Between Two Peaks Hike
Sitting in the “U”
On a beautiful day, on an aimless walk, I stumbled across this little cabin. I had noticed it before from down in Nordskot, sitting quietly and subtly in the forest. It wasn’t in the valley, but perched close to a cliff for what I could only imagine was a big view.
I had finished my work for the day and been dropped off in town for a few hours, hoping to find a good spot to eat a packed lunch. As it sometimes goes, the lack of intention to find something leads you straight to it. Along this trail I walked, not thinking about where I was going, when I looked up and saw a quintessential sight: a bright red Norwegian mountain hut.
The little front porch was the perfect lunch spot and did indeed offer an epic view of Nordskot and Lofoten’s mountains in the distance.
sometimes when hiking
i like to film myself
eatting fruit
A birch Tree
Lichen & Moss
crunchie spring snow
Quite full from lunch, I bid farewell to the sweet cabin (hoping to come back and spend a night sleeping on the porch) and headed back into the woods, to wander aimlessly once again. The lack of direction allowed me all the time in the world to stop and admire all the small details of this valley forest: a beautiful birch tree’s pealing bark and the tiny details of moss and lichen.
The forest flora seemed very pleased that spring was finally coming around. A few patches of snow remained, but most had melted turning the forest into a giant marsh as the melting snow tried to find its way to the nearest stream.
the “u” between two peaks
After an hour of wandering my casual hike had gained some momentum, a mission.
The mountains around Nordskot present in a half circle, with the valley and town in the center. In this local range there are three distinct peaks, and from our perspective on the island (as shown above) two peaks were on the left side and one on the right.
The two peaks on the left side are not to be climbed solo and require gear, for the backside of the mountain is a shocking cliff, dropping 700 meters or so. But between these two peaks, there is a little dip that I had had my eye on for some time. From the Main House I would gaze at this little “U” between the two peaks and imagine myself sitting up there, eating a sandwich.
I had wandered what seemed like half way up to this “U” and inspired by the brilliant spring day decided I might as well keep going up.
It was a bit of a scramble to the top, over fields of boulders, slick moss and similarly to the forest valley below, a few patches of residual of snow. Most of the way up I wondered how the way back down would go without poles or enough snow to toboggan.
At the top of the ridge I had ended up ever so slightly left of the “U”. So, carefully I climbed over and under several more boulders, traversing to the right. Once there, I perched myself on the edge so that I could peer over the ridge. On either side I could see the sheer drop of the peaks, while the view to the north revealed seemingly endless sea and mountains.
From the pictures of the two peaks you can see just how sheer the north sides of the two peaks are:
Left Peak - 746 meters
Right Peak - 532 meters
In summer you can traverse the ridges of the entire half-circle, the entire local range. The Traverse would start on the mountain across the way (in the photograph below) and head counter clockwise towards this “u” where i WAS CURRENTLY CHILLIN.
The ledge of the ridge offered a perfect safe spot to sit and enjoy being completely surrounded by sea and mountains.
the view into the valley:
all four frozen lakes and the forested valley, the archipelago and manshausen stretching far out into the sea, the other mountain peak across the way, The village of Nordskot and a low tide revealing beaches below.
The view over the ridge:
A huge bay which I had once before tried to kayak to but been turned around due to an intense micro-weather system, a lone but large frozen lake & many more mountains stretching north
As expected, the way down was a wee bit challenging. I moved further along the ridge where larger patches of snow still occupied the slope, hoping to catch a ride down. I made it to the snow, pulled on my weather pants, sat down and took off. I tobogganed at such a frightful speed, close to uncontrollable, I lost my nerve and abandoned the snow.
I decided to just take it slow, step by step.
In no time at all I grew tired of the steep incline and attempted another patch of snow, this time leaning back to use by backpack as a keel. It slowed me down enough to slide along at a more comfortable speed. Eventually I made it down, trudged through the marsh and forest before meeting back up with the trail, tired but high on yet another epic day in this place.