LJOSLAND
Another self organised trip! This time in the area of Ljosland just before the easter break.
Ljosland is a village situated in the municipality in Vest-Agder county. There is a small ski centre with lifts that is popular in the winter time. Many holiday cabins are dotted throughout the area as well as the Ljosland Fjellstove hotel built there in 1937.
Views from the hut window.
Day 1
I travelled there with Linda and her boyfriend to enjoy a peaceful few days skiing and relaxing. We would stay at a hut situated on a small hill with looking across Ljoslandsvatnet. It was an absolutely beautiful hut, everything and more one would need with incredible views out to the hills.
Again settling into the simplistic hut life was incredibly relaxing and made me appreciate th importance of sometimes doing nothing. This hut didn’t feel quite as simplistic as the DNT’s due to it having electricity (sometimes) powered by a solar panel and an inside toilet!
Once settled in, we set about taking to our skis! The weather by this time was already becoming considerably warmer and selecting the right wax was extremely difficult! It was Kai’s first time on cross country skis so we set about trying to teach him the basics. It was here that I realised that I had in fact gained some skills myself that I could pass onto beginners and wasn’t as much of a beginner than I thought myself to be.
Slippy and wet conditions made skiing near impossible and we only managed around a 5k tour to the top of the dam and back. Local mining and explosions in the area gave us a fright and we retreated to the hut for the night.
Our home for the few days!
Day 2 – Lakkenstova attempt 1
We stuck together and attempted a tour to Lakkenstova hut. The sun was beating down and once again wet snow made skiing near impossible. Stupidly we never brought klister for our skis and nothing else seemed to work. We were a little slower having a beginner and found it difficult to find an easy route to the top of the ski slopes where we were hoping to then get onto more easy ski tracks. Once finally at the top, conditions were much the same and uphill just as impossible. We managed only a short tour around one of the small lakes before deciding to call it a day and head down.
Day 3 – Solo Lakkenstova attempt 2
The foulest of days for weather… I decided I wanted to challenge myself and decided to aim for Lakkenstova on my own. It was good to have this solo day out and be responsible for my own decisions/route inding. However it was particularly tough with the conditions and I achieved less in distance than the day before. To begin, the snow conditions were already poor and constant rain made skiing generally impossible. I attempted to ascend to the top of the hill via another track which was incredible steep and it wasn’t long before I had to resort to foot. The snow was knee deep and physically exhausting to wade through. I persevered hoping that once I reached the top on the flat sking across the lake would be possible. Wrong. Once at the top I found a melted lake! The winter ski trail I was supposed to follow went over the lake and I considered my options for traversing round. I attempted this but it soon became icy and treacherous with a high probability of slipping into the lake. Determined not to return home, I opted for climbing to the top of the hill, going over it and hopefully continuing my journey from there. I strapped the skis to my back and climbed to what the map conveyed to be a flat platau. Again wrong. Here I learnt to appreciate the difference between OS maps from home compared to the ones found here. While every 10m in height is marked on an OS, only every 20m is on 1:50,000 maps in Norway. Thus what I thought would be a lovely high platau to ski on was infact difficult hilly terrain. I experienced white out and was aware of steep slopes to either side of me. Thus I once again had to stick to my feet due to encountering mostly icy windslab.
Melted lake with eerie feels.
Once down I finally found the track and attempted a small tour. To call the weather dreich would be an understatement. I just about managed to slip around a small lake before giving up and heading home. En route several Norwegians saw my skis and let me know that it was not the right day for skiing which helped to confirm that I had made the right decision to call it a day and head home. I returned exhausted and sodden but satisfied I had tried my all and made sensible decisions along the way.
Day 4
This was leaving day and due to the continued bad snow conditions we only managed a small tour to the dam and back before having to catch our bus home in the afternoon. Though the conditions were much the same we managed a half decent pace and even passed some Norwegian families on the way! We did however witness several of the Norwegians sticking to the snow effortlessly which we took as a lesson to next time bring the klister.
All in all this was a pleasant but short trip with not as much skiing as I would have liked. We were committed to skiing in the Ljosland area as we had already booked the cabin weeks before hand. In future, if I’m hoping to get a lot of skiing in I would leave booking accommodation till last to suit the weather and snow conditions. Other learning points for me was to study the conditions more closely before setting out especially if there has been warmer weather. Had I done this I perhaps would have saved myself from discovering the melted lake. Lastly I learned when to call it a day or that sometimes there’s not all that much point heading out in the first place. Despite the poor conditions I wouldn’t change the experiences I had as it was magnificent place to spend time with incredible people.