but also my lack of mountain fitness. We could see black clouds and rain in the distance and heard some thunder, but thankfully the storm didn’t come our way. We were low on water by now because we were hotter and sweatier than expected, so John filled one of the bottle in a waterfall.

Finally, having passed quite a few people climbing, we reached the waterfall plunge pools again. As it was still hot, we stopped for a paddle to cool down. The water felt wonderful and I took my skort off so I could wade into the deepest part of the pool. My knickers ended up wet and, as I pulled them off to put my skort back on, a man appeared and got a great view of my bare bottom! Oh well… I’m sure he’s seen similar before!

It was really good to be out in mountains again, but I was shattered afterwards. Thankfully, we were soon home on the scooter, and showered before reheating some jambalaya for dinner. Tomorrow, we’re driving more of route 17, and take a couple more ferries.