Sea Kayaks and Ski Mountaineering in Lofoten Island, Norway

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

Rating

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

Doglotion.com - Freeskiing Community - camping

Sea Kayaks and Ski Mountaineering in Lofoten Island, Norway