Planning & Preparation

Two days after we came back from a trip to Alta, the very north of Norway, Theresa and I went on another skiing tour from Thursday 22nd till Saturday 24th of March. As we’ve already discovered the Hovden region a couple of times we planned to go to the Ljosland area this time.

our tour marked in orange

Around Ljosland there are many marked skiing tracks, but also good opportunities for off-slope skiing. Dnt huts are all over the place. The terrain is very hilly with many ups and downs and a lot of smaller lakes in between. As the weather forecast was good with temperatures around -5 to +2 degrees, we decided to camp outside for two nights and to do a cross-country ski tour the first two days and some downhill skiing on the third day. As I’ve been on quite a few ski tours by now, I know what I need and which food, clothing and equipment works best for me. So packing was done pretty quick. Due to the rather warm weather forecast I only took my foam-mat and no air-mattress this time, as well as my winter and my summer sleeping bag. I took the tent and Theresa the food and the stove. Despite from that I only brought one dry-bag of spare clothes, my first-aid-kit and some smaller things such as a head-torch.

The tour

We left Kristianstad Thursday morning and arrived at the car park of Ljosland ski-center around 12 o’clock. According to the warm temperature (around 0-2°C) we put on some purple wax before we started skiing. Unfortunately we didn’t bring the red wax or klister, which would have been more suitable for these weather conditions (Hamran, 2013). The beginning of the track was going uphill. Then, after crossing a lake, the path was constantly going up and sometimes a little down. The weather was great with blue sky, sun and high temperatures. But this also had some effects on the snow: it got really soft and the top layer even started to melt a little bit, which made it very slippery to ski on. Therefore skiing was a lot more exhausting than usually. As soon as it was going a little uphill we had to use the herringbone technique. I guess the only thing that would have helped in these conditions would have been klister. After about 7km we reached Lakkenstova and made a short lunch break there. Then we continued skiing for another hour before setting up our tent. Therefor we chose a nice flat spot a little higher up, where the wind didn’t blow much and where we had no steep hills around, to make sure we don’t camp in an avalanche risked area. To fix the tent we used some snow pegs and our skies. After work was done, I enjoyed the last bit of sun laying down reading. Once the sun disappeared behind the mountain we decided to go on a short walk to stay warm before going into our tent. So we climbed up a mountain and could see the sunset from there. The view was just amazing.There was nothing but snowy mountains and lakes in all directions and no sign of civilization at all.

Back at our tent we started to melt snow and played card games while waiting. For dinner we had red lentils with vegetables which we already pre-cooked at home. They were very delicious, filling and nutritious.

Over night the weather changed drastically. Instead of clear blue sky and sun we had fog, clouds and a mixture of snow and rain coming down from the sky on the second day. Therefore we decided not to head off-track to the north as planned, but to stay on the marked track and to do a loop to the south instead. The sight was really bad. We could only see about 20 meters and it was impossible to identify any features and the texture of the ground we were skiing on. Sometimes it was even hard to follow the prepared track.The snow was really harsh, icy and slippery, so although we put on new wax we didn’t get any grip. On top of that everything got a little wet, due to the sleet. As skiing wasn’t a lot of fun in these conditions we decided not to do any extra loops but to just head back towards Ljosland. After about 15km we approached Ljosland and decided to put up the tent. As it was still quiet early (around 3 o’clock), we spent the rest of the afternoon laying in the tent reading, playing card games, melting snow and cooking while the wind was blowing around the tent and a mixture of snow and rain falling on it. We also tried different methods of drying our clothes: the things that haven’t been too wet, I just put in my sleeping bag. But my gloves and gathers were really wet. To make sure my sleeping bag doesn’t get wet as well, I put them in a dry-bag and warmed them up between my legs. They didn’t dry completely, but at least I could use them again the next day.

On the last day the weather was quite good again. Not as good as on the first day, but with some sun, some clouds and good visibility. After putting down the tent and packing our bags, we skied the last few kilometers down to the car park. For the rest of the day we went downhill skiing and snowboarding, which was a lot of fun.

It was a good experience to ski in changing and bad weather and snow conditions. I learned how to dry my clothes in the sleeping bag and how to keep things as dry as possible. I also noticed that it is wise to have a backup-plan for bad weather conditions.

References:

Hamran, H. O. (2013). God Glid. Oslo: Gyldendal