Nerotinden North Ridge - Where is Kyle Miller?

Nerotinden is one of those peaks that while close to the Tamokhuset it never really got any attention. I had been interested in it ever sense I spotted it while heading out to Tamokfjellet. While the Northwest bowl was riddled with cliffs it seemed there could be a route through. Being near the end of my 2022 Tamok season it was time to go check out the area.

Exploring Nerotinden

Not having a car I decided to skin out there following the south side of the Tamokdalen Valley starting at the Tamokhuset. According to the weather forecast it was calling for a clearing around 3 A.M. so I was off breaking trail starting at Midnight.

I didn’t know how the route through the valley would go. According to maps there were roads but I feared getting myself into a nasty bushwhack but I was able to find open roads leading into the Finndalen Valley before starting my ascent.

Heading through treeline I made a low angle traverse minimizing steep sidehilling before arriving at the base of Nerotinden. Looking off towards Blåbærfjellet there were still some clouds in the area but I was hoping that weather would improve as I climbed.

Once arriving into the alpine I had a clear view of the Vassaldalen Valley to the East and numerous opportunities for ski descents beyond the western section.

Before long I was looking up at the North slopes of Nerotinden and had to come up with an ascent route. I had two options I could either climb the North Ridge or do a more exposed climb of the Northeast bowl.

Upon closer inspection of the Northeast Bowl the route seemed doable but it had a bit of exposure. Since I was solo and a bit isolated I made the call to climb the North ridge instead and if conditions allowed I would descend via the Northeast bowl.

With the snow being semi firm I switched from skinning to climbing with Crampons following the ridge up. This would allow me to walk around a bit more freely as well as scout out a potential descent route if I decided to turn back on the Northeast bowl.

After climbing up the ridge the slopes mellowed out and I had a clean view of the final section up to the summit of Nerotinden. There were a few rocks which made traveling on the ridge a bit more difficult but it was a straight foreward and smooth route all the way to the top.

Looking back the sun was starting to rise on the horizon and it seemed that the clouds were clearing out. Knowing that the good weather would only hold for an hour or two I had around 30 minutes to make it to the summit before the early morning alpenglow.

I arrived on the summit just as the sun rose over the horizon. From what I could see the Northeast bowl of Nerotinden was looking inviting and I decided I would go for it. As soon as I transitioned and was preparing to drop in clouds rose over the summit and I found myself with zero visibility. It seemed there was a single cloud out there and of course it was where I was.

I decided the safe and smart move was to retrace my steps as I could only see my bootpack through the clouds. While the North Ridge wasn’t my intended route it would still offer some great turns to the valley below without the stress of my line potentially ending in a cliff. As soon as I rode a hundred meters lower I was back out of the clouds and traversing towards my descent route.

After a long and mellow traverse finally I was on top of the North ridge and preparing to ride semi firm snow in the morning alpenglow. Since I had climbed the route earlier I knew that it was just open slopes below. After taking a few seconds to take a handful of photos it was time to do some steeper snowboarding.

While the snow was firm it was easily edgeable as I dropped a little bit to the skiers right to stay away from the rocks. Once in the valley I made a low angle traverse back to my approach skin track and retraced my tracks back to Tamokhuset arriving around 6 in the morning.

Though I had to bail on my original plans it was great to final make it to the summit of Nerotinden. The North Ridge wasn’t my intended ski route but it was still a fun route to ski and I knew I would have to come back again to ride the Northeast bowl.

The photo below is Nerotinden with my ascent and descent route on the left hand side.