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Night Time Ski Touring in Tromso, Norway

AndreCharland — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:20:18 -0400

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From Riksgransen Christian Bjork and I headed further north and west to the coast of Norway to town called Tromso. The sun never sets there so we took a drive around a couple of small islands and found a nice line for an evening shred above the North Atlantic Ocean.

Tromso is on the edge of Norway and just West of the Lyngen Alps. I highly recommend a trip out there if you like ski touring. The runs, views and access are some of the best I've seen anywhere in the world. Tromso is actually the most Northern city in the world with a population of more than 50,000 and has more skiing than you can do in a life time with an hour or two drive.

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If you're looking to plan a trip just get in with Jimmy, he's a great guide. Just wait for the video of our day in the Lyngen Alps.

Sea Kayaks and Ski Mountaineering in Lofoten Island, Norway

cheddar — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:56:16 -0400

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Last spring Patrik Lindqvist, Andreas Fransson, Fredrik Anderson and I paddled into in Arctic waters to lay some turns high above the fjords.

It began not so well; We paid tons of excess baggage, had some of that baggage lost, got duty free whiskey and a shovel handle taken by customs (maybe we would drink the whiskey get mad and beat the pilot with the handle, obviously), then ran through Oslo airport for our connection only to find it was delayed an hour. We then walked around the snowless Arctic town of Bodo in March wearing t-shirts. However it got better, we got the lost baggage the following morning then boarded the Hurtigruten ferry going north. This took us up the Norwegian coast to Svolvaer, Lofoten’s capital, where we spent a day gathering our gear and info from various sources.

Packing the 3 kayaks (two singles and a double) with all the gear 4 guys needed to camp and ski tour for a week was a bitch. But we did it and paddled into our first challenge; crossing 2km of open water at the head of Austnesfjorden which was most risky part of our sea kayaking. The water temp was 5 degrees, so capsizing was a bad idea. There was also a cross wind and a reasonable swell running to keep us sharp. After the open water we passed through the headland rocks and islands into Oyhellsundet fjord.

Carrying gear in a kayak is considerably easier than on your back and this luxury was definitely not lost on me. Its also quick which allowed us to enjoy the paddle, as our first camp was a leisurely 10½ km away. We set up camp on the lee shore of a spit in the snow above the high water mark.

Spring had arrived early in Lofoten, as it had in the Alps, the freezing arctic temps we had prepared for were gone and we basked in sea level temps that fell only a few degrees below at night. This gave us some dodgy snow conditions to contend with during the day. The peaks were raining down slides, sluffs and rocks in the hanging valley we set out for even early in the day. With no safe route to ascend the steep sided basin we had to settle for a couple of mellow laps of corn skiing lower down. The next day was similar though we made a col dividing the east and west sides of the Island, views of fjords below us on two sides were stunning. We moved camp a few km deeper into the fjord to explore another area.

Trolltindan Peak was our next objective. Our chosen route was a good one for climbing, though we had to take good mental photo of the skiable line out from the north facing mid-mountain section. The ascent went through a gully with several meters of blue water ice and would not be the route out. Once through this section it was skins back on for 280m in a hanging valley before the final boot pack up the east face pitch below the summit. This section we raced up nervously as it was by now fairly punchy soft snow, not ideal for climbing. Soon enough though we topped out at 1036m on Trolldindan Peak. The descent was part perfect corn and part bullet-proof pain, with one sketchy traverse which involved taking ½ your weight on axes and shuffling carefully long the 70° pitch in a definite no-fall zone.

On day 5 it started pissing rain so we packed up and paddled off as there wasn’t much else to do. This meant we got back to Svolvaer in time for the World Championship of Arctic Cod fishing, which was sweet. I caught a large abandoned net for my 8 hours of standing on a boat in the rain, but apparently there were lots of fish down there!?

The only disappointment to the trip was the free cake at the hotel in Svolvaer. I was stoked on arrival after 5 days of shite food to see a huge table of cakes that people just seemed to be eating. I joined in and attempted to eat my own body weight in extremely good cake. It was only at check out 3 days later that I got the bill. The sneaky hotel workers had been watching and keeping count of cake consumption the whole time! And Norwegian cake isn’t cheap!

Attachment	Size
hurtigruten ferry	692.92 KB
chute shredding	59.82 KB
climbing	33.28 KB
fire	46.21 KB
skiing	33.68 KB
walking	34.53 KB
paddling in lofoten	47.69 KB

Kayaking & Freeride In Norway

XPS — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:07:12 -0400

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Note from DL: Keep an eye out for the ongoing adventures of these guys on their trip up Norway for some rad peak bagging. You Whistlerites will recognize Ian Cheddar Watson on the roster... should prove to be a pretty cool adventure. Here's some pre trip news, more coming from this blog as it unfolds...

Our original destination of the Alta region of Norway for this trip has been changed. Due to safety issues raised by local paddlers related to winter kayaking the area was deemed not suitable for our visit. We have therefore moved the destination to the mountains and fjords of the Lofoten region. This change has we believe worked out better than the original plans as the concept remains the same and we will now be among more spectacular mountains.

Kayaking in the fjords and ski mountaineering in the peaks above in Norway’s famous Lofoten region. In some of the most untouched areas left in Scandinavia we will access the mountains from the ocean to ski area’s rarely visited where roads are few and far between. From the ocean to the highest peaks gives an elevation of up to 1200m with ski descents possible right down to the water. This gives a vertical drop comparable to that of the Alps. This trip will take place from 21.3.07 for 10 days to get the best conditions in this area both for weather and snowcover.

(Previous expedition)

Kayaks are being used to access these remote places and to put up base camp along the way. Spotting good ski lines from the fjords we will choose the most aesthetic peaks we find. These areas in Norway are seldom skied as the access is too complicated and time consuming to approach by land. We are sking these peaks...

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