Day 7 (last day)

So never got a chance to post this, our 7th and final day at Romsdal. Today's peak was Blånebba, I think around 1300m, the hike was about 1100. And Summit Bear got himself another peak, yeeeeeaaahhhh! 3 for 5, not bad. To the pics!

Summit view from the bottom

That jaggy peak in the background is the famous Stor Vengetind

The Trollvegen or Troll Wall. Highest vertical rock face in Europe. Legend has it that the peaks are a wedding procession of trolls that were turned to stone in the sunlight. Righteous.

Log book at the peak, now marred by my oh so childlike handwriting...

Day 6

Saturday was epic, another summit and this time it was even more spectacular. Summit Bear was pleased again. This time we hiked up Øspetinden which had a summit of about 1230m, of which we hiked about 1000m. And this was one spectacular summit, views stretching out over the fjord and even into the ocean. The summit itself was also more classic alpine as just a rocky crag on top of a small ridge. Simply stunning.

Also cool was after we went down we met a local dude who had a tiny cabin at the base. He invited us to hang out in the sun for a while, drink some coffee, and chill. Splendid.

Day 5

Panorama picture from halfway up Nonstind

Day 4 we were socked in with rain and fog, so no post for that. However, today was magnificent. Absolutely spectacular. I also made my first true summit, 1570 meters on Nonstind, with a total of 1120 meters skiied up from the parking which was at 450 meters.

So I am 1 for 3 on summit attempts with Kjøvskardstind on day 1 ending at only about 1100 meters (turned back due to being knackered) and our Hesten attempt on day 2 making it to about 1250 meters (had to turn back because of snow storm coming in).

The weather today is just unbelievable as well, warm and sunny as all hell with clear skies and a gentle breeze. Summiting was an awesome feeling and the view was unreal. I also managed to get a summit picture with the teddy bear my mom sent for my birthday (thanks Mom!).

Summit Bear was pleased

The Romsdal Adventure, Day 3

Wednesday we got hit with some bad weather and so we ended up taking a trip to the bigger local town, Molde, also known as the "Town of Roses" for it's great rose growing conditions. It was a fairly boring day overall without any skiing but as you can see below I've developed some pretty attractive blisters that needed tending to, so maybe it was nice to rest a bit. The other pictures are on the ferry to Molde and then one panorama shot (finally figured out how to get that function to work on my camera...) from the docks in Molde.

The Romsdal Adventure, Day 1 and 2

The lack of blog posts since the last is due to the fact that there has been nothing really to write about. I have settled into a fair routine of work, study, ski (although that is wrapping up). There should be some new ones coming up over the next several weeks as I am taking some sweet trips around Europe, but for now the next big thing is my current Easter holiday.

Romsdal, home of the Romsdalsalpene, is one of the most famous "adventure" skiing regions in the world. No lifts, no resorts, nothing but peaks. Climb and ski is the name of the game and it has so far been the most difficult, tiring, and spectacular skiing experience of my life. It's hard as hell but well worth it for the turns. A price must be paid to the mountain gods for this type of skiing and the currency is sweat.

This type of action also tends towards the dangerous side so we are all geared up with avalanche beacons, shovels, probes, etc. Thankfully one of the dudes with us is an expert climber and alpine guide so he is helpful from an input point of view. Just to reinforce that, he has climbed the Trollveggen (Troll wall) which is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe. In fact he once got lost with a buddy on the route up and ended up spending 29!!!!! hours on the wall. Anywho, just gonna throw up some vids and pics.

Day 1

Day 2

Northern Lights and lotsa snow

So I haven't posted since after Thanksgiving due primarily to a nice long Christmas vacation and the fact that I'm now in the midst of studying for level 2 of the CFA. This means free time has been cut nearly to zero and my schedule consists entirely of work, studying, and skiing. Not the worst of lives I'll admit, but I can't wait till I get this exam off my back. Without any further ado, I'd like to start off by showing a picture I caught of my most unique Norwegian experience to date:

That, ladies and gents, is the real deal Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis for all you budding astronomers out there) that I caught a weekend ago up at Hemsedal. It's apparently rare to see as far south as we were, so obviously I'm lucky as well as generally amazing. Woohoo!

Now I got a couple fun quick vids that I shot from my past several ski trips (been up almost every weekend since I've been back). First up is from my first weekend back when we caught a sweet powder day:

Don't ask about the terrible accent, I was drunk with joy over the conditions. By the by, skogen is Norwegian for forest and the Gummiskogen is a famous backcountry area off the back of Hemsedal, you ski through the trees for ever and then end up at a road where you take a taxi back to the lifts. Niiice.

Next is another Hemsedal one where we skiied ourselves into a bit of a pickle and all took turns throwing our equipment down a cliff and then sliding down. I went last and was recorded (apologies for the sidewaysness):

That was fun. Side note, when Norwegians are trying to say in English "very fun" or "more fun" they say "funnier". It's tricky explaining the subtle difference. Oh that reminds me of another interesting lost in translation, "racistic". Yes, I spelled it like I've heard it.

Last video is from Solseiden (literal translation - Sunnyside) which is a much smaller ski area down the road from Hemsedal. If you haven't noticed yet I've been to Hemsedal a lot and it's awesome, but this one day the mountain was closed due to wind so we checked this place out. Slope conditions were crap, but with a little bit of exploring and spending most of the day in the woods I found this sweet frozen river bed along with a sweet frozen waterfall:

Oooooh pretty! Now lightning round picture run down....go!

Conquering hero.

Trees and snow.

Dave and Ewan, an Irishman and a Limey

Predictably Dave got drunk and hurt people. Not pictured is when he threw someone off a chair (all in good fun though really, great times!)

Cam, the dapper kiwi who I work with. Discovered the joys of the beer helmet.

Not quite as dapper and much more drunk.

Yeaaaah, well like I said, Irish. Man I hope his work doesn't see these...

Lee and Jorn Arild with me at Solseiden.

Broken bank card from the cliff slide I think.

Jorn Arild and Jonas on powder day.

Snow.

Snow with people. I actually really like this pick, caught those folk juuust right.

Gearing up for a nice summit hike! This was a sweet little workout that took us up to a weather tower atop Hemsedal peak. Was windy as hell and the first half was up a pretty sheer part of the mountain. Reminded me of that scene in Lord of the Rings where they climb that snowy mountain. I was Gimli...

Me, Arne Olav, Malcom, and Cam (not pictured) reach the summit. Awesome.

Cam now pictured.

Still conquering.

Ewan and Malcolm (Cam's brother)

Ski in ski out biatch!

From the Solseiden day where almost everything went against us. Here a car was getting towed back onto the road and blocked our way to the skiing. Jerks.

FIN