On Sunday afternoon, the weather looked good in the area so I decided to fly to one of my favorite grass strip in the area, Vinnu ENSU with the SkyWagon (an early C185 from 1962 which should be on floats, but we are working on getting the float refurbished, so in the mean time, it’s on wheels).
A friend of mine joined me and helped pulling the plane out of the hangar and once ready we fueled her up and took off from ENVA on runway 27. Heading South-West on a direct route towards our destination, I note more high clouds towards the coast, some of them just a bit higher than us, currently at 4000’. I decided to head more South since the mountains between us and ENSU culminate at 6500’ and South from us the sky is clear.
A bit further, now at 7500’ the clouds towards the West are now much higher and not an issue at all so I turn towards the end of the fjord just West of ENSU. I start my descent a bit North of the fjord, passing the last mountain at 6000’ descending now over the fjord and turning East towards Surndalsøra, the city at the end of the fjord.
I then follow the right side of the valley descending towards 2000’, and reach the airfield, turn 90° to the left to overfly the runway and check the wind. We are now facing a massive cliff just behind the airfield. That means you need to take the next turn fairly soon after and I took it to the left to be able to join the downwind leg tor runway 28. The pattern is done between the mountains and gets me on final at 80mph as needed, but I bounced quite high and immediately initiated a go around. There’s only 600m of runway, not enough to stabilize the aircraft and try landing again. Next landing went fine, and stopped the aircraft after about on half of the runway.
That’s the cliff looking North with the highest waterfall in Europe, called Vinnufossen
And this is the other side of the Valley on the South
After enjoying the views and discussing a bit with the locals, we got back in LN-ABO, backtracked runway 28, do the engine check, lined up with 2 notches of flaps and full power. Got her on the mainwheels quite quickly and off the ground using less than half of the runway, the old lady can do short takeoff in this configuration! We climb while turning 180 to follow the valley towards the East until we are high enough to clear the mountains on our left towards Trondheim.
Here you see the valley, the airfield is a bit further, not quite visible on the picture
And there’s still quite some snow on the montains
After that we just took a round over Trondheim city and then landed back in ENVA.
Some more picture Here
Beautiful! And quite my kind of flying too, so another place for my Norwegian list of places still to visit 
Thanks for the dream, and the mini report.
Gorgeous! Flying in Norway is definitely on my bucket list! Would love to fly there some day.
Very nice 😊
How easy is it to move the C185 on the ground? Do you need 2 people?
Dan wrote:
Beautiful! And quite my kind of flying too, so another place for my Norwegian list of places still to visit
When you decide to come, let me know, I’d be happy to give you any information and to meet you and your steed!
Capitaine wrote:
How easy is it to move the C185 on the ground? Do you need 2 people?
It’s not too bad, I can manage alone, but it’s of course easier with extra help. In and out of the hangar, the best is 3 persons, one on each wing to check the clearance to the door opening (this hangar does not have too much margin for a C185) and one on the tailwheel to control the direction.
Yes – really super.
I’ve been trying to get to Norway for about 15 years, and one needs to pick the wx quite carefully.
stunning photos!
do you know if fuel is available on the airport or if it can be arranged?
Spectacular, WWW, thanks for posting. I’m planning to escape the heat this summer and looked at ending up in Stavanger to visit friends. But your post stimulates me to go a bit further North. You may be busy with various EuroGA-ers barging in 
Looked at distances and it’s really doable from Stavanger. Interestingly quite a bit shorter than by car.. Tempted to go RHS and fly along the coast, if that’s a good idea.
And maybe also get to meet @lesving..
RV14 wrote:
do you know if fuel is available on the airport or if it can be arranged?
If you mean at ENSU, no, I don’t think they have fuel, at best maybe some MOGAS. At ENVA, we have 100LL.
aart wrote:
Tempted to go RHS and fly along the coast, if that’s a good idea.
The coast preferably a little inland would be the most beautiful but requires good weather because the mountains are up to 7500’ or 8000’ in some areas.
