After Sarek, we hade two weeks on our own. Some went home, and the rest of us enjoyed a few relaxing days at Øytun. Suddenly, Bård Christian said: "What about Nordkapp (Cape North), we could go there.". "Yes, we could", said I, and then we went. We rented a car and drove the 240km to Nordkapp...or almost. 13km from the Cape, the road was closed due to wind and icy road. So we didn't get all the way to the cape, but we had a great dinner at the restaurant "Corner" in Honningvåg. "Torsketunge" (cod tongue) and halibut..mmm. And the landscape around Nordkapp is magnifiscent, with drastic changes every kilometer, so it was a nice day after all.
The next day we headed for Tromsø. I visited my friend Rikke in Nordkjosbotn, a very small place, but nice. Saturday it was time for the competition "Skittentind Rando" in Kattfjordeid. Some competed in the "rando", with 1500 vertical meters on two mountains. The rest of us were happy with the Downhill competition. We hiked up Skitntind together and discussed the best way down. Then from the top, people went crazy and didn't make one single turn, except for me of course. But I am still happy that I didn't fall. :P
This week we have rented a house far out on Sommarøy ("the summer island"). It is a beautifal place with white sand beaches and majestic mountains everywhere. The whole week, we have had sunny, calm weather. The snow has been soft at the top and then nice slush in the lower part. We also got to ski a couple of steep gullies...my first real gully. This is a place I will defenitely come back to.
In the evenings, we have enjoyed wine and beer, barbequed, played games and even swum in the sea. The week has been relaxing and lots of fun, but when we woke up to rain on Saturday, it was time to leave. So now we are back in Alta, and are getting prepared to the last two weeks of spring skiing.
søndag 9. mai 2010
søndag 25. april 2010
10 days in Sarek
After a two weeks long easter break, we gathered up in Alta to get ready for a 10 days touring/camping trip to Sarek national park in Sweden. We made sure that the cooking stove burned well, that the tent was in order and we prepared food and sweets for 10 days. As normal bread goes bad very quickly, we baked a heavy "touring" bread that holds a lot of energy and doesn't get too dry. We also made "energy bombs", which are very dry from the moment you take them out of the oven, and they end up as a bag uf crums after the first day. But I think this is excelent touring food.
Wednesday night a bus picked up the three classes that were going to Sarek, and we drove the whole night. I slept maybe 2 hours the whole night, so day 1 was a pretty hard one. When the bus drove away, we knew we were not going to see any sivilisation the next 10 days, and that was quite exciting. With the pulks packed, we started out in fairly good weather, but it soon turned to slush and rain making everything wet and the skins to fall of. We walked about 20km the first day, and was very happy to set up camp, eat dinner and fire up the stove inside the tent.
Day 2 was another walking day. The weather was everything from sunny to snow, and we walked another 20km, but it was a nice and efficient day, and we had a great long lunch with a camp fire, before leaving the forrest.
We woke up quite early on day 3 to blue sky and barely no wind. This was a rest day/touring day, and a few of us hiked up Gisuris (about 800 vertical meters) and skied down sweet, soft snow. The rest of the evening was spent in camp, just enjoying the sun.
Day 4: got up at 6am hoping to do some touring in the afternoon, but in was windy and very bad sight, so we just walked the 12km to the next camp.
Day 5 we moved onwards to meet the class "Off piste". While walking, we could only see a few meeters ahead, but once at the camp site, the sky opened up, and we got a change to hike up "Klassikeren". 900 vertical meters in powder :D A great way to end the day.
Day 6 and 7 was spent in the same camp, touring up and down different mountains. Everyone found a lot of great big mountain skiing or steep gullies and we were sad to leave. But we had to moove on. So before lunch on day 8, we started hiking out the valley, and had time for a little skiing in the after noon. I was excited to perfectly manage a wide gully at around 35-40 degrees.
