Baz and Walt went on a little further than Laetitia and I on Fagerfjellet. We'd decided along with most others, "The extra squeeze wasn't worth the extra juice!"
Taking in the view from the top Fagerfjellet
getting ready to ascend Fagerfjellet, our last ski of the trip...
Traversing Storsteinnestinden had one drawback, a long shallow traverse just above sea level to regain Ersfjordbotn
The ski traverse of Storsteinnestinden was perhaps highlight ski-adventure of the week...
The idea of having a beer waiting for us after skiing down from Breitinden caught on ... we stashed one each in the car ready for our return from Steinskardtinden! ;-)
It rained all day on Thursday! But not to miss out, Pete and Laetitia sneaked in a bouldering session at Tromso's indoor climbing centre! ;-)
We didn't have the best clothing for the session, and we had to hire shoes (which were fairly rubbish), but it was quite novel to get some training in while on a ski touring trip to Arctic Norway!
As promised, the sun came out for our evening descent of Breitinden :-)
Walt, Pete, and Baz on our way up Breitinden
Beer cans stashed in the snow waiting for us after our late ski ascent of Breitinden ... in the morning it was raining, afternoon it was snowing, but after 4pm it was improving, so that's when we started out! We got back for our cold beers after 8pm. :-)
Amazing views from our accommodation in Ersfjordbotn - our week had lots of weather - snow, sun, snow, rain, snow, wind, and snow!!
Pete, Walt, and Baz transitioning from skin to ski on top of Gratinden
Pete approaching the summit section of Gratinden - it looked quite steep and intimidating from here, but in fact it wasn't that bad going up or down! :-)
Pete at the start of our first Norwegian ski tour up Gratinden
The tricky section coming off the top of Storsteinnestinden - a big cornice on skier's right, a rocky precipice on skier's left, and deep fresh powder over an icy base underfoot!
Near the top Storsteinnestinden the ski track got pretty steep! The deep fresh powder over a hard crust was tricky to deal with in places. I managed to collapse the track twice and tumble/slide back down! I'm blaming the fact that I was probably the heaviest, but in truth it was probably more likely that I was the worst at skinning...
Pete, Laetitia, and Walt on the excellent ski down Steinskardtinden. Our accommodation in Ersfjordbotn is just visible above my head at the head of the fjord poking in on the left side of the photo :-)
Baz captured this great photo of Pete, Laetitia, and Walt on top of Breitinden - it looks posed, but it isn't, we really were this happy!
Enjoying a beer and chips in the sunshine in Oslo
Walt, Baz, Laetitia, and Pete enjoy a beer back at our base in Ersfjordbotn after the traverse of Storsteinnestinden
Baz and Laetitia on the fantastic ski down from Steinskardtinden, excellent value ... a tough but short skin up, yet what seemed like way more distance in perfect powder on the way down!
Walt and Laetitia transitioning from skinning to skiing whilst braving the incredibly fierce conditions at the top of Steinskardtinden
A clearing the cloud cover reveals the surrounds fjords and landscape to us on the ski down Breitinden
Laetitia on the way up our first day shake-down ascent of Breitinden
We had to pop our skis off on the way back for a short up-hill walk before getting stuck in to the powdery descent from Gratinden
Walt, Laetitia, and Baz reaching the summit of Gratinden
Laetitia near the summit of Fagerfjellet ready for the descent
The idea of going to Arctic Norway for some ski tour adventures has been on the agenda for a long time, but it has never crystallised in to a real plan … until now!
Gratinden
Our first day was a relatively easy ski “shake down” ascent of Gratinden to: remind ourselves how to use our skinning skills, not used for a few years; and to getting the ski legs going again, it was February that we’d last skied. 😉
Pete at the start of our first Norwegian ski tour up Gratinden
Pete approaching the summit section of Gratinden – it looked quite steep and intimidating from here, but in fact it wasn’t that bad going up or down! 🙂
Pete, Walt, and Baz transitioning from skin to ski on top of Gratinden
We had to pop our skis off on the way back for a short up-hill walk before getting stuck in to the powdery descent from Gratinden
Breitinden
Our second adventure was up and down Breitinden. Again, not a tough outing as the weather was variable – raining in the morning, heavy snow in the afternoon, and poor visibility (cloud). But with the sun promising to come out after 6pm we planned a late start, and finish – it wasn’t getting dark till gone 11pm …
Beer cans stashed in the snow waiting for us after our late ski ascent of Breitinden … in the morning it was raining, afternoon it was snowing, but after 4pm it was improving, so that’s when we started out! We got back for our cold beers after 8pm. 🙂
Walt, Pete, and Baz on our way up Breitinden
Laetitia on the way up Breitinden
A clearing the cloud cover reveals the surrounds fjords and landscape to us on the ski down Breitinden
As promised, the sun came out for our evening descent of Breitinden 🙂
Accommodation, Weather, Tromso, and Bouldering
The next day the weather was worse. Rain and snow all day! We festered a bit, went to a cafe, and then went in to Tromso for a session at the climbing wall!! 😀
Amazing views from our accommodation in Ersfjordbotn – our week had lots of weather – snow, sun, snow, rain, snow, wind, and snow!!
