Description

Øksehøgget Couloir in Tamokdalen is amazing couloir.

When you see it is easy to understand why.

Steep, sustained, and straight, it is the epitome of a classic steep couloir. The couloir is very sheltered and north facing so often holds good snow.

The top of the couloir is the steepest, and is sustained at 50 degrees initially.

It is also the narrowest at the top, so take care.

After the top third, the angle lessens to 45 degrees as does the feeling of exposure.

Therefore, although the line is a well-known classic, its steep nature and the fact that it is accessed by a rappel keeps the crowds away. It is possible to climb the line, especially during early winter this can be a good option because you will then know how the snow is in the couloir.

But to do this, you must have very stable conditions because even a small sluff or slide could take you to a very dangerous ride down. This is also a reason why many choose to skin up around the back and enter the couloir with an obligatory 30 meter rappel.

For the climbing option: Start from the parking at the road just before it takes a right bend.

Go over the bridge on the right hand side and head towards to valley in between Tamokfjellet and Lemmetfjellet.

Skinning up is fairly easy but right at the treeline there is a bit steeper section that might require crampons if the snow is slippery, this part is fairly short so you can also carry your equipment over the point if it’s too hard to skin up. Once in the valley keep going over halfway, you won’t see Oksehogget right away but it’s there on the right side in the north face of Tamokfjellet.

Once at the bottom, you can skin up as high up as you can to reach the mouth of the couloir.

There is few good rocks with flat spots where you can change to climbing mode. While climbing, consider checking the snow constantly.

There are parts that collect snow and it can be slabby.

At least one Ice ax is recommended.

Once at the top.

change your gear and take care in the beginning.

If you want to ride or ski in front of the sluff then you must have perfect conditions because it is most likely impossible to stop once you start the descent in high speed.

The safest choice is to make some jump turns or sideslip on the top and start enjoying the ride a bit lower down when it widens up a bit.

This line is a magnificent experience with many sides of human-powered freeriding.