Heading home

It was a bit difficult coming down, some parts the snow was hard and some difficult steep section, like the last part where I took off my skis and attached them to my backpack. We said farewell to our new friends from Vesterålen and promised to come back again in October. Then we had a two hour drive back to Vestvågøy.

Blåskavltind

Everyone ready for new adventures.

Leaving the hut behind.

Three turned here...

...but four of us continued.

Uphill.

Getting closer to summit.

Summit 975 m.

Lunch break before heading down.

Down the first hill.

Looking small.

Uphill again.

Amazing to be here! 

Time for coffee, brownies and Aquavit

Berit wants to go another lap.

Today was super amazing. Everything. The surroundings. The weather. The company. Some steep parts but we all managed. And the feeling as we came to summit and was standing right across Higravtind. And the feeling when we came down and the sun was still shining...

Trollfjord

Heading to Trollfjord

It was rather cold...

Arriving at the fjord.

On our way up to the hut.

Winter route.

Sun was shining on us. 

Camilla filling snow in buckets.

Outside the hut...

Some liked singing...

So much booze...

Today I left work two hours earlier so we would have time to drive to Vesterålen where we are meeting the other 5 for the boat ride. We went up the winter route and then we installed ourselves in the hut. Eventually we made dinner and some went to sauna.

Østhimmeltind

Before ascending

Frozen lake. 

Heading up.

First part of scramble looks ok.

Photo: Cody Duncan

Sunset

After work hike...6 hours on Østhimmeltind today, but had to turn around about 50 meters below the summit due to some sketchy sections and rotten snow / ice.

Bad weather day

 

Today there was no visibility and a lot of wind so we didn't aim so high but we did go up Steinberget 97 m... On sunday the weather was amazing, but then we had a course learning how to use the contact emergency network. "Dette er Vestvågøy 21. Over. Slutt. Alfa. Bravo. Charlie. Delta. My name = Yankee. Lima. Victor. Alfa.

The Man

Heading up the couloir.

Cody coming up

Working on my spring tan. Photo: Cody

One scary part. 

Photo: Cody 

Axes can work instead of tripod.

Cody by the summit cairn.

Photo: Cody Duncan

Heading down another way.

Looking for a safe route down.

After being home for one night's sleep in a bed we set off rather late today but since days are longer now it would be ok. We just didn't expect this to be such a long hike / climb. But we didn't choose the easiest route but the one that looked like it could be fun. So we ended up climbing 5 pitches and we were ten hours up on the mountain and total hiking time was 12 hours. I lost my phone on the way up but by some magic I also found it on my way down! We got to summit shortly before sunset and it was epic! You can se all the way out to Lofotodden, Mosken and Værøy... We got back to Å around midnight, went to Skjelfjord, celebrated with pasta and a beer then straight to bed.

Cancelled summit attempt

Even stronger wind today.

Returning to camp.

Ascending to get off the mountain.

Just over this ridge and then we'll descend.

Heading down.

Down at the wind shelter. Photo: Cody

Today we hiked for two hours to get to the starting point for today's object...but then we decided to turn around. There was too much avalanche risk today and first I thought like always that we will be fine let's just do it but then suddenly a lot of thoughts came through my head. I started thinking about a few of my friends and what they would have said if they were here...3 of 4 would have said no. And one of them are no longer among us. Then I started thinking about my friends who died in Kjerkfjord  and suddenly I got so emotional and my whole body screamed don't do this, turn around now! Back at the tent and the wind was getting stronger. This was not in the forecast. We thought about a second choice but that didn't look quite safe either. Then a tent pole broke and that was it, we decided to get off this mountain. So we packed everything and went up since we had to ascend before being able to descend. Wind was really strong at sometimes hard to stay upright. We took kind of a shortcut down on the other side which was not totally safe but we made it down. Down at the lake again and it was totally calm, it's like a different world down here...