It rained all day on Friday! But not to miss out, Pete and Laetitia sneaked in a bouldering session at Tromso’s indoor climbing centre! 😉 We didn’t have the best clothing for the session, and we had to hire shoes (which were fairly rubbish), but it was quite novel to get some training in while on a ski touring trip to Arctic Norway!
Steinskardtinden
The previous day’s poor weather meant there was loads of fresh powder right down to sea level. But the weather was still packing a punch – super strong and arctic winds at the summit of Steinskardtinden!
Walt and Laetitia transitioning from skinning to skiing whilst braving the incredibly fierce conditions at the top of Steinskardtinden
Baz and Laetitia on the fantastic ski down from Steinskardtinden, excellent value … a tough but short skin up, yet what seemed like way more distance in perfect powder on the way down!
Pete, Laetitia, and Walt on the excellent ski down Steinskardtinden. Our accommodation in Ersfjordbotn is just visible above my head at the head of the fjord poking in on the left side of the photo 🙂
The idea of having a beer waiting for us after skiing down from Breitinden caught on … we stashed one each in the car ready for our return from Steinskardtinden! 😉
Storsteinnestinden
After two days of heavy snow we finally saw the weather forecast improving and extended periods of sunshine being forecasted. This was our cue to get out on a longer and more challenging adventure. We ended up doing a tour Baz has done before based on his recommendation, “the best”! We were all game for the traverse of Storsteinnestinden…
Near the top Storsteinnestinden the ski track got pretty steep! The deep fresh powder over a hard crust was tricky to deal with in places. I managed to collapse the track twice and tumble/slide back down! I’m blaming the fact that I was probably the heaviest, but in truth it was probably more likely that I was the worst at skinning…
The tricky section getting off the top of Storsteinnestinden
The tricky section coming off the top of Storsteinnestinden – a big cornice on skier’s right, a rocky precipice on skier’s left, and deep fresh powder over an icy base underfoot!
The ski traverse of Storsteinnestinden was perhaps the highlight ski-adventure of the week…
Walt enjoying the awesome powder skiing over the top of Storsteinnestinden
Traversing Storsteinnestinden had one drawback, a long shallow traverse just above sea level to regain Ersfjordbotn
Walt, Baz, Laetitia, and Pete enjoy a beer back at our base in Ersfjordbotn after the traverse of Storsteinnestinden
Fagerfjellet
The previous day’s traverse of Storsteinnestinden had taken it out of Laetitia and I a little. But with only one day of skiing remaining in the trip we settled on what looked like a fine ascent of Fagerfjellet. The weather was perfect which gave us some brilliant opportunities to loiter a bit and take in the incredible views! 😀
Getting ready to ascend Fagerfjellet, our last ski of the trip…
Laetitia near the summit of Fagerfjellet ready for the descent
Taking in the view from the top Fagerfjellet
The view from the summit of Fagerfjellet was just incredible – the day before’s summit, Storsteinnestinden, was clearly visible …
Baz and Walt went on a little further than Laetitia and I on Fagerfjellet. We’d decided along with most others, “The extra squeeze wasn’t worth the extra juice!”
Oslo
And just like that the week of arctic Norwegian ski touring was over and it was time to get on a plane from Tromso back to Oslo and then Edinburgh and home. However, Norwegian Air had an unwelcome surprise for us… The flight from Tromso was delayed for two hours meaning we missed our connecting flight from Oslo! They had automatically booked us on to the flight back to Edinburgh for the following day, and they put us up in an airport hotel complete with lunch, dinner, and breakfast meal vouchers. But what should we do with ourselves? The answer was obvious – catch a 30 minute train in to Oslo and have a look around in the beautiful spring/summer sunshine! 😀
