Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 14km | Time 6hrs | Ascent 360m | Descent 390m

I was up early and away by 0830. It was a hellish day. The same as yesterday but just below freezing. Spindrift swirled around the cabin as I put my skis on. Visibility was just about 300 metres. Reluctantly I set off to the highest point at 1150 metres at Vardebrotet.

Mercifully the force 5 was at my back as I climbed the first hill and then entered the shallow valley which would take me all the way to Vardebrotet. In this shallow valley visibility got much worse, sometimes down to just 50 metres. I was forced to ski from one boulder to the next using the compass. The boulders were the only defining points in the white.

After a good hour I was finally climbing the final slopes to the cairn which marks the pass at Vardebrotet.  Despite the heavy snows the ascent was reasonably smooth except for the visibility.

The descent was quite different. The southerly winds of the last days had blown the snow off the south facing slopes and onto the north facing slopes. So the slope I was going down was absolutely plastered in snow. Even the boulders, so vital for judging the lie of the land, were gone.

I very gingerly stepped down the featureless white slopes. I was throwing snow in front to feel my way down. I moved very slowly with great caution yet 4 times I plummeted over an invisible drift I could not see until I was half way down it. Luckily none were more that 3 metres and they all had a very soft landing. None the less the first seconds of each fall were frightening.

After a good hour of this cautious descent the weather at last broke sufficiently to give me a longer view of about 100 metres. I was still cautious however, and only just avoided going over a few more cornices.

At last I was down to a flatter area where the land levelled out across some frozen lakes. I checked my GPS and confirmed I was at Savatn which marked the end of the descent from Vardebrotet. It had been an interesting and taxing crossing.

From here I skirted the end of the huge Svartevatn lake and then headed up through sparse upper limit of the birch forest and then followed a stream up some 3 km to Kringlevatn lake. Again during these 3 km the blizzard continued to fluctuate from gentle to almost violent.

At last the cabin appeared out of the whiteness. It was very welcome as I had not stopped all day. When I got to the cabin I had to shovel a metre high drift away from the door to get in.

Within an hour of arriving the cabin was warming, my damp cloths were drying over the fire, buckets of snow were melting and I soon forgot about the blizzard outside.

It had been a hard day. The visibility and wind had tested my navigation to the limit. Most disconcerting was the inability to see the ground in front of me. Luckily I was just following valley floors most of the time and the unforeseen drops not as serious as they might be on a mountain ridge.

I had an early night hoping this weather system would blow itself out in the night.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 11:53 am 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.