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First day of a fortnight's holiday in Tromsø. Thw weather forecast was a little iffy, so we chose the local classic walk: at least the route finding should be easy! The walk starts just outside the city, at the local shooting range. A good track leads up through the woods in Tromsdal, climbing steadily for about 4km. From the end of a track, a good path led us to a river crossing: the river was in ful lspate with all the snow melt, but there was still a snow bridge across it....
After assessing possible alternatives, we gave the snow bridge a good prodding and gingerly went across! The path carries on upwards, but after a while disappeared under some big snow patches, so we just headed up these and onto the SW ridge. Here we found the path again, though the final section was on snow, and some big cornices over the E face needed a wide berth! Just before the summit we passed a small dog chasing after a skier and a snowboarder, who must have been pretty keen to squeeze one last tour from the season.
From the summit we headed down the NW ridge, which was clear of snow but very stony. We stopped for a chat with three locals coming up, who seemed a bit surprised to meet foreigners. Briefly the cloud came down and it rained a little, but soon cleared up again. A very steep section of path gave way to easier ground and we were soon back down into the birch trees, dodging a few mosquitos and crossing a bridge to regain the outward track.
Route map
Waterfall in Tromsdal
Tromsdaltinden from the end of the track
Further up the path
Looking back at the city
Snow patches
Tverrbotnfjellet
Approaching the summit
Towards Lyngen
River in Tromsdal
Looking back at the summit: our route went up the right-hand skyline and down the left