Day 9, most people slept in, but 5 of us got up at 5am, hiked up 1000m, had to turn because of the clouds that came in, and skied down to camp where the others had breakfast. Then we hiked the 20km out of the national park, and spent the last night around the camp fire, and slept under the stars. The next day we anly walked the 200m to the bus, enjoyed a burger in Gallivarre, finally we could take a shover, after 10 days in the same dirty clothes.
Sarek turned out to be an awesome trip. The mountains are spectacular, the skiing is great and we were very lucky with so many days with sunny weather. In fact, the worst thing with the whole trips, was the sun burns we all got :D
Sweet skiing down Stortoppen (2079m). The highets mountain in Sarek.
Christoffer finally got to do some steep telemark-skiing.
The last part up Stortoppen is very steep. We almost needed ice axes and crampons.
One of the moving days. Walking with a pulk is easy when its flat.
Wednesday night a bus picked up the three classes that were going to Sarek, and we drove the whole night. I slept maybe 2 hours the whole night, so day 1 was a pretty hard one. When the bus drove away, we knew we were not going to see any sivilisation the next 10 days, and that was quite exciting. With the pulks packed, we started out in fairly good weather, but it soon turned to slush and rain making everything wet and the skins to fall of. We walked about 20km the first day, and was very happy to set up camp, eat dinner and fire up the stove inside the tent.
Day 2 was another walking day. The weather was everything from sunny to snow, and we walked another 20km, but it was a nice and efficient day, and we had a great long lunch with a camp fire, before leaving the forrest.
We woke up quite early on day 3 to blue sky and barely no wind. This was a rest day/touring day, and a few of us hiked up Gisuris (about 800 vertical meters) and skied down sweet, soft snow. The rest of the evening was spent in camp, just enjoying the sun.
Day 4: got up at 6am hoping to do some touring in the afternoon, but in was windy and very bad sight, so we just walked the 12km to the next camp.
Day 5 we moved onwards to meet the class "Off piste". While walking, we could only see a few meeters ahead, but once at the camp site, the sky opened up, and we got a change to hike up "Klassikeren". 900 vertical meters in powder :D A great way to end the day.
Day 6 and 7 was spent in the same camp, touring up and down different mountains. Everyone found a lot of great big mountain skiing or steep gullies and we were sad to leave. But we had to moove on. So before lunch on day 8, we started hiking out the valley, and had time for a little skiing in the after noon. I was excited to perfectly manage a wide gully at around 35-40 degrees.
Day 9, most people slept in, but 5 of us got up at 5am, hiked up 1000m, had to turn because of the clouds that came in, and skied down to camp where the others had breakfast. Then we hiked the 20km out of the national park, and spent the last night around the camp fire, and slept under the stars. The next day we anly walked the 200m to the bus, enjoyed a burger in Gallivarre, finally we could take a shover, after 10 days in the same dirty clothes.
Sarek turned out to be an awesome trip. The mountains are spectacular, the skiing is great and we were very lucky with so many days with sunny weather. In fact, the worst thing with the whole trips, was the sun burns we all got :D
On sunny days, the trees at camp are decoreted with drying skins and clothes.
Sweet skiing down Stortoppen (2079m). The highets mountain in Sarek.
Christoffer finally got to do some steep telemark-skiing.
The last part up Stortoppen is very steep. We almost needed ice axes and crampons. One of the moving days. Walking with a pulk is easy when its flat. fredag 26. mars 2010
Lovely Lyngen =)
First day: walk in to base camp in sun set
Moring meeting where we split into small groups
and decided where to go skiing that day
Lunch in the sun wall of a huge conice. 
Elisabeth screeming after 500m with "balls deep" powder.
Bjørn considering a north facing gully. Too bad it was way too wind affected.lørdag 27. februar 2010
Day 4 and 5
On day 4 of the course we went to Christianie Trees, still in Rogers Pass. After quite a long hike in the valley we headed upwards. The snow was really moist and stuck to the skinns, making it hard to brake trail. We dug a snowpit on a east aspect at 1500m, which didn't give that interesting results. But then on 1900m the snow was complately different. At the treeline there were whoomphing and cracking everywere. All convex slopes collapsed and slid under us. We did a Rutchblock test of grade 2, an other comressions tests with easy, sudden collapse. In other words, the snow was very unstable. Skiing down north-east facing slopes were therefore a bit scetchy and we triggered couple of avlanches of size 1-2. The skiing was quite good, all though short, and the day ended with a long nd narrow luge track out the valley. This was yet another learningfull day.
