A windy, but very nice ski-trip
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 13.02.24 | Vardane, Sula | 776m | 776m | Sula, M&R, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Tuesday: Ålesund day and the weather was quite alright! A bit windy and the snow looked terrible, with a crust. I felt for skiing Sulafjellet after work, but not if there was crust all over the mountain. I texted my buddy Lyngve, asking him what he thought. He replied that he assumed that the snow quality was terrible.
I took it for granted that we couldn’t be wrong, but still I ended up deciding that I wanted to give it a try. We could always turn around if conditions were too bad.
I parked by lake Mausavatnet and then we skied from the car. The first mountain view is so discouraging as the mountain look so far away!
But we were here now, and we had to make the best of it. The snow on the forest road was hard, but totally OK for skiing. I already looked forward to the descent!
I had divided this trip into 3 parts. The first checkpoint would be Rollonhytta. The second checkpoint would be the foot of the mountain. If we felt OK there, we would go for the top.
The snow quality was much better than I had feared. The snow (or the track) was hard enough to give Karma an easy ride up the mountain, and soft enough to make the ski-descent enjoyable.
Karma was the wildcard today. She had her monthly Librela injection, and sometimes she’s just not interested in going on a trip. Maybe it’s the long day in the car, making her tired and slow. I don’t know.
Today, she kept on rolling and seemed happy most of the way up to Rollonhytta. After that, she was mostly trailing but there was no turning around now!
The wind was strong, but it didn’t offer any problems.
The snowdrift only helped bring snow to the otherwise naked (or icy) summit ridge.
As we approached the top, the wind was quite strong, bordering to unpleasant. I looked forward to reaching the top and find shelter.
When we got there, the shelter was occupied by two girls getting ready for descent. We waited until they were ready to go and we got the shelter all to ourselves. Very nice!
I was super-happy about having reached the top. Karma looked good and I knew that she would be running full speed, all the way down.
Descending the summit ridge wasn’t epic, but once we got into the “bowl” the snow quality improved greatly and I had mighty good time. Karma was running down the track like she was 3 years old.
Just before Rollonhytta, we turned onto a snowmobile track. Easy for Karma, fun for daddy.
Eventually, we got back on the forest road and had a mighty good time down the forest. The forest road is actually my favourite part. I’m not sure if that’s OK to say, but that’s how it is. I didn’t seem like we pissed anyone off. We slowed down every time we saw people coming up the road.
Trip statistics: 12,3km, 750 vertical meters, 2h:14m
