Where the road gives up: the Romsdalen high line, walked

The high line is four days on the ridge above Romsdalen, camp to camp, with one bail-out point on day two and none after that. It is the route people ask about most and the one we cancel most often.

This August we walked it with eight. Here is how the four days went, including the two calls that changed the plan.

Day one — up

Nine hundred metres of gain on a path that stops being a path at the treeline. Everyone arrives at camp slower than they expected and eats more than they planned. We pitch early on purpose; the first night sets the pace of the whole walk.

Day two — the call

Cloud base was down at the col by eight. We waited two hours, watched it lift, and went. Had it not lifted by ten we would have dropped to the valley track and lost the ridge for the trip. Nobody enjoys that decision at the time. Everybody agrees with it afterwards.

Days three and four — the line

This is the part the photographs are of. Exposed walking, easy underfoot, with the valley on one side and nothing much on the other. We move slowly, not because it is hard but because it is the reason people came.

We came off at Vengedalen on the fourth afternoon, ahead of weather that arrived that night. That was luck as much as judgement, and we say so.