Ulvstinden

...is a mountain in Flakstad which I wanted to climb since 1st of january when we took a wrong turn in the early darkness. Since today would be the last chance for a winter ascent we decided to go for it after work. At 7 pm we arrived in Selfjorden, left our tent and stuff just by the windshield and started walking. Pretty soon it started snowing and we thought like earlier today this would be a short passing snowfall but it became heavier and soon the whole fjord was white and we couldn't see much at the time but we continued steady up the ridge and then it stopped for a while. It is possible to walk but we went for climbing along the ridge. The clouds lifted and the mighty wall of Brasråstindan revealed itself with the ocean in the background. We arrived at summit 5 minutes to midnight! We climbed the last hour with our headtorches even though it was never actually total darkness and as we stood on the summit (902 m) it was getting lighter and we looked down over the ocean. This was a really cool peak and the feeling I had was unbeatable! We descended and by 03.30 am we were back down, pitched the tent and made dinner (or breakfast?) before we went to sleep a lot later...

One could discern a big wall and ocean.

It's getting late.

Following the ridge.

Walls of Brasråstindan revealed. 

Close to the airy summit passage.

Drying equipment.

Breakfast in the making. Pic: Andreas

Basecamp Selfjorden. Pic: Andreas

Ylva på villspor i tåken

I'm truly inspired by the latest programs with Lars Monsen (famous norwegian adventurer), where he is blindfolded and left off by helicopter somewhere in the wilderness with just a part of a map to the next point. And he never knows what's in his backpack in advance. Tent or tarp. Once he got only 3 crackers to begin with...I think that was hard. But usually he catches fish.

Anyway this weekend did not go according to plans. I was hoping for the last chance of a winter ascent of Ulvstinden but Andreas got sick, another friend is out of town and one needs fixing the house. Gyda wanted to do something but it took 4 hours before she replied and then I was already on my way. I packed my bike with mountain boots, crampons and my ice axes. But I left pretty late and it took longer than I expected until my arrival at Selfjorden. I had something to eat then left my stuff in the wind shelter and went to look at the first part. Luckily it seemed like there was no need for rope and I went up the gorge just to have a look but the fog was really dense and I could see nothing, I also heard a rockslide and didn't bring a helmet so I went down to my camp. Next morning it was raining again and the fog was as thick as ever. So I just had breakfast and packed my stuff together. I had a break at Fredvang, after this no break until Offersøy where I needed some more energy. Sunday I was back home at 2 pm on Ballstadøya.

Great to know I am here!

Fish in the fog.

Bridge to Fredvang.

My cozy camp.

Selfjorden.

Fresh water just outside camp.

Time for chocolate!

Fredvang harbour. 

Just passed Kilan. 

The very red house before Nappskaret.

Stockholm

Just two more days overtime and then easter came upon us.
Heading for the early morning bus from Ballstadøya, I met a fisherman on the way who said he woke up at 4 am to go fishing but the sea was raging so he went back to bed and now decided just to repair some stuff in the boat. I wished him a good remaining week and went to Evenes to catch a flight to Stockholm and visit Rebecca. In short; a lot of fun, vegan food, birthday party, red wine, cool exhibition at Färgfabriken, hot sunny spring weather, old friends and new friends. Drinking beer with The Lost Cyclist. Sleeping two nights at Gardermoen airport, waiting for planes and waiting for buses so monday night I felt worn out and tired.

Rebecca at Vinterviken.

Back in paradise.

Working overtime

The remaining week I was working until 7 pm and the weather forecast offered a HUGE amount of rain this weekend that's why me and Mona decided to work 4 hours on saturday as well. I went to Leknes for some grocery shopping then work and then home. All day accompanied of the rain pouring down like there was no tomorrow...

Time to go home

After breakfast we left Munkebu and headed back down to Sørvågen. Then we drove back to Ballstadøya, had a shower and made some lunch outside in the sun! Time flies and Jonn had to leave for the airport.

 

Hermannsdalstind

We had breakfast and left to attempt Ertenhelltind but we somehow navigated wrong (or didn't study the map close enough) and ended up before a precipice with nowhere to abseil. But anyway I was relieved because the mountain ridge we were supposed to traverse looked damn hard and scary. We decided to go back the same way, then crossed the ice and went up the ridge to Hermannsdalstind and back down the normal summer route, except for crossing the ice partly to return faster. This was a long day going up and down many altitude meters. Now we were really tired. It was good getting back to the cabin, light up the stove again and fixing some dinner. Another great day but so weary... but now I know another way to approach the mountain next time.

Close to Ertenhelltind.

Scary ridge you would need to pass.

Trying another way down.

Close to summit.

Summit Hermannsdalstinden.

Summit ridge.

Back to Munkebu

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Skjelfjorden. Had breakfast and packed our stuff then we drove to Martin in Fredvang. I managed to forget my headtorch when packing so I borrowed his for a few days. Then we drove to Sørvågen and realized that it's sunday and Matkroken doesn't open until 5 pm! What to do? We asked around and got a number to Tor-Arne which we called and he said he'll be there in 20 minutes (otherwise we would have to wait 6 hours) so that was very helpful. My backpack was bloody heavy with climbing equipment and stuff. It took us 3 hours up to the cabin. We had a sunny lunch on the veranda then we went to climb Munken. 3 nice pitches up there to catch the sun setting. We abseiled and went back to the cabin to light up the stove, make some tea and dinner.

Happy shining sunday.

Basecamp Skjelfjorden. 

Matkroken.

Lunch in the sun at Munkebu.

Passing Jupiter again.

Munken.

First pitch.

Time to abseil.

Norwegian alpine start

This week I was working overtime every day until 7 pm so I've been pretty tired but finally it's saturday and time for fun. Sometimes things don't go according to my plans so that's why this day started a bit late. I took the first bus to Leknes at 9 am to meet Jonn who arrived already 3 hours ago. We hired a car and finally drove off to Ytre Skjelfjorden. It was almost 1 pm until we were ready to go up the mountain.  We were making an attempt for Stjerntinden but it seems like we managed to climb another peak just next to it? Anyway we had fantastic conditions, weather and surroundings. Jonn managed do lose one of his gloves on the second pitch but luckily I had an extra pair with me. We abseiled down and went all the way down Skjådalen to find his glove. We actually did find it and then we ran into a deep, deep, deep bergschrund but we tied into the rope and managed to jump over. We came down just after 9 pm, found ourselves a good spot nearby and pitched the tent. Then it was time for dinner and the cozy sleepingbag...

Getting ready.

Heading up.

Still going upwards.

We climbed up here and it's beautiful.

Lovely up here.

Time to abseil.

Heading down...

all this way to find the glove and we did!

Scary bergschrund.

It's getting late...