A great skiing week with a bitter end…
| Date | Peak/Place | Height | PF | Location | WCP |
| 25.01.2021 | Blåfjellet | 1401m | 151m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
| 26.01.2021 | Stedjeåsen | 624m | 121m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
| 27.01.2021 | Tylderingen | 1104m | 241m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
| 28.01.2021 | Tylderingen | 1104m | 241m | Sogndal, Norway | WCP |
| 30.01.2021 | Vikane – Eide – Vikane | – | – | Sogndal |
Blåfjellet (1401m), Jan 25 2021
Monday: Today, Karma was going with Anne on a job trip. Which meant that I could go skiing solo in the afternoon. Left to my own devices…
After work, I decided to drive to Hodlekve and ski Blåfjellet from Rindabotn. The weather was gorgeous, the snow was *awesome* and this would just be beautiful.
The only downside was that I didn’t find any uphill tracks (among the one million downhill tracks) and had to break trail once the first hill was conquered.
At some point I decided to give Anne a call. Just to check if they had returned home and let her know my whereabouts.
It was quickly darkening but I decided to push it so that I didn’t have to bring out the headlamp before I reached the top. Not important. Just something to stretch for.
It was pretty dark on the final leg to the summit cairn. I had to focus *hard* to see the tracks ahead of me.
Then I skied down from the cairn to reach the very highest point on this mountain – 1401m – 200m to the west. There, I was about to take out my phone to send a picture to Anne. But … where is the phone?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh!
I am not in the habit of losing things. And certainly not the phone. I quickly understood that a) I had lost it by the summit cairn, or b) something wrong happened when I tried to put it back in my pocket after talking to Anne. But – would I be able to find the location? I mean, it was pretty dark…
Stupidly enough, I took the skins off at the high point and had to step sideways the 25 vertical meters up to the summit cairn. No phone to be found there and I prepared for the descent. But wait, could I have lost it on the high point? Did I check good enough?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh!
Back up to the high point, stepping sideways without skins. No phone to be found. Then back down again and stepping sideways back up to the cairn. What the HECK was I on about? Finally I decided to get off the mountain and try my luck where I called Anne.
I skied down to the pass between Blåfjellet and Kambafjellet, stepped sideways up from the pass and picked up my GPS. From here, I would follow my ascent track. But, I had forgotten the stupid, stupid Garmin bug where the track just disappears from the display. For no good reason at all! With my former GPS (also Garmin) a reboot would solve the problem. But not with this model (66S). I swear this is the very last time I will buy a Garmin device!
There were hundreds of tracks. So which one were mine? It turned out that everyone else was following the ridge track up the mountain. Only I had climbed the mountainside and so I followed the only track with pole marks.
I had a feeling of roughly whereabouts I had called Anne. And, I found the location. And, I found the phone – halfway buried in the snow. And it still worked! Man, was I happy. Just the thought of all the procedures I had to go through to get a new phone and get it to work with my company’s applications…
Very, very happy, I continued down the mountain, enjoy the snow to the fullest.
But … the left leg felt awkward!
Trip statistics: 10,7km, 950 vertical meters, 2h:36m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the trip:
Stedjeåsen (624m), Jan 26 2021
Tuesday: After two days of skiing, I was happy to be back on foot. There would be plenty of more skiing this week – weather permitted.
It was yet another crazy working day, where the first meeting started 06:30 (!), but my afternoon break is holy and this afternoon I would take Karma to Stedjeåsen.
We took the usual round trip hike, with all the possible variations and then some.
There was a lot of snow in the forest, but at least we didn’t have to break trail…
Once back at Anne’s place, I had again this weird feeling in my left leg. It was like an intense feeling of wanting to stretch the leg. I did some stretching and didn’t think more about it…
Then, more work before another 13 hour working day came to an end…
Trip statistics: 5,8km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:17m
Tylderingen (1104m), Jan 27 2021
Wednesday: After another long working day, Anne offered to take Karma for a an afternoon walk which allowed me to take yet another solo ski-trip. This time, to Tylderingen. From Fretland.
I headed out with daylight and a full moon above. It was altogether perfect, except for one thing. My left leg.
But after a while, that awkward feeling disappeared and I could focus on the trip itself. Well, focusing on the uphill was *hard* because the snow was SO delightful. The only thing I could think about was the descent.
There were (as expected) plenty of tracks up the mountain and I instantly knew that I would be back the next day – together with Karma.
On my way upwards, the day faded into the night…
Reaching the top was a *blast*, as it meant that I could rip the skins off and prepare for 600 wonderful vertical meters. And I was not alone up there, in the dark…
I can easily say that the run down the mountain was easily the best descent I’ve had on this mountain. It makes all the difference in the world to not have to stop and wait for the dog.
Everything was just fine when I returned to the car – except one thing. My left leg. What the heck is going on with it? It felt like I could stretch it for HOURS and still not get rid of that feeling…
Trip statistics: 6,5km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:36m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP) from the trip:
Tylderingen (1104m), Jan 28 2021
Thursday: As “promised”, I was back at Fretland after work. This time, together with Karma.
The snow was just as gorgeous as the day before, and my left leg was just as awkward as the day before. But it seemed to get better once I got going.
It was a little more cloudy than the day before, and the light was a touch “flat“. As such, I was very happy that I would be going down in the dark – with a strong headlamp.
I stopped for a couple of minutes to take pictures of Hodlekve skiing centre…
Then we continued up to the top and prepared for a very enjoyable run down the mountain. I hope Karma felt the same…
Back at Anne’s place, I kept on stretching my leg but to no avail. I *seriously* wondered what was going on…
Trip statistics: 6,9km, 600 vertical meters, 1h:49m
Vikane – Eide – Vikane, Jan 30 2021
Saturday: The skiing season came (for now) to a sudden end. On Friday, I was not able to even walk on my foot. Something was seriously wrong, but I decided to “give it some days”, as the general medical advice seems to be for troubles with non-vital organs.
I didn’t feel like walking today, but felt less about sitting home for the 2nd day in a row. So, we decided to take an easy hike from Vikane to Eide, along Eidsfjorden.
When we got to Eide, my leg was aching more than it had done so far in the day, but I didn’t want to return the exact way we came.
Instead, we headed up the forest and hiked off-trail until we reached the normal route. When we got back to Vikane, I was limping a little. The upside was that I was better than the day before.
In the evening, we had a couple of friends over for dinner. They were both chiropractors, owners of Kiropraktorklinikken i Sogndal and Mara (Frattasio) asked what was wrong with my foot. “Don’t know”, I said, but it hurts like hell. She took a look at my leg and noticed that it was a couple of centimeters thicker than my other leg. She offered to take a closer look at the clinic the next day (Sunday). An offer I gladly took her up on.
The next day, Mara did an ultrasound scan and told me that a) she didn’t like what she saw and b) go and see a hospital or a doctor as soon as possible…
To be continued…
Trip statistics: 4,7km, 280 vertical meters, 1h:44m
