There's a lot to know...about snow!

Did you also think that avalanches are not relevant if you are only cross-country or back country skiing? How wrong we were. Luckily our general curiosity led us to take a course about avalanches, or moreover: how to avoid them. Only the story of people just sitting below a little overhang over 5meters tall being buried in snow made us realize that there is more to snow than you would think.

Recent 'flakskred'

So during 2 days we may have only skied about 10km max each day, but stopped many times and talked and learned about wind, weather, snow crystals, snow layers, etc. So to us now snow is no longer something that just falls from the sky onto the earth to lie there and make a landscape white, no snow is actually constantly moving. Crystals being picked up by the wind, to be transported through the air, maybe even polished on the way, to come to rest in another place. Most likely that place is a lee side of a mountain or a gulley.

Once an engineer....

The Q&A was varied with the necessary digging every now and then. Boys wouldn't be boys if they would not have a serious go at it. So after the shovel comes the snow-saw and testing of how thick the layers were. And yes, when you get the hang of it...the lunch-break becomes the moment of opportunity to build a snow hole:-)!

At least we are fascinated and can only say that we hope that more people take these kind of courses. (At least in Norway they are widely available and offered by many organizations like DNT, Sportsnett, Norgesguidene, etc) If only to be able to help rescue others that have been caught by an avalanche (not yourself off course as you then now how to choose a safe route;-)). The more people that have the knowledge and the skills, the better the odds become for anyone caught in one.

So: there's too much to know about snow to write about it all here, but we'd be happy to share or answer any questions! Comments are also always welcome!

lunchbreak .... ehhh digging-time!

Troll Løypa diary part 2: days 5-9

Day 5.                                                              30.01.13

Gråhøgdbu-Jammerdalsbu                              18km in 7h10min

"NO HORIZON"

All white, no distinction where sky meets snow, therefore hard to keep balance too. Deep, thick snow through birch forest, legs got a proper workout today. Also saw some more reindeer.

Thought about future trips & work today. Decided that dreaming big is no crime. So, if next trip with pulk&tent is successful, I will allow myself to dream about a certain trip deep deep down south.... As far south as you can go.

Need to find a name for the dog on my skies. No great ideas so far. Sheep is no help either in that respect..

P.S. Trail on map is inaccurate. Need to update @ Kartdugnad.

Jammerdalsbu around sunset

Jammerdalsbu

Day 6.                                                              31-01-2013

Jammerdalsbu – Vetåbua                                17km in 5h55min

BRUN LAPSKAUS

sun and clear skies: finally seeing where we are going! Plenty to see too: many animal tracks of which a large part had been reindeer. Obviously hopping from one grazing place to another: " look guys, there's more moss over here!"  Also saw two different prints following the same track: what looked like a more cat-like print (fjellrev?) and a hare-track which seemed to be in a great hurry...

Michiel came with all sorts of cool plans today what he could do together with his little nephew Oscar when they come over in march: stuff like campfires, baking pinnebrød and sausages. Sleighing, ...

Lunch consisted of one of the best inventions in the DNT storage rooms: Bixit!  Chocolate-covered oatmeal cookies: Omnomnom! After that came the prospect of baking pancakes at Vetåbua as an appetizer. That thought certainly helped us through the last 5km.

To our great disappointment after arrival... There were no pancakes! So what to do?!

BUT... Finally my eye rested on a can of...: Brun lapskaus! Michiel nearly was convinced that DNT didn't have these, but here was the proof sitting in the storage. So now a few hours later that proof is now sitting in my stomach:-)

Now planning and looking at the map for the last few days. Especially getting out of the "jungle" and back to "civilization" could be slightly longer than expected. Maybe we are not supposed to leave?

Another to-do on the tour list is now Femundsmarka. Read about it and seems like another different but very cool place to go to. Much more wooded area (secretly want to play " Johnny the woodchopper"). So every trip i itself is also again great training for the next one(s).

Keep ploddig!

lunch at Saubua

Shaf feels right at home

Day 7.                                                              01-02-2013

Vetåbua-Djupslia                                             16km in 6h

SNOWBATH

Plodding to no avail; snow track disappeared with the first sight of civilization: a “pistebully” cutting tracks! This created an epic moment during lunch: M was drinking tea and ventilating his somewhat sweaty legs with his pants down. So when the snow machine appeared round the corner I was handed the teacup while shouting "pull up honey, pull up!"

However, the "fun" only lasted about 3-4km until track to Djupslia bent off and plodding started all over again. Most mind-numbing km's of last week (B). Again NO Pannekaker in stock :-( but the hut was "warmed" by cabin guard leaving just as we came.

A sauna invites to a proper cool down; so clothes off and snow bathing. "Fy Fan!" That was COLD! But felt good after. Now enjoying good company of 2 Brits going in the opposite direction to Høvringen.

sunrise

last self-made tracks

bye-bye self-made tracks

Day 8.                                                              02-02-2013

Djupslia – Nordseter                                        30km in 6h?

