Til Topps: Trondheim's Seven Summits
Every year Trondhjems Turistforening and Trondhjems Skiklubb join forces to designate seven 'topps' around the city as 'turmål' (tour goals) for that summer. These range from hilltops in and around the city to Vassfjellet, just south of the city and over 700 m above sea level -- still not all that big. At each summit there is a small sign with information about the location and a 'secret' code word that you record on a form to prove that you have actually been there. There are various certificates and pins available to anyone who conquers all of them over the course of the summer or does repeat ascents. The program seems to be geared for the very young, the very old and/or the not-very fit. So we took it upon ourselves to do all seven summits in one day, the day before the summer solstice. Zoe was away for the weekend with the school band, so it was just Rick, Nancy, Molly and Sebastian the dog.
Our first glorious achievement was Kuhaugen (literally, Cow Hill), a hilltop park not far from the city center that we might never have visited otherwise. We got an alpine start (waffles with sour cream and strawberry jam, multiple doses of coffee or tea) then drove down and parked on a nearby street and after a two-minute walk we summited at about 9:00 AM. It has sweeping views over the fiord, and is well worth a return visit for a picnic lunch or supper.
Next was Solemsvåtten, a rather larger hill east of the city with a brand new viewing tower on top to get above the trees. From here you can see the city, the big reservoir Jonsvatnet, and off in the distance the snowy summits of Trollheimen and Sylene. The 3 kilometer hike up took us about 40 minutes.
Then it was time to take on the Big One, Vassfjellet. It took us about three hours round trip to knock this one off, the big effort of the day. We had a momentary bit of excitement when a thunderstorm rumbled by when we were a half-hour below the summit. Fortunately we managed to summit before the next one came rolling in.
Onward to Bymarka, where we had three tops to conquer. Soremsåsen was a short bike ride up the road where we parked. There was some sort of hotel right below the top so we might well have driven most of the way -- but that would be cheating! (Actually, Rick had conceived the idea of doing all seven in one day 'by fair means' without using a car, bottled oxygen, or Sherpa support above base camp, using a bike to travel between them and in many cases to get to the actual summit. Maybe next year.)
Gråkallen, which has two giant radar 'golf balls' on top that can be seen from near our house, also has a service road that we used to bike up to within a few hundred meters of the designated summit.
Våttakammen, at the northern end of Bymarka with nice views over the fjord. This picture is so bad that you probably think we faked it. It's not fake. We really were there.
After this we went home for a leisurely supper before walking across the street and into Estanstadmarka to take on our final challenge...
Liaåsen, right in our back yard and so a top we have already visited many times in all seasons. Here Sebastian celebrates the sweet taste of victory with Molly and Nancy.
So it wasn't exactly the ultimate challenge, but it was a fun project for a long summer day.