LA/NT-225 Klompan is a summit in Indre Fosen, on the opposite side of the Trondheimfjord. We have been considering activating it for SOTA for a while now. To reach the mountain, you just need to take a ferry from Trondheim to Vanvikan, and then you can start the hike, no car required! Very tempting for us students.
Data: DB4STI, Map: © OpenTopoMap © OpenStreetMap
We have been planning this trip to for some time, first having the idea as the First of May trip, but at that time there was still snow on the top. Finally, in June, enough of our schedules converged to make this trip possible. A similar trip was already done by LA1K in May 2023 to LA/ST-245 Storhaugen. But this specific summit was especially appealing, since it was never activated before. Luckily no one else was quicker than us, so we could be the first!
For several of us, it was also the first time crossing the fjord to the other side. The speedboat was an experience in itself and can be recommended.
From the port in Vanvikan we took a bus for two stations to our starting point. During our ascension, the weather conditions were unexpectedly kind to us, considering also the weather of the previous days, and the sun accompanied our journey. Nonetheless, the path was steep and demanding, which led us to be drenched in sweat. We stopped for a small snack break at a little shelter cabin, and we had the chance to admire the incredible view of the fjord. At the shelter, we also planned on picking up some fire wood to supply our destination cabin, but unfortunately, we couldn’t find any stacks.
Continuing on we soon made it to NTNUI Fosenkoia and got comfortable there. This is a cabin provided and frequented by students of the NTNUI Koiene sports team at the university, and was super cozy, with a guitar, some candles and incomplete decks of cards.
But, as the rest of the hike was waiting for us, we soon continued with the radio equipment to the summit point about a kilometer from the cabin. While we were setting up the antenna, LB7FK came from the other side. He was taking another, later ferry and took the direct route from Vanvikan.
While DB4STI made the first contacts, we cooked a lot of sausages and had a feast of hot dogs. This was a well deserved meal after the total hike of about 5 kilometres and 600 m ascent. After DB4STI had his go and activated the summit, LB7FK did his first SOTA activation with his callsign received in May. But this was not the only first, DM1LN also activated his first SOTA summit and all six of us are now listed as the first activators of this summit.
Photo: DB4STI
The conditions were okay, with a quite large skip zone, so we could not reach Germany this time, but Austria, Italy, France and Spain pretty good. An operator in Vienna was complaining about the heat wave and reported temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius at the moment, while we were sitting on the summit at 15 degrees and light rain. A good thing was that LB7FK also brought a tarp to cover us and the radio from the starting light rain.
LB7FK left us from the summit again, to get the ferry back the same evening. The other five of us went back to the cabin where we had another nice meal. LB4MK made us pastina, which are small rice noodles cooked in stock with cheese.
The next morning we did start without breakfast as we wanted to take the ferry before the noon break. We walked with a steady pace over the summit again on the direct way to Vanvikan. When we wanted to take a break, a swarm of small, annoying flies made us move soon after again. The path got pretty steep downhill and we were happy about the hiking sticks we found as a support.
We made it well in time and had a breakfast in front of the supermarket at the harbor, before taking the ferry back to Trondheim and our QTH. Thank you for the fun trip!
