Ullstinden, nok en gang (02.03.2013)
| Start point | Snarby parkeringsplass |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | same |
| Characteristic | Randonnée/Telemark |
| Distance | 9.0km |
| Map |
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| Ascents | Sørvestre Ullstinden (1,078m) | 02.03.2013 |
|---|
Turned out to be a bit of a mixed day. I met with Kristin at 10.00 and the plan was to drive to Kastnes, a little way from Oldervik and ski up Stortuva. It is known to be a little-visited top, and I thought the route looked like quite a nice one to try out. But first of all we had to actually get to Oldervik, which was something of a nightmare to drive. After a week of rain and windy weather, the road between Tønsnes and Skittenelv had masses of what can only be described as hard icy potholes (maybe there is a special word in Norwegian which I don't actually know) along the way. My car was not impressed. And being a front-wheel drive it was not really built to deal with awful road surfaces like that. So we had to literally stop every time before driving carefully over those patches and it took us much longer to actually reach Kastnes than it should have. And when we did finally get there, we saw there was still an old snøskred lying over the snow surface which looked like it could be quite difficult to cross and go further up the valley. In the end we drove back towards Snarby and parked up there for a ski trip up Ullstinden.
My previous trip to Ullstinden in January had been quite a positive experience with relatively calm weather and fantastic skiføre. Lots of new powder and not too windy, plus a lot of people. Today there were definitely fewer people but much more sunshine and much more wind. But much less snow. All that was left to ski on was fokksnø and ice. For the trip up the mountain it was not really too much of a hassle with skiing in a straight line all the time, but I was already dreading the nedkjøringen before we even got halfway up the mountain! Our only consolation was the lovely views toward Ringvassøya and Lyngen. After passing the tregrensen the wind strengthened markedly and continued to increase with height, which actually made it quite uncomfortable for any exposed patches of skin on our face.
It became basically an objective of marching upwards to the top as soon as possible, taking off skins (also as soon as possible) and skiing down (as carefully and as soon as possible). Neither Kristin nor I had any interest to hang around and take many photos today because it was so chilly with the wind, and that was a shame I think. Yet another time where our lunch was going to be eaten in the car! Unfortunately the clear views of Lyngen were also masked by thick cloud by the time we reached the top of the mountain, so there was none of the usual magnificent views in that direction to admire.
After stripping off skins and stuffing them into the rucksacks straight away, Kristin was eager to get going back down again. Unfortunately after 3 weeks of no skiing, my efficiency at connecting my boots to the bindings had deteriorated quite a lot (along with any ski technique I may have had) and I needed to spend a few minutes extra before I was ready! But we were both set for the descent within about 10 minutes, so it was not really that long..... And so began the challenge of trying to ski down a wind-swept mountain. The snow drifts which had been deposited by the wind had quite inconveniently arranged themselves into a regular pattern of ridges in-between rows of ice, so most of the time I just ended up losing my balance when trying to make turns. It took a long time, a very long time. Kristin had literally flew down the mountain and I lost sight of where she had stopped to wait for me (if at all), but since I rarely feel the need to keep up with a norwegian skier I just carried on at a snail's pace until I found her again. Somewhere quite close to the treeline.
Usually I fear the forest, but on this trip I was actually quite glad to see it again, since the snow here was actually soft and nice to ski on. I would not go as far as to say I have developed a deep love for skiing through trees yet, but the affection is growing. And that was the end of that ski trip.
All that was left to do was drive back down that road again........
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