The church roof at Isfjorden in Romsdal is among Norway’s most popular top hiking mountains. The summit is heavily visited – especially at Easter – and Tuesday 26 March was no exception. Clear tracks near the summit ridge that hang over the mountain’s north-east side tell of a lot of people on the summit in recent days.
– Too close to the edge
– The established track seems to be far too close to the edge. We know that shovels can break several meters behind, and the tensile fracture through the snow can have an angle of up to 45 degrees, says supervisor at the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) Ingrid Skrede.
Fortunately, it went well when the screed on the Church roof broke on Tuesday, but it was pretty close.
– What advice do you have for those who travel on mountains with top skids?
– Scavengers can be redeemed by people at any time. It is probably more difficult when the snow in the shovel is very hard, but in most cases the weight of a person is enough to break them. Especially when the sun heats up the screeds and the snow starts to melt faster downwards, the probability of them breaking increases, also by itself.
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Fresh snow on the slope
In the incident at Kyrkjetatek, it is reported that the top layers on the slope were relatively fresh fresh snow from Friday, and wind transport at the weekend.
– On the way up and when changing skis, the snow is probably experienced as very hard and load-bearing, while on the slope it was perhaps a little softer and easier to break. In addition, there is a gutter that cuts a little further into the top plateau than you can see from the top, says Skrede.
Varsom reported danger level 2 – moderate avalanche danger – for Romsdal this period, and there will be a lot of hard skiing.
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Everything about avalanches can be found here!
Articles and news about avalanches, and how you can avoid avalanches. If you are going on a peak trip, you must always include the possible avalanche danger in the calculation.
Three regions with danger level three on Maundy Thursday
In the next few days there will be changes in the weather in large parts of Norway, and in the regions of Jotunheimen, Heiane and Hardanger danger level 3 – significant avalanche danger – is reported on Maundy Thursday. Otherwise, danger levels 1 and 2 are reported.
– There has been a lot of varying weather. Wintry and fine in northern Norway, and more dusty in the south, where it has become milder, and there has been some wind and precipitation in the far south. In the Northwest, it has been quite nice. Along the coast there was a lot of nice weather, but also quite a lot of strong wind. In the afternoon, some snow fell in large parts of the country. In the west and south, precipitation also came as rain up to 6-800 metres, says the duty manager.
Greatest risk of avalanches in Jotunheimen, Hallingdal and Hardanger
Difficult assessments for both the avalanche warning and people traveling to the mountains continue to be a challenge in the parts of southern Norway where the risk of avalanches is greatest.
– In Jotunheimen, Hallingdal and Hardanger, we have warned of significant avalanche danger – danger level three – and warn that avalanches can be very easily affected by a simple skier, even from a distance. There is a weak layer of surface rime snowed down. There is some uncertainty associated with the spread of the problem. This makes it difficult to assess the conditions, since the avalanche problem is not visible on the snow surface. We advise people not to travel in avalanche terrain, i.e. not only loose areas, but also runoff areas, says Skrede.
Complete avalanche warning can be found here!
