The view looks like a painting. Large mountains shoot up from the fjord. Different colours fling themselves across the sky. I have no doubt that if you’d shown me a picture of this when I was sitting at home in the garden in Denmark I wouldn’t have believed it was real. But luckily I’m standing here right now. The only sound I hear is the wind whistling quietly. And, of course, Matias, now crawling out of the tent.
Anders Møller Vestergård is a man of many talents. Not only is he active in the Volda area, climbing and skiing, he’s a skilled photographer and media producer – and, what’s more, Anders is Danish. Danish mountainfolk are rare, but we appreciate having him on the team immeasurably.
The alarm
The alarm rings at 4:00 AM. It’s time to get up. It’s about -10°. The tent rustles gently in the breeze.
My initial thought is that I just don’t want to get up. I’m snug, safe and warm in my sleeping bag, and it’s still quite dark. I’ve put my big, good, down jacket inside the sleeping bag, around my thighs. I tend to get cold on this part of my body, and this has been my solution to the problem. I’m tired, and on my face I feel the cold air that soon I’ll have to expose my body to when I unzip the sleeping bag. But I can’t stay in bed.
Dawn is 4.45 AM, and I have to see it. Sunrise is my favourite time of day, and I simply can’t miss this. Especially not now, when I’m lying on top of a mountain.
Next to me is my partner in crime Matias Myklebust. We’ve been on many such trips together in recent years. Matias and I live together in Volda. From there, we have direct access to the Sunnmør Alps, a place where some of Norway’s, and perhaps the world’s, best views can be found. The combination of fjord and steep mountains produces natural phenomena so spectacular that few places in the world can compare.
On this special morning, we wake up at one of Sunnmøre’s more famous rock formations, the sheer cliff known as “Bladet” – the blade. This a major destination for climbers in the summer. But our plan isn’t to climb it.
The goal
In fact, it had never been our plan to sleep here. We actually wanted to sleep on the peak next door, but ran into problems on the way up the night before.
The ascent went through a gully in the mountain with its roots in Molladalen, a mountain massif full of pointed peaks, vertical cliff walls and characteristic ridge formations. The snow was far harder than we’d expected, most of it just ice at the surface. If it hadn’t been for sections of rock and boulder, allowing us to climb over, we’d never have reached the top of the chute. But with the help of a little rock, we made it up.
Photo: Anders Møller Vestergård
From there we should have continued towards the peak of Mons, where the dream was to overnight in the tent. Perhaps a slightly optimistic desire, given the terrain and what’s it’s like on the peak, but not an entirely impossible goal. It turned out that the snow was still rock hard, however and we’d have to follow one of the typical ridge formations to reach our destination. This would expose us to the risk of a serious fall on each side, and considering the equipment we had with us, it wasn’t a risk we were prepared to take. So we chose, instead, to move 50 meters down on the opposite side of the massif. This was Bladet, where there was both plenty of space, and, not least, a fantastic view.
Kampen
Next on the agenda is waking up Matias. I start talking to him gently. He doesn’t show much sign of life, but I can tell the he’s heard me, and he’s slowly waking up. There is no doubt that he’s thinking the same way I am: comfortable in the sleeping bag, no great desire to immediately get up. I begin the first movements to evacuate my sleeping bag. First I get hold of the down jacket, down around my thighs, and put it on as soon as I get my upper body clear. The first, and possibly the worst, stage is now over. I’m slightly reluctant to take the next step.
Matias stirs…
Photo: Anders Møller Vestergård
Matias, although still hiding deep inside the sleeping bag, has begun to stir. It occurs to me that we might catch an amazing view from our sleeping bags, so I begin to open the entrance to the tent. Slowly the sky and the mountains emerge. Sure enough, the view from bed is fantastic. There’s still half an hour to go before the sun rise, but the first light has begun to appear.
It’s about -10°. The tent rustles gently in the breeze. Unzip the door, and this is the view you get a little after 4:00 AM. Soon the sun will peek out!
Photo: Ander Møller Vestergård
There isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the contrasts are absolutely astonishing. You can clearly see how the colours shift from a midnight blue to a sharp bright orange directly over the peaks. It’s fantastic. I am immediately convinced that the struggle to wake up and exit the warm sleeping bag is worth all the trouble. I’m filled with energy. I try again to rouse Matias – but remembering to hold it in somewhat. I tend to be overly energetic early in the morning; it’s gradually become one of my less-popular traits with my friends, especially in the first few minutes of the day. So I direct my energy towards my bag to find my camera and take the morning’s first pictures. This gets Matias going. He finds his camera as soon as he sees the fine contrasts of the view. We’re both very driven by taking pictures, and Matias is without a doubt the most active when it comes to this. If the potential to to create good images arises, then Matias is ready with the camera.
A speedy breakfast – and then out to enjoy sun-up!
