Info about Sommarfjellet
Sommarfjellet is located just East of the Lyngen Alps being a relatively quiet ski touring area. With a summit elevation of 1,493 meters and being a massive flat top it extends to numerous bowls and chutes. Our trip would be focusing on the first NW facing area with a basecamp trip lasting 3 days.
Being near the end of the ski season David and I planned a camping trip with his son Elias. It had become a traditional with this being the third year of us being our overnight and David wanted to go to Sommarfjellet.
Packing our bags at the car we need to start the trip hiking through the lower valley. I had to laugh when Elias put his skis on the pack and they were almost as big as him.
Heading up the valley we turned off towards the first main drainage. Once getting into the upper alpine bowl we found a dry spot to set up camp and waited around for a while for conditions to improve.
Heading our to see the Terrain
A few hours later we decided to go for a small ski tour. Our plan was to head a little bit higher in the valley to see what the options for ski touring would be and if there were any certain lines that got our attention.
Day 2: Summit of Sommarfjellet
The next morning we decided to head near the top of the NW face of Sommarfjellet.
Heading near the top headwall of Sommarfjellet there was a flat ledge where we decided to stop as a group. From our vantage point we sat around for a while and took in the view of the surrounding terrain. Looking to the east we could see a nice looking couloir that dropped into the North bowl.
From our vantage point we could see all the way back to camp as Elias decided he wanted to head back there. With it just being David and I we hiked to the summit ridge of Sommarfjellet before dropping into the couloir we had just checked out.
Heading into the base of the valley the snow quickly ran out. With our gear on our packs we hoped from boulder to boulder traversing back to camp.
Day 3: Checking out the Chutes
The next morning we decided to head up the valley above camp that we had checked out on our first day. The day before while climbing towards the top of Sommarfjellet we spotted numerous couloirs and decided to head for one of them.
Once on the upper flats of Sommarfjellet we decided to ride the first couloir as it was straight forward and had good snow coverage. The challenge was to find it from above but fortunately it had a ledge over it where we were able to look into the line before descending. From our vantage point we could see the Lyngen Peninsula in the distance and Elias skiing in the basin below.
Dropping in we found great corn snow on the steep line before arriving in the lower basin where Elias was waiting for us.
With our group together we made one final run back to camp before packing up and heading down the valley. It was great spending time with both of them and exploring a new area.
Thoughts on Sommarfjellet
The whole Sommarfjellet area has great potential as we only scratched the surface. Looking at maps there are numerous lines just a bit further up the valley that we didn’t even see. I would love to return to the area and I think lots of people would enjoy it.
Thanks For Reading this and if you want to check out more ski tours in Northern Norway check out this link