Another Hike, Norway
Part I: in a pickle
There are a handful of hikes up into the local mountains that surround the village of Nordskot.
The gang of guys I was living and working with on the island, who by now I lovingly and collectively referred to as my merry men, had climbed one of the mountains before my arrival. Their story of the hike sounded epic, so on my first day off I headed to the trail head. It was a beautiful day: sun shining, just a few clouds, crisp but not too cold, and a fresh dusting of snow.
I got a little lost in the snow, taking a trail leading left at a fork instead of going right. It took me to the view point photographed above, a beautiful spot but not the way to the summit. As I backtracked to the fork I went a little rouge, loosing the trail completely and ended up in knee deep snow.
I found a river and walked along it’s banks hoping it would lead me back to the trail, and sure enough it did. I made my way back to the fork and took the trail barring right, heading up to the summit. This section of trail was steeper and more slippery than I had anticipated. Then the trail disappeared.
With the summit in sight I was determined to continue on, forging my own way through snow that was gaining in depth.
I thought I had the right idea, following a ridge that looked to eventually meet the summit. Instead my path took me underneath the summit where a steep face stood between me and the top. The snow was layered above a sheet of ice underneath, too slippery to climb up without crampons and ice axe for safety. For a little while I tried to advance by climbing between clusters of exposed boulders, but the distances between boulders grew too far for comfort.
I was in a little bit of a pickle. Wedged securely between two boulders I decided to stop for lunch and figure out weather I would push on or head down. I decided to head down.
“well, i am in a pickel”
“i cannot go any farther”
“so close, but so far”
Part II: Second Times the charm
It had been almost a month since I first set out to climb this local mountain, and spring had been at work since my last visit. Most of the snow was melted reveling the trail I had been unable to find the time before. There was no mistaking it this time, and along I trod.
The sun felt surprisingly powerful up here. As I walked along getting quite hot and sweaty, for the first time this year, I thought about the lake I would meet along the way and how beautiful a sneaky skinny dip would be.
A swim sounded grand, but as I came up over a hill to meet the lake it was still frozen. Frozen solid despite its southern orientation and exposure to the sun. The Arctic winter wasn’t ready to let go just yet.
Still I was very happy to be hiking in just a T-shirt, feeling practically naked after wearing winter layers for the three months I had been living in Norway.
As I walked along I came across some old tracks in the snow, perhaps belonging to Marco (a dude on the island) who had been up here maybe a week ago. I followed them across a few patches of crunchy snow leading towards the first of two giant cairns atop this lovely mountain.
Fun Fact: Cairns is my middle name, a family name from my mothers side, and so I do enjoy a good old cairn marking the way.
almost to the top
very pleased with the hat I have fashioned
Two cairns marked the top of the mountain &
A huge bank of snow still occupied the shaded North side of the summit
lOFOTEN TO THE NORTH WEST
mountains to the southeast
This is the “u” hike I did the day before, what a beautiful spot.
My first time up this mountain I spent close to four hours wandering around. First on the wrong trail, backtracking to find the right trail, only to loosing the trail once again, and end up underneath the summit. This time around, with the trail free of snow, I was on the summit in just an hour and a half.
Then the reward for any hike, lunch with a view. The way up had been hot, but I had to bundle up in all my layers once I stopped moving. I sat with my back against the big cairn marking the tippy top, and enjoyed being completely surrounded by mountains. I love mountains.