Photo: Anders Møller Vestergård
We agree that it is time to leave the tent, so we don’t lose the chance to see the first rays of the sun. We might have the energy now, but it’s still really cold. So I look at the trousers I’m going to wear. I count down from three – and make my move. I unzip my sleeping bag and get my trousers on as fast as I can. Next step: ski boots. I keep the inner boots inside the tent to keep them dry and warm while the outer boots are outside. I know from experience that I can’t put the inners on first and then step into the outer boots, but have to work them into the outer boots before putting them on.
Laziness gets the better of me, however. I go for a slightly easier solution. I just put the liners on and walk around in them instead. There’s a potential danger of them becoming damp, but I’m counting on it being so cold that this won’t happen. I finally get out of the tent. It’s now been half an hour since the alarm first went off, and only fifteen minutes until the sun comes out.
The moment
I prepare myself, and I’m immediately taken over by a deliciously warm feeling. The view around me is absolutely phenomenal. To the west, right next to us, we have Molladalen’s peaks – great, sheer, imposing mountains. To the east you can see directly down to the fjord. There are some 1,250 meters of altitude between my feet and the fjord. It’s almost impossible to understand these dimensions. Even more so when you’ve grown up on a flat field in Denmark.
You can see the sun working its way up to the horizon. There’s no feeling comparable to standing here at precisely this time of day. For me, this moment is the feeling of freedom. The dark and muted colours create a calm which makes me forget time and place and live in the moment. At the same time, I enjoy the fact it’s so early in the morning. It feels like the whole world’s asleep. This moment’s mine alone. It makes me relax more. These hours are bonus hours; hours in which all that’s required is I enjoy life, let all the stress and worries fall by the way.
The view looks like a painting. Large mountains shoot up from the fjord. Different colours fling themselves across the sky. I have no doubt that if you’d shown me a picture of this when I was sitting at home in the garden in Denmark I wouldn’t have believed it was real. But luckily I’m standing here right now. The only sound I hear is the wind whistling quietly. And, of course, Matias, now crawling out of the tent.
The warmth
It’s not long now until we’ll see the first glimpse of the sun. It’s these minutes, the last before the sun peeks out, that I think are the most magical. Here you have absolutely the most contrasts in the sky, and the orange light on the horizon is at its sharpest. On top of this, the clouds acquire an extraordinary pink colour. Today, there are no clouds but this is something I’ve experienced here several times before. One of these was in Lofoten, where I slept in a tent by the beach. The clouds looked like they were painted onto the sky.
And then it happens. The sun slowly begins to peer out, above the mountains directly on the other side of the fjord. Almost immediately I notice how the cold air fills with the warmth of the sun, shooting straight into my face. After a cold night, this feeling is extreme. It doesn’t take long for the warmth to spread through the whole body, and the cold night’s soon forgotten. We unhurriedly move from the tent to take in more of the place we’ve just woken to. It’s a perfect scene. Here is the tent, slightly to the right, with Bladet, slanting to the left, shooting into the sky in the background. A little further to the left is the sun rising. The wind plays its part making the scene more magical, drifting snow just a few meters from the tent. The snow cast up by the wind catches the light to forms a fine cloud of bright dust. I love trying to freeze the moment and capture the details.
The sun peeks out – the first warm rays fill the body with warmth, energy and life.
Foto: Ander Møller Vestergård
My outer boots are still over there by the tent. I go over to them to change. The plan is to move higher up the mountain to get a wider perspective. All lethargy is now completely gone, transformed to a purposeful mode of getting things done. I put on my ski boots and start ascending through the snow. It’s worth up the effort. A little higher up the mountain, it’s possible to see more of the fjord to the south – the Hjørundfjord cutting through the mountains.
What a place to camp.
Photo: Anders Møller Vestergård
For me, the moment when calm, peace and freedom were the big themes has now gone. The rising of the sun, the light being at its strongest, has given me a different feeling. Now I want to get things started. I don’t have this calm anymore. Instead, there’s a vibration in the body. Something has to happen now. I slowly make my way back to Matias, and we agree to pack up the tent and start our descent. It’s time to go to work.
The Norwegian summer brings long, bright, nights with fantastic light – and the opportunity for incredible nature experiences. There is absolutely nothing like sleeping outside on a summer’s night in the open air, experiencing the magic of the day’s changes.
Did you know that someone of Norway’s most spectacular beaches are found north of the arctic circle? Åste Innleggen lists ten bathing spots in the north that have to be seen to be believed!
Er du en av de som sliter med hva du skal ta med av mat på tur? Tom for kreative ideer og kanskje litt lei av frysetørket mat? Her er noen kreative tips og forhåpentligvis litt inspirasjon som kan hjelpe deg!
When you live in Longyearbyen, on Svalbard, your backyard’s just a little different to any other town’s. Vast wilderness begins right where the city ends and your ‘short trips’ are rather more exotic…
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