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Written by Richard Apps
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Page 1 of 4 This is an account of a trip Rog and I did in 2002. Norway 23/05/02 -Thursday morning was an Alpine start to make a 7:10 flight out of Stansted. Both of us were knackered from catching up with an old friend from the night before. We made the flight (just) only to sit on the runway for an hour. A couple of hours and a very bumpy flight later we landed at Sandesfjord Torp airport, picked up the hire car, a spot of cash and started the drive to Romsdal about 500Km north west of the airport.
Norway 23/05/02
Thursday morning was an Alpine start to make a 7:10 flight out of Stansted. Both of us were knackered from catching up with an old friend from the night before. We made the flight (just) only to sit on the runway for an hour. A couple of hours and a very bumpy flight later we landed at Sandesfjord Torp airport, picked up the hire car, a spot of cash and started the drive to Romsdal about 500Km north west of the airport.
Norway is thrumming with speed cameras - and the fastest roads are only 100Kph - motorists beware.
 First views of the valley
About half an hour out of Oslo we stopped for a bite to eat before continuing the epic drive. The route is E18 to Oslo, E6 to Dombas and then the E136 to Andalsnes it takes about 8 hours but maybe a bit quicker if the Oslo traffic doesn't get in the way.
Around 6 we arrived. The Rauma valley in Romsdal is awe inspiring, the valley is a geographers dream, exhibiting a perfect U shape with many smooth glacial slabs visible. The River Rauma runs down the valley and at this time of year is a major body of water with roaring rapids and few crossing places. Waterfalls tumble down the vertical valley sides swelling the river before it empties into the fjord. Any one of these waterfalls (many of which are over 300m) would be a major attraction back home, but in Romsdal they are so numerous it is only the real monsters that get recorded on film. There were even a couple of hanging waterfalls that drop so far they're carried away as mist before hitting anything.
The Rock architecture of the valley is incredible. Huge faces atop, smooth slabs run the length of the valley. On the way down to Andalsnes the three pillars dominate. Each rises from the valley floor giving 1300 meters or more of climbing and scrambling. Amongst these the troll wall (Trollveggen) itself is almost dwarfed, partially hidden around the side of the East pillar (Trollryggen) on the drive down. Further down the valley, nearing Andalsnes, the Romsdalhorn towering overhead up commands the view back to Dombas.
As we drove down towards Andalsnes marvelling at the sights there were a few spots of rain, and peering through the windows it was possible to see large patches of snow on the east pillar that weren't in any of our route descriptions. It was still relatively early when we drove into Andalsnes to scope out supermarkets, B&Bs, local bars and AAk centre. We were lucky to find B&B at the Bellvue Hotel in the centre of town with views towards the fjord.
After a brief wander around followed by Pizza in a local restaurant we caught up on some much needed sleep.
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