The weather forecast looked good for Saturday which was yesterday, so my friend Christine and I decided to do a mountain tour on Mount Ullstinden on Tromsø‘s mainland. We met at her place, had breakfast and drove to the car park, the very same where our tours to Trollvassbu start.

This time we head north-east. The unmarked path leads over several bogs and some parts are pretty wet and muddy.

We cross some stretches of birch forests and the ground gets drier. Even at this early stage, we have wide views of the mountains and valleys to the south and west.

Some parts are covered with Arctous alpina whose leaves turn bright red in early autumn. The colour can be pretty intense and although the birches have hardly turned yellow they give the mountain landscapes an autumnal atmosphere.

In the north we can see Grøtsundet, which connects Tromsøya to Ullfjorden and so to the open sea in the north. Here the Hurtigruten ships can continue to Skjervøy, the next Hurtigruten port in the north. The Hurtigruten ship we see however is probably an expedition cruise ship because the ships from the north arrive in the night.

I am a bit confused. I thought Ullstinden was the mountain we already headed to on the bogs but I was wrong, our destination is more to the west. Here we see the first reindeer, first just a couple, then more groups – they are at least fifty. Since they stand more or less on our trail we slow down and give them a head start.

While we wait and watch, the wind picks up a little. It is carrying a lot of willow seed with it and against the sun it looks like a late-summer snow shower.

We turn left now following the red-painted rocks that mark the trail up. The Hurtigruten ship is out of sight but the view of Grøtsundet is still there, including the island Nipøya and the mountain Istinden with its glacier in the background.

The terrain gets rocky. We cross a broad but shallow mountain stream with green patches of moss and the “high alpine” part of our mountain tour starts.

The slope is covered with rough, angular rocks. Sometimes there is a tuft of grass or a small ground-cover plant but moss and  crustose lichens dominate the sparse vegetation.

I took the selfie at an altitude of 800 metres. In Bavaria you have towns like Oberstdorf or Bayrischzell at those altitudes, here in Tromsø you are in desert-like Arctic alpine terrain.

Finally we reach reach the summit of the south-western summit of Ullstinden (in some sources called Stortinden) at an altitude of 1078 metres. We drop our backpacks, drink some water and share some chocolate. We have been completely alone for the whole tour, but now a young woman is approaching. It is her taking the photo of us. Thank you, unknown hiker!

The view from the peak is absurdly spectacular, almost unreal. To the southwest we can see the slope we ascended. To the west, behind Ullsfjorden we can see the northern half of the Lyngen Alps. Also to the west, more than 600 metres below us – the lake Riehppejávri or Storelvvatnan with its intense turquoise water. To the north, the other summit of Ullstinden – 15 metres higher and there are other fjords and snow fields and mountain ranges and two eagles and … . I am speechless.

I take some photos. For the one with the lake I have to lie down, because there the terrain is much steeper than the comfort-zone part of me likes.

I even try to take a series of shots for a panoramic photo (thanks, Martin for your inspiration!) but I’m not content. I should have taken more time to find a better angle.

I was glad that I took my trekking poles with me. I hardly use them, but my knees appreciated it when I was descending about 950 metres in altitude. I have eaten the chocolate, I have drunk most of the water but now I had another weight to bear: A quartz rock of about one kilo that I found on the way up. Until it has found its final place in my apartment it stands on the coffee table and reminds me of this exhausting but pretty spectacular mountain tour.

Thanks for the great hike, Christine. Takk for turen!