At some point the gps started to show the roads up to the mountains. Yes, the same high mountains we had seen from the road. The roads looked narrow, icy and scary. We tried to fight the gps, but when all four mobile devices showed that this is the road to take, we gave in and started the ascent.I have to be honest and say that driving in the middle of a snow field which looked endless, for many miles we had not seen people nor houses (only some hytter, covered in deep snow), and the mountain tops far away made me shiver, I could not be sure if these are the tops where we will be driving next. I got a bit scared, The flat snow field where we were driving now had also been one of those tops up there. The road was going up and down, covered with snow and ice, I understood why they had not recommended to take the trip with summertires in the autumn…
I was sitting on the backseat and feeling scared, but at the same time I was enjoying the scenery. It was so beautiful. Indescribable and breathtaking, I could understand how this glittering snow and sunshine can in minutes turn into threatening storm and you have nowhere to hide. It felt like in the end of the world. Did I mention already how beautiful it was though?
The Sohlbergsplassen viewing point at Atnsjøen lake I had seen on the photos, but to see it with your own eyes is something different. The platform frames the view towards the lake and the rounded peaks is like from a picture postcard. The place is named after a Norwegian painter Harald Solhberg, the same view appears one of his painting. “Winter’s Night in Rondane”. As a bad photographer it was hard to catch the beauty of the national park on the photos, but I have it on my memory film. You should take the trip and have it on your memory film as well.
The gps had showed time to destination 3,5h, but it took us 4 hours and 15 minutes. We discovered that another road ( a “normal” road) leads to Rorøs as well, but we thought 5 hours will be too much to drive. But I am glad we didn’t know that with breaks and not the easiest road conditions the shortcut is almost as long, otherwise we had missed so much. It is totally worth visit. Make sure you have on warm clothes, phones fully charged and something to drink and eat. As said, it can easily turn into a storm up there.
The way back to Lillehammer we decided to be safe and take the “long” way on a “normal” route. 5 hours drive from Røros along the other side of the valley. I know that the sun was up already, but we only saw sun for some minutes, when it peaked behind mountains. At 9:30 AM it was still dark. Felt a bit surreal…