Day 15. Storsteinen to Krossvatn
Posted by: James on January 15, 2009Distance 25km | Time 8.5hrs | Ascent 440m | Descent 280m
I was up earlier than usual and was ready just after 0800. However it was too early as it was still dark so I eventually left at first light around 0830. It was to be a long day but the weather had lots of promise. It was crisp, clear and minus 10 again. If I did not make it to Krossvatn cabin by 1730 the price I would have to pay would be to camp. Incentive enough not to dally.
I set off up Storsteindalen for a km and then cut off northeast up a snow filled gully for 2 km to reach the lake. Just these 3 km took nearly 2 hours and a fair bit of effort. The gully had some tricky steep sections. Just before the lake I reached a small pass and got a wonderful view of the early morning sun on the mountain plateau to the east of the lake.
The lake, called Blasjo, is a vast reservoir built at the very top of the plateau. It has some 8 dams at various points on it circumference, enlarging the many existing lakes and tarns into a 80 square kilometre reservoir at about 1000 meters altitude. The water from here then descends nearly 1000 metres to feed 11 massive turbines which apparently is enough to supply all of Stavanger and Bergens electricity. In total it produces over 4,400,000 mega-watt hours per year.
It cannot be denied that Blasjo is an intrusion into nature, especially for the wild reindeer. Furthermore its’ ring of bare sterile rock around the fringe is an eyesore while the reservoir is filling in the summer. It is never the less an very effective energy source per unit disturbance compared to the more naïve alternative energy sources, like wind turbines.
Today while I skied across its surface I barely noticed it was a reservoir I made fast time skiing into my long shadow with a bitter breeze directly behind me. Had I been going south sunglasses would have been mandatory given the glare from the sun. It took about 3 hours to ski the pleasant 14 across the snow covered ice. There were lots of reindeer tracks on the lake but I saw none.
At the north end of the lake I had a choice of doing 2 sides of a triangle or risk the direct line through craggy knolls. I played safe learning now just how rugged the Setersheiene landscape is. Indeed it is a alien landscape of knolls separated by warrens of deep clefts between them. A nightmare to ski and navigate through, especially with cornices everywhere.
I decided to ski east up the Poyleaa stream bed for 2 km despite the fact the hut was north. Even this simple route was full of up and downs between tarns. I then turned north and followed a line of small lakes and tarns, all frozen and covered in snow. On each side of me up this corridor were gnarly outcrops dripping with snow cornices.
As it was getting dark I at last reached Krossvatn lake. I took the detour around the lake for the last 2 km rather than risk unknown crags and snow filled warrens for the much shorter direct line. When I round a small peninsular and the cabin came into view a short distance away I was delighted.
It had been a long day of some 8.5 hours which I had done without a stop or even taking my rucksack off. On the other hand the navigation and decisions in hindsight were the right ones. I was tired though.
After digging out the door of the cabin I went in. It was minus 5 inside. After a couple of hours I had it warmed up a bit but it was quite drafty. I was knackered and with great effort wrote this and punched the references into the GPS for tomorrows long ski to Bleskestadmoen across a string of smaller lakes.
I had been a great day and I made good progress northwards. I was also able to enjoy the wild snowscape in good weather for the first day, and also appreciate just what a wild place this is.