Description

The Sofiarenna is not an easy steep ski undertaking although the legendary steep skier Andreas Fransson said it reminded him of the well-known Cosmiques Couloir in Chamonix that many of you reading this may have skied.

With the right (stable) snow conditions, the Sofiarenna can offer fantastic skiing with a truly alpine touch, requiring the skier to be confident in assessing the conditions, potentially using the rope, installing anchors if necessary and of course making turns in a very exposed terrain.

There are 2 ways to approach this line: Sofiarenna can be approached via the normal route up to Sofiatinden.

From here, the question to ski or not is posed.

Skiing a line on-sight requires more from the skier in terms of both judgement and skills and it poses inevitably more risk as the skier doesn't know how conditions will be further down or if the key passages go clean or not.

The alternative and perhaps a safer bet, is to hike around the mountain and climb the line first.

By doing so, the skier will know what the technical passages are like as well as the snow conditions.

The disadvantage to climb a line is the potential lurking danger from above if snow would release while climbing.

In any case, make sure to be familiar with the snow conditions and do appropriate research before venturing out. There can be a cornice in the top and the snow conditions further down this steep line (as well as the skill set of the skier) will decide whether the rope will come to use or not.

There are no anchors in place as far as we know.

The line is truly spectacular and often holds good snow late in the season due to its northerly aspect.

In right conditions, this is an amazing descent for the expert skier to enjoy. From the top you will see two possible ways to enter the couloir, left or right.

Where they meet up it is possible to keep skiers right of a small shoulder.

There are 2 rock steps that depending on conditions will offer some technical crux to overcome ( either down climb/rappel/or ski) where your alpine climbing skills will be tested.

Remember that the drawn line describing the route is a rough indication of where to go and the definite line choice always needs to be taken by the skier who is assessing the current conditions. Enjoy and play safe!