Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 24km | Time 10.5hrs | Ascent 660m | Descent 1040m

I was up early at 0700 in the dark. I had to get ready by first light at 0830 as it was to be a long day. If I did no make the cabin at Bleskestadmoen I had to camp. The forecast said the fresh breeze would pick up to a gale in the evening. And it was just a fresh breeze as I set off at 0830.

The breeze was at my back as I went up 2 km of lakes to where a valley came down from the north east. The visibility was greyish and much of the snows features did not show.

There had been a huge dumping of snow while I was at Krossvatn cabin and even the vertical rock was plastered. I noticed that the streams was open in a few places. I suppose when you get half a metre with snow it must depress the ice on the lakes by a centimetre or two and this squeezes the water in the streams.

Going up this side valley was fantastic. The snow was new but already compacted by yesterdays wind which would have rolled the snowflakes until they turned into small balls of spindrift which when settled had little air trapped in then.

I skied quickly the 10 km across Kringlevatn, Midtvatn and Kaldevatn lakes which were each separated by a small gentle climb. As I skied across the uppermost lake, Kaldevatn, there was a flash of blue sky occasionally. I felt great. The wind, an easterly, had started to pick up now.

I then turned north west and headed up to a saddle. I was keen to get over this saddle before the gale arrived. At the pass the valley was squeezed beween 2 mountains and the wind was likewise squeezed. It was roaring through the pass. Luckily it was behind me. It swept a huge river of spindrift across the icy surface of the snow and I was carried along with it.

The descent was difficult because the snow surface fluctuated the whole time between soft accumulations of spindrift and a hard polished surface. Furthermore it was difficult to make out where they changed. In addition the wind bundled me along. It was probably a gale by now.

The sky was reasonably clear and down in the valley below I could make out Krokevatnet lake. There were some old summer farms here at 900 metres and well below the upper limit of the birch. I reached them quite quickly after skiing across the bare ice of Krokevatnet lake. A raven, acrobatic as ever, coped well with the gusts.

I was doing well. I just had a small valley to ski up and down again and I was home. I therefore took a rest amoungst the bare birch which offered no protection against the gale. I glanced at my watch and could not believe the time. It was 1530 already. I still had 6 km to go and looking at the map they did not look easy. In addition the gale was coming straight down this same valley.

I set of with urgency. The biscuilts and water providing some extra vigour. The gale was hurling spindrift into my face and buffeting me about. Still I made good time and climbed out of the trees and reached the pass in the dusk. The wind now was a good gale and must have been 20 metres/second.

I turned a slight corner and started to descend. The gale was now behind me which I thought would be an advantage. However it was so strong I had no control skiing. I got blown over twice so decided to take the skis off and walk. Even walking I got blown over once as I was propelled down the slope covered in hard snow.

I walked for a good half hour until I was out of the high side valley and had descended into the lower main valley and larger birch trees. Both these factors meant the wind was now greatly diminished. The problem was it was almost dark and I still had 2 km to go.

I put the skis on and dug out my headtorch. It dident punch very far into the spindrift. I got out the GPS and starting following it as exactly as I could. The trouble was the route the GPS was taking me was pretty much direct.

For a good hour I wandered through the birch forest going up and down steeply at times. Still the metres were counting down. I must have looked a sight wandering through the swaying forest in a strong wind with spindrift everywhere in the pitch black with nobody around for days. The metres kept ticking down steadily though.

Even the last 500 metres took about half an hour as there was a steep climb and drop, but at last with 50 metres to go I spotted a building. It was the one I wanted. The cabin at Bleskestadmoen

The cabin was a restored seter or stol, a summer farm where the farmers from the fjords and large valleys brought livestock each summer for hundreds of years. Sadly this practice is becoming rare now but the romane of it is still very much in peoples hearts.

It took 2 hours to warm the place up and get snow melted. I was too knackered to cook and wolfed down 2 tins of spam and 2 tins of fruit cocktail straight from the tin. These are found in the larder and paid for on an honesty basis. The system is seldom misused.

It had been a hard day. I knew it would be and with only 7 hours real daylight still I was bound to get caught out sooner or later. Still I could notch this experience to my bow and know I could handle it again. I was dog tired though.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 19th, 2009 at 4:46 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.