Lom ridge walk

Before we came to Norway we had put the country’s highest mountain, Galdhoppigen, on our to do list. But at over 2,400 meters it’s not a straightforward undertaking. After discovering that the official climbing season had officially closed and not being able to verify if we could get access to the route, we were worried that we could waste a lot of time and effort on a fruitless endeavour. our long hike to Trolltunga, we weren’t sure Combining this with an iffy (but not terrible) mountain weather forecast, we decided that an alternative might be more suitable.

Fortunately Lom is a town of opportunity when it comes to walking and we had several options to choose from. We chose a ridge walk that started over the road from our campsite and had the potential for a view of Galdhoppigen.

It was quite a steep climb at the start up through the forest on the hillside, so we had a few stops for breathers on the way. But as we got higher up the trees started to thin out and the slopes got gradually gentler.

Once we made it onto the shoulder of the ridge we could see a small lake, called Ausa, just sitting in a dip below us. It was our first milestone and reassuring that we were on track (as our map wasn’t particularly detailed).

We stopped for a quick snack, but not for long as it was chilly and there was a bit of rain in the air. Fortunately it was quite a light shower and although there was a little breeze the visibility was good.

After a few false summits we eventually got to the summit of Læshøe, the highest point of the ridge (1206m). This gave us some great views in all directions, of the high mountains to the south, the not as high mountains to the north and the lake to the west (which was fascinating as you could pick the deeper faster flowing parts due to the different colour of the water).

The pictures speak for themselves, but it was an incredible view. On our way down we were lucky that the view continued and we did stop again to take a few more snaps.

We ended the walk as we’d started it, winding our way through steep woodland. We did get some more good views of the stave church though, a very impressive piece of craftsmanship.