The first self organised trip was planned from 21/02/2016 to 28/02/2016 with a group of four including Amy, Craig and Caitlin. We had decided that a good place to improve upon ski techniques would be around the Gaustatoppen area. A cabin was booked close by at Sandviken camping, Austbygdi. This was a perfect base to do other things from and would allow the group different opportunities such as more downhill slope time for Amy and Craig whilst I and Caitlin aimed for summit attempts and more cross country track time.
Day 1
The plan for this day was to travel to our camping site from Kristiansand however this did not go according to plan. Whilst driving the car broke down just outside of Sauland on the E134 which meant that we were stuck in the freezing cold until the breakdown truck could arrive. Our group cohesion really showed at this point, it could have very easily turned into an argument and in those conditions would have ended very badly however, we all made a joke out of the situation and decided the best course of action was to leave the car to look for some warmth whilst waiting for the breakdown truck. Being a Sunday in Norway this was very slow but luckily we managed to find a little cabin a short walk away that provided some warmth.Once the breakdown truck arrived we were taken to a local guesthouse whilst the car was repaired overnight.
Day 2
The car was eventually repaired in the afternoon and so we carried on our drive to Austbygdi and arrived at around 4. This didn’t leave much time to ski therefore we decided to unpack everything at the cabin and then explore the local area.
Day 3
We left at around 10am to make the drive to Gaustablikk skisenter. The plan was to go on a short ski tour around the local area for around 8km. The weather was very sunny but cold and conditions were right to use Blue wax.
Day 4
We decided to go on a longer ski tour. This time the plan was to do 22km around Heddersfjell. Things started fine with clear, calm conditions however, around 2 hours into the tour the weather started to get windier. Some other Norwegians that we met on the track said that it was very windy further along and therefore should think about turning back. Both I and Caitlin decided to weigh up our options. Because the Norwegian locals had a better idea of conditions and our experience was limited our best course of action was to turn back and do a shorter tour which worked well.
Day 5
The plan for this day was to summit Gaustatoppen. In order for us to be up and down in time we had planned a route that would take 9 hours both up and down. This meant that we needed to start at 7am. We had planned to start from Gaustabannen car park however the road that led there was locked until 9am. This meant we had to park further down which added another 2km onto the journey. The first part of the journey was easy walking along the closed road then once we reached Gaustabannen we waxed our skis and ascended. Our planned route (yellow line) included a steady ascent to 1500m before it levelled and became easier till we reached the last 300m. In reality this was not a good route.
We checked avalanche forecasts the night before and they were ok though at one point we found ourselves having to test as we were both unsure of the stability of the slope. This meant our route ended up being further to the North with a steeper ascent.
Once on the flatter ground it was a last 300m push to the summit. This really tested our uphill technique but by the end of it we both found that we had massively improved. We reached the summit at around 1pm which left time for a snack in the hut and a picture of course!
Now the fun part of descending began which involved lots of falling over. We were back to the car by 5pm.
Day 6
After the ascent of Gaustatoppen, Day 6 was a rest day exploring the town of Rjukan before travelling back the next day. For me this was a must as I am a fan of ice climbing.