Romsdal offers some of the most incredible terrain to practice mountain activities in the world. The foundation of these mountains consists primarily of deep-seated Precambrian gneiss and granite, structural remnants of a tectonic collision between early continents roughly 400 million years ago that pushed up a colossal mountain range. Hundreds of millions of years later, during the Quaternary ice ages, a succession of massive glaciers carved through this hardened rock. Rivers of ice funneled down through preexisting structural fractures, gouging out the deep, classic U-shaped valley floor while shearing away the mountainsides to create the dizzying, vertical big walls like Trollveggen. As the glaciers retreated, frost weathering and frequent rockslides continued to fracture the oversteepened gneiss, leaving behind the jagged peaks, sharp ridges, and massive talus fields that define the valley’s rugged topography today.

KONKURRANSER / RACES: Sometimes runners from the valley – and abroad – pin a bib in this endurance competitions:

ROUTES / FKT’S:

  • UP: Since the old days, folks in the mountains have been trying to get up as fast as possible from the villages to the hytte or summits nearby. Here are some of the most common uphill runs and climbs in Romsdal: ↑ Nesaksla, Romsdalshorn, Store Trolltind, Store Vengetind, Bispen, Trollstigen… FKT’s
  • ACROSS: From a summit to another. From valley to valley. The skylines and ridges of Romsdal has inspired for decades climbers to follow its natural features as birds drawing lines on the sky, linking up summits: ⇝ Romsdal Alpinerun, Romsdal 7 Summits, Romsdal skyline, Romsdalsrunden.

INFOS / TOPOS: Romsdal and Norwegian mountains remain pretty wild in the most part, that’s thanks to the deep Scandinavian Allemannsretten culture (The Right To Roam) and climbing ethics with a strong Leave No Trace fundament, making rare the use of bolts or permanent equipment in the mountains. Be sure you respect those when running, climbing or skiing in Romsdal. There are a few topo’s books for the area:

You can find trails and routes in Norgeskart and Ut.no. There are some sports clubs and groups, the Romsdal Tindegruppe (climbing), Romsdal Randoneeklubb (skimo).

FACILITIES: While Romsdalen (Rauma kommune) is a small municipality with around 7000 habitants, it has good facilities for sports. Besides its best one – the amazing nature and mountains – there are artificial infrastructures that helps athletes to train, there are 2 track stadiums (in Måndalen by Måndalen IL and in Åndalsnes, by Åndalsnes IF). There is an Indoor climbing wall with rope and boulder – the Norsk Tindesenter -in Åndalsnes, home of the Norwegian mountaineering museum too. There are Gyms at Åndalsnes IL, by the stadium, a small one in Måndalen by the stadium and another one at Åndalsnes KikkRauma.There are cross country ski tracks in Isfjorden, Innfjorden and Måndalen, you can see the status at Løyper.no , and downhill slopes at Bjorli and Skorgedalen.

HISTORY: Since the first ascent of Romsdalshorn in 1828 to the Big wall climbing in the 80’s and the newest development of steep skiing and BASE jumping, the valley has attracted mountain enthusiasts over centuries. You can read more about the history of mountain activities in Romsdalen here.

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