Rondane

Scandinavian Mountains over 2000 metres - James Baxter

Areas › Rondane › 17.6 Storsmeden (2016m)

Storsmeden, 2016metres, is a pyramid shaped mountain with a short summit ridge. It is surrounded by four deep corries. Three arêtes connect it to neighbouring mountains and on the south east side a steep ridge rises up from the corrie floor to the summit. To the north of Storsmeden is the wildest and least visited part of Rondane.

The Route from Rondvassbu Lodge
total distance for return trip14km   
total ascent and descent850m   
total time for return journey 6hrs		 difficulty rating - 4season: jul, aug, septno skiingno glacier crossingno climbingpossible but not advisable in wet conditions

Leave Rondvassbu and walk south along the road for about 300 m, then turn west and cross the Store Ula river over a bridge. After this bridge head north west across the delta towards the Jutulhogget gorge and cross the stream at the bottom of the gorge over another foot bridge.

Storsmeden full size mapAfter this second footbridge the path climbs gently north west for a km until it divides. One branch goes towards the cliffs of Svarthammaren and the other heads directly north up the valley of Rondhalsen.

Take the branch that heads north west towards the cliffs of Svarthammaren. About halfway between this junction and the cliffs there is an ancient reindeer trap just to the north side of the path.

Pass to the south of the cliffs and enter into the desolate Kaldbekkbotn corrie which is dominated by the huge bulk of Storsmeden to the north.

Storsmeden with the west ridge descending to the saddle on the rightContinue to follow the marked path across surprisingly easy ground for two km crossing the only stream in the corrie. The path take you past a couple of small shallow lakes and under the south face of Storsmeden.

Just to the north of the largest lake in the corrie, marked as 1571m, the path starts to head diagonally up to the saddle to the west of Storsmeden. This again is a surprisingly easy ascent to the saddle itself.

At the saddle an arête heads of to the north east towards the summit. Start up this arête which is initially easy then starts to steepen.

In the winter Storsmeden is a serious undertakingAs the gradient becomes steeper around the 1900 metre elevation mark, it is best to avoid the scrambling by veering to the south of the arête and following some gullies which are not very demanding to gain the arête again. Once back on the arête follow it to the summit.

The return is by the same route. However there is an obvious traverse, which is marred by loose rock, to Veslesmeden and then back to Rondvassbu lodge from here.

I have described this traverse, albeit in reverse, on the Veslesmeden page so look there for details.