Day 5 and last day of the course was set to "the Christmas Trees" and area. Again a hike up in the valley before starting gaining some altitude. A snowpit on a south aspect shoved stable conditions and a thick layer of crust burried 15cm down. Further up, the snowpack surprised even Steve, our course leader. He managed to remote trigger a large north-east facing slope anf even further up, at 2300m, he was almost caught in one himself. Skiing donw was nice and at the end we did another staged "avalanche rescue". Its getting better for each time, and now we found al the three "people" in 9 minutes =)
All in all, we have learned a lot during the course. Not only how to dig snowpits and doing tests. But I feel I have gotten a much better understanding of how the snowpack works. It will be fun to try this out back in Norway.
Day 5 and last day of the course was set to "the Christmas Trees" and area. Again a hike up in the valley before starting gaining some altitude. A snowpit on a south aspect shoved stable conditions and a thick layer of crust burried 15cm down. Further up, the snowpack surprised even Steve, our course leader. He managed to remote trigger a large north-east facing slope anf even further up, at 2300m, he was almost caught in one himself. Skiing donw was nice and at the end we did another staged "avalanche rescue". Its getting better for each time, and now we found al the three "people" in 9 minutes =)
All in all, we have learned a lot during the course. Not only how to dig snowpits and doing tests. But I feel I have gotten a much better understanding of how the snowpack works. It will be fun to try this out back in Norway.
onsdag 24. februar 2010
Digging snowpits in Rogers Pass
Driving from Castle Mountain towards Lake Louise offered a day off from skiing, a little detour and some shopping at MEC's. I got hold of the sleeping bag I wanted, while Sigbjørn found a couple of new backpack. Lasse had to buy new NTN bindings and learned that his skis are now rotten because of water in the core. We also went touring a place near Canmore with my friend Dave. There we found a few sweet, steep, north facing gullies, with fresh, untracked snow. Then it was time to meet up with our YAMNUSKA course leader in Lake Louise.
Day 1: even though it was blue bird and no wind, day 1 of the course was spent inside with theory. A bummer since we have hade allmost just cloudy weather the whole time in Canada, but still a very learningfull day.
Day 2: After a short breefing of the snow and weather conditions, we headed out aprox. 45 min of Lake Louise. First we did a lot of training with the beacons and probes. Then we hiked up around 300m. We dug a snow pit, and did different compressions tests. There were a couple of surface hoar layers around 20 cm down the snowpack. It was really interresting to see how these weak layers collapsed. At the end of the day Steve put up a scene of an imagined avalanche and we managed to find the three "people" buried in 11 minutes. Even though the time wasn't too bad, we still have a lot to learn and practise.
Day 3: Today we had a longer trip in Loop Brooke in Rogers Pass. We hiked up around 1000m in total, and dug both hasty pits and did biggers tests like a Rutchblock test, with score 6, and an extended comression test. The snowpack here in Rogers Pass is different than in the Rockies (Lake Louise). There were 3 surface hoar layers buried at about 15cm, 25cm and 85cm debth. The tests told ut that in the north facing slopes, below the treeline the layer at 25cm was the most reactive. Around the treeline that layer had probably been affeted by the wind and did not react, while the layer at 15cm was quite unstable. We did not manage to trigger the 85cm layer.
Day 1: even though it was blue bird and no wind, day 1 of the course was spent inside with theory. A bummer since we have hade allmost just cloudy weather the whole time in Canada, but still a very learningfull day.