NO PANNEKAKER

A day which was characterized by the jungle of cut tracks and people on them. On recommendation of our Scottish fellow-cabin inhabitants from the day before, we headed first for Pellestova for some waffles and a cup of tea. It  became coffee and an Elgburger instead. Finally some crispy food instead of all kinds of food that is best eaten with a spoon. After Pellestova decided against descending down to Lillehammer and went for Nordseter instead.  A shower! Nice.

But again, a day in the end without Pancakes. Ever since we left Jammerdalsbu we have been thinking and fantasizing about the pannekaker the whole day. But apparently there are some differences in standard stock in storage rooms between DNT Oslo huts and the ones from Lillehammer Turistforeningen (LOT). Possibly they do not like pancakes so much in that town?

Day 9.                                                                        03-02-2013

Nordseter - Lillehammer                                           17km in 3h?

Descend down to Lillehammer. We have done it!

COLD going down when humidity in air increased: so add layer after layer of clothing, trying to get some blood flowing in my fingers.

Has been a brilliant trip and this one is really just the beginning…

Lillehammer in the background. Nearly there...

Troll Løypa diary part 1

Troll Løypa (days 1-4)

Day 1                                                                                                 26-01-2013

Høvringen – Rondvassbu                                                                 20 km in 7h30min

OFF-TRACK

Started off on cut-tracks past Smuksjøseter to Peer-Gynt Hytta. Just before Smuksjøseter we were welcomed by Storm , the very big and furry Leonberger.

Left the beaten track after Peer Gynt. There seemed to be little snow in the terrain until we passed a refuge and saw that all snow had drifted here to form a drop of 1.5 meters to its entrance.

Arriving at Rondvassbu we found it to be densely populated by a DNT-fjellsport group of 17.  First day of enjoying cabin food: meatballs and mashed potatoes (must admit we looked a bit envious across to the fresh meat and veggies the DNT group brought) OMNOMNOM J

Day 2.                                                                                             27-01-2013

Rondvassbu – Bjørnhollia                                                            14 km in 5h15min

“SVIMMEL”

Near white-out first half of the day. Just followed the valley to Bjørnhollia. Both visibility and the Rondvassbu-“sauna” (have not yet discovered how Norwegians can be economical with fire-wood) made our heads feel like a block of firewood (could come in handy to heat up next cabin). No big fun up on a windy mountain with “svimmel”,“hodebank”, and queasiness.

However going down through woods lightened things up: toe-dipping in elv (Michiel), tree-hugging, shrub-trampling, branch dodging, etc.. Nice change of scenery from cloud and rock to birch trees and roots.

Finally got fire and operation re-hydration going inside with wind howling outside cabin. Feels like proper winter-tour already!

Animal sightings: two flocks of Snø-rype and a big snow hare.

Day 3.                                                                                                28-01-2013:

Bjørnhollia - Eldåbu.                                                                        18km in 6h30min

"RUDOLPH /  SUNSHINE REGGAE"
All clouds from the day before were being blown away by strong winds this morning.  Got us sandblasted on the first ‘motbakke’ of the day, but also gave a glimpse off the sights we missed the day before.
Making good progress and dropped down 100m again into next valley towards lunch time which sheltered us from the wind. Take your hat off and sweat!!

After lunch in the sun we nearly walked over a trampled piece of moss: Typical sign of reindeer. Some careful looking around revealed 5 animals moving up a hill. Stopped to take out binoculars and looked at them, then continued onwards. After two minutes you suddenly become aware of a grey spot on the mountain to your right that is moving..... Turned out Rudolph and his buddies had been behind a small hill- out of sight to us- and were now moving along. Rough estimate was around 120 animals at least!! Interesting patterns they make when they move, stop, regroup, etc. Bit like a harmonica.

Last part of day we descended towards Eldåbu while being treated to great colours of the sunset. Hardly seem any other place that has such firy colours in the sky. Second hytte we have to ourselves, looked forward to Brun Lapskaus but as they only had the Lys version on stock we settled for that instead.

Day 4.                                                                                                            29-01-2013  

Eldåbu - Gråhøgdbu.                                                                                    16km in 5h55min

BAMBOO

The day’s colour-theme was white/grey and got progressively worse to complete white-out. Plodding through the "bamboo-jungle" of sticks now marking the trail from Eldåbu onwards. To be honest these markings do help to reduce navigation time significantly when visibility is as low as today and otherwise also to give you a fixed point to focus on in this all-white world.  It’s difficult holding balance when you have no fixed horizon and have about 15kg on your back. Well, every now and then you end up in an unexpected snow heap which makes good fun underway :-).

Without views it's much more a day to just focus on setting a pace and rhythm as you go. Quite relaxing actually. Either it completely clears the head, or at other times you're just sunk in your thoughts, letting the legs do the work.
Animal sightings: a snø-rype and a tourist bus when crossing the road at Venabygdsfjellet.
Now at Gråhøgdbu; found our names in the visitors log from last year. So much has changed since we were here last time! The water could not be found, so we had to start melting snow instead. Warming ourselves at the stove now and wishing for some better views tomorrow.