Hello, like you can get out of the title this assignment sums up three trips in a row. The whole trip took two full weeks from 12th of March till 26th of March.

Planning:

Actually the most difficult part was to pack properly. There were some things needed to be considered. Firstly we had to pack warm clothes for sleeping at Holmenkollen and watching ski races or ski jumping. Secondly we had to take fishing equipment for the Lofoten. Thirdly we could not pack to much because we had to take a plane from Oslo to Leknes on the Lofoten Islands. In addition we planned to arrive back from the Lofoten in Kristiansand on Sunday. The following day should be the start of the snowhole trip. This meant for us: organizing everything we need for this trip in advance because of closed shops on Sunday. However we did a good job in my opinion because both of us were well equipped for all trips.

Holmenkollen:

Together with Petr, we started our trip on Thursday afternoon with hitchhiking to Oslo. We were quite lucky and made it with only two different cars in a few hours. One of the drivers grew up at the Lofoten and gave us first hints what we can experience there. After one night of camping outside of the city borders of Oslo we met the others in front of the Fram museum on the next day. The whole weekend we were allowed to watch skiraces and skijumping at Holemkollen. It was very interesting to see how Norwegians celebrate there national sport and that everybody was in such a good mood. Additionally I could test sleeping on snow and I should realize that my sleeping bag is too cold if I use only one mat. This was a very useful insight for the snowhole trip. The picture below shows the start of the men 50 km race and next to it the Holmenkollen ski jump.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After one more night in Oslo we went on to Leknes on the Lofoten Islands by plane.

Lofoten:

Petr and me chose the Lofoten for our self organized trip mainly for three reasons:

• Incredible and beautiful nature
• Fishing
• Northern lights

After we arrived in Leknes in the evening we filled our supplies in a local shop and hitchhiked to the northern part of the islands. A little island called Sandveien. Up there were only a few houses and nothing else than nature. The whole three days we spent there I saw only one car which was an interesting experience because everything was so quiet. Sadly the coast was rocky and the sea very tough which made it impossible for us to fish properly. After losing a lot of lures and fishing string we decided to explore the island a little and do hikes. As soon as we found out that Balstad, a little town on the southern part of the islands, is also called “fishing main city” we decided to went southern again. The nickname “Fishing main city” was not a rumor as we could smell after arriving at the city. The whole air smelled fishy and everythere were winter cod (Skrei) hanging down from wooden scaffolds.

Fishing at the coast in this city was very easy, maybe even too easy. We always wanted to catch one of the winter cods with our fishing rods but when ever we throw our lures one of the small fishes catched the hook immediatly. We tried to hook them off as carefull as possible and put them back in the water. However a few catched the hook that bad that they would not be viable anymore. We had to take them with us. Due to the fact that we did not want to hurt these without a reason we decided to quit and went back to the hostel we booked for that night. There we organized a day together with a real fisherman on his boat. We had the possibility to observe him doing his work and help him whenever we could. It was very interesting and we could experience how hard this work is considering coldness of the arctic sea and the long working day. The fisherman used “longline” as fishing method and got about 2 tonnes of winter cod in seven hours.

 

 

 

 

 

Actually we wanted to leave the hostel on the next day but the owner offered us free accomodation if we would help him a little out. We agreed and it was the best decision we could make because this evening a lot of people of different nationalities arrived and we cooked and ate all together. It was a great night and suddenly we could even see the northern light. We were very lucky because it was very bright, had different colours and moved a lot. Incredible beautiful and our last point on the list was done.

Snowhole trip:

We arrived annoyingly later than expected on Sunday in Kristiansand. We had less than half a day for repacking and preparing for the snowhole trip. Nevertheless it was enough time and we could go to Hovden again on the next day. The first day was quite relaxing because we made only about 5km from the road to the DNT cabin. The second day was very nice because we learned how to make different kind of snow shelters. We build a usual igloo, a sick igloo and a traditional Norwegian snowhole. I slept in one of the snowholes for the following two days. The first night was not that good because I worried a little about the masses of snow just in front of me. But after a while I got used to it and did not have anymore problems. Especially the second night I slept very deep and well and felt fit in the morning. Mentionable is also that I was very suprised how warm and good protected you are while sleeping in a snowhole. I did not expect that it is working that good. The pictures below are showing our snowhole from inside and outside.

 

 

 

 

 

Furthermore we learned how to estimate a risk of avalanches in different areas and how to make a snow profile. On the last day we skied down to the road again looking for an area where we can dig our emergency shelters which should give us safety for one last night. After we found an area and got the task to start digging for the next 20 minutes, we were told that we will not overnight in the shelter due to the risky weather.

Personal:

I really enjoyed all of these trips. I experienced Norwegian culture at Holmenkollen, beautiful nature and nature phenomenons on the Lofoten Islands and learned a lot about winter mountaineering. Thank you very much for all these impressions!