In the end of march we had our well-deserved easter holidays. But the week before we were supposed to go on a self-organised trip for three days. Line, Martin and I made use of this chance to make the biggest trip of the entire semester. So we went to Tromsø for one and half weeks. The journey up to the north with the car was pretty long, but we had the opportunity to see whole sweden and a part of finnland.

As wef finally arrived in Birtavarre on thurday after 40 hours, we had been driven into a really bad snowstorm and went straight into our hut. We spent the rest of the day in the hut, checked the weatherforecast for the surrounding area and some other places and decided to change our plan. Actually we wanted to stay at Birtavarre for 6 days, but on friday morning we headed to Tromsø. As things turned out it was the right decision. For the next 7 days we had perfect weather and snow conditions – the best of the whole season – like one of my friends up there told me. And we were so lucky that we could spent the first nights the house of one of Line’s friends.

On Saturday we went out with four guys for our first ski tour at Ringvassøya. We used the 40 minutes drive there to observe the mountains, the prevailing snow and weather conditions and wind signs as well. After we had a first impression and the conditions looked pretty safe, we started our tour. The first few meters of altitude were kind of pain in the ass with very dense forest. But after some minutes the forest got less dense and it opened a stunning view at the fjord. The uphill part took us longer than expected because of all the breaks we made to take pictures and just enjoy the great landscape and the sun. We also all had to get used to the odd burdens of ski touring. We took our time, made some short breaks and one long lunchbreak before we attempted the final slope. In the end we had to push the girls a little bit, but they made a good job. As the weather changed a little bit we decided to ski back into the sunny part of the mountain. I gave the girls some advices then we started to ski down, back to the car. The snow was really nice and fluffy, but in the last hundred meters in altitude it changed because of the strong sun and was alittle bit more wet and heavy.

All in all it was a nice first day with not a too long uphill and mainly relatively flat slopes. Perfect to get to know the conditions!

On Sunday we met up with two friends of mine and a norwegian guy from Tromsø who, as it later transpired, should be our guide for almost all our tours. With six guys we went to the east side of Tromsdalstinden. The conditions were perfect again with just a few clouds and almost no wind down in the valley. We talked pretty much but tried to make sure that everybody could go his own pace. As we arrived at the treeline, Line was struggling and wanted to go back to the car. But we were able to convince her to go on. On the way to the peak we dug a snowprofile on the steepest spot where we wanted to ski down and determined that the snow layers were firmly connected and even better than we thought. The final west slope was very icy because the wind from west from the last days had blown all the snow in the east slopes. But as we made it to the top at 1238m, we were really proud of us and especially Line who wanted to turn around after about 400m of altitude. From the top of Tromsdalstinden we had a great view over Tromsø and the fjords around the mountain. The icy slope was not too much fun to ski down and we had to help Line a little bit because the view was not too good in this slope. As we skied into the eastslope, we found the perfect snow layers we saw in the snow profile with a deep layer of fresh powder on top. Perfect skiing in the sun with two small cliffs and great tree skiing in the end. That’s how every skiing day should be!

The next day we drove to Kvaløya with the same guys to make another ski tour. The goup fitted so well together what made the days with perfect weather and snow conditions even more beautiful.

Like on the day before, the snow and the weather was good, so we started out tour. The sun was very strong at the beginning what made me sweat like hell. I struggled a bit in the first two hours of the ascent –the famous bad third day… But in the end we all made it to the top although we faced two really bad weather changes where we had a short whiteout. Fortunately the norwegian guy knew the mountain so that we were able to go on. We skied down a nice steep bowl where the snow looked very good. As I dropped in I recognised that ther was a hard ice layer underneath 10cm of powder. Not too bad, just incrase the speed and stay on your feet. After we crossed back to the tracks where we went up, we had a short but nice treeride again with an incredible view on the fjord an the opposit mountains. To round this nice day off, I skied right down to the fjord and jumped in. It was definitely colder than I expected, but a great experience.

After Line went home on tuesday, we spent the rest of the week in a tent close to the local ski jumps in Tromsø and continued skitouring with a friend of mine and the norwegian guy, before some guys from back home came and joined us. Especially in the last two days the skiing was so good because we skied some steeper stuff and luckily all the time in very safe conditions.

It’s really not possible to compare this trip with the rest of our trips, even if they were all so much fun and i learnt so much. It was just a wonderful experience and one of the best trips I ever did in my life. The guys who lived up there for a longer time taught us much stuff about the region and all the mountains around the area. And they made the skitouring very easy for us because they were like private guides for us who showed us everything. Also the group cohesion with Martin and Line was strong and we had a good time. Of course we sometimes had some disagreements, but I think thats normal if you spend more than 70 hours in a car and 10 days together.

Thank s both of you for this amazing trip! And Len as well who let us go there for our self-organised trip 🙂