Day 2: After a short breefing of the snow and weather conditions, we headed out aprox. 45 min of Lake Louise. First we did a lot of training with the beacons and probes. Then we hiked up around 300m. We dug a snow pit, and did different compressions tests. There were a couple of surface hoar layers around 20 cm down the snowpack. It was really interresting to see how these weak layers collapsed. At the end of the day Steve put up a scene of an imagined avalanche and we managed to find the three "people" buried in 11 minutes. Even though the time wasn't too bad, we still have a lot to learn and practise.
Day 3: Today we had a longer trip in Loop Brooke in Rogers Pass. We hiked up around 1000m in total, and dug both hasty pits and did biggers tests like a Rutchblock test, with score 6, and an extended comression test. The snowpack here in Rogers Pass is different than in the Rockies (Lake Louise). There were 3 surface hoar layers buried at about 15cm, 25cm and 85cm debth. The tests told ut that in the north facing slopes, below the treeline the layer at 25cm was the most reactive. Around the treeline that layer had probably been affeted by the wind and did not react, while the layer at 15cm was quite unstable. We did not manage to trigger the 85cm layer.
onsdag 17. februar 2010
Oh Canada!
We have now spent two weeks in Canada. The first days, I spent in bed feeling sick (omgangssyke). Then we couldn't rent a car with Budget, like we had booked, because neither of us are over 25. Luckily we got a car from "Rent a wreck", even if is was a little more expensive. Finally arriving in Revelstoke, both group 1 and 2 were gathered, and we started the hunt for some real canadian powder. Unfortunately, it hadn't come new snow for two weeks, but with a little hiking and traversing one can always find something good. Revelstoke is a nice little town with a lot of sports store, so I feel like I have emptied my account on lift passes, new skis and boots, and a new jacket (but well worth the money). A few hours south of Revelstoke lies Nelson/Whitewater. Its a tiny resort with only two old and small chair lifts, and without any new snow, this is not the place. One day we hiked on Kootenay Pass, one hour away from Nelson. Here we did find some amazing snow, but it is just max. 400m elevation, so you have to put the skins on several times a day.
Back in Revelstoke, we drove up to Rogers Pass, which can offer great touring and forest skiing. Starting at 1300moh and with summits at almost 3000m, its (always) more and better snow up there. We are going to spend more time at the Pass during the avalanche course.
Wanting to see more of what Canadian skiing has to offer, my car drove down to Fernie. The snow is about the same as in Revelstoke, but personally I think Fernie has more potential. Its a lot of easily accessible off-piste skiing, which is now moguls most places. So Sigbjoern has now become a great moguls skier (kulekjoering).
Back in Revelstoke, we drove up to Rogers Pass, which can offer great touring and forest skiing. Starting at 1300moh and with summits at almost 3000m, its (always) more and better snow up there. We are going to spend more time at the Pass during the avalanche course.
Wanting to see more of what Canadian skiing has to offer, my car drove down to Fernie. The snow is about the same as in Revelstoke, but personally I think Fernie has more potential. Its a lot of easily accessible off-piste skiing, which is now moguls most places. So Sigbjoern has now become a great moguls skier (kulekjoering).
Steinar drops out in powder. Kootenay Pass
Snowing in Rogers Pass =)
Quote Magnus: "Our car is so much cooler than yours"
lørdag 30. januar 2010
Having fun with the cool & crazy mountain guide Heidi
During the first week in Davos, we skied a lot in the groomed tracks, walked a little bit and found some fresh snow if we really wanted too. Then, last monday, the whole of group 2 was gathered and we met up with Heidi, our avalanche teacher for the week. We got a reality check on how hard it can be to find someone quickly with beacons all ready the first day. Then the rest of the week has been spent with a mixture of teory and skiing on various snow. We have gotten a really good base of how to evaluate the avalanche danger. I have also learned that I have A LOT to work on when it comes to my ski technic (its not fun being the worst in the class!). But luckily I still have a few month to practise. We are currently stuck at Frankfurt Flughaufen (airport) and in only 12 hours! our flight leaves for Calgary where some fresh canadian powder awaits us.
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