Jotunheim 2009

In the summer of 2008 my wife, Sue, and I did a very pleasant hut tour through the Jotunheim. This was a new area to me and I was very taken with the idea of repeating some of it as a ski tour. When I found that the Telemark Ski Co. were in fact running a trip in March 2009 not only visiting some of the huts I had walked to but also skiing some mountains including Glittertind, it was irresistible.

To halve the possibility of my skis going astray during the two flights from Manchester I flew with Ryanair from Stansted.

The £5 each way ticket finally cost over £100 with rucksack and ski carriage but it was still cheaper than from Heathrow or Gatwick and the bus transfer from Torp was very easy.

I spent the night at the Hotel Spectrum close to the bus station and we caught the 9.30 bus to Tyen, changing at Fagernes. The Weasel picked us for an exciting half hour across the snowfields to Fondsbu.

A quick ski and an excellent meal got us ready for our tour.

It was snowing hard when we set off the following morning for Olavsbu. The weather cleared by mid-morning and we skinned up an un-named 1542m peak on the way. Un-staffed Olavsbu was delightful in the summer and a haven on a wild snowy night. We entered through a sort of tunnel in the snow. There were only nine people there in total and it was really cosy even if a trip to the loo required totally kitting up.

We set off for Spitterstulen the following morning in a blizzard. We could hardly see from marker wand to wand. A long climb up was followed by a good ski down to a string of lakes. A climb and a nice ski down took us past the Leirvassbu hut (another of my summer huts) into the valley leading to Spitterstulen.

We had to pole the whole way but I did see the big face of Kirkje that I’d climbed the previous year. Spitterstulen is used for winter courses for schools so it was a bit of shock to see dozens of children after the peace of Olavsbu but they were unbelievably well behaved.

The next day a steep skin up, again in wild weather, followed by a long level section took us to the top of the valley down to Glitterheim. A good ski down was followed by another long plod down the valley. The hut was very quiet as it was actually still pre-season.

The contrast in weather the following morning was amazing. Clear blue skies and dead calm. Although Glittertind was scheduled as the grand finale it was decided unanimously to go for it. It was skins on from the front door. Ours were the only ski tracks on the mountain after several days of blizzards.

The final ridge is steep on all sides and there was masses of snow but the wind had been straight onto the slope so it wasn’t likely to avalanche on our side. The views all round were stunning and we could clearly see Galdepyggen apparently quite close. The first and steepest section had a lot of surprisingly heavy snow on but it got better and better ayou went down and a lot of the descent was fast, exhilarating paralleling on perfect snow.

The weather for the next two days was perfect. We skied Nautgardsoksle (2089m) which was a straight skin up and ski down from the hut. The higher snow had icy patches and sastrugi on bits of the ridge but the main ski down was great.

The ascent of Ryggjehoe (2142m) involved a long re-ascent of the main valley then a climb from the col.

This is another fine hill with interesting views of Glittertind and the cliffs you could have fallen over if you’d made a serious error in descent. The ridge was again icy with sastrugi and patches of slab but quite skiable and the lower slopes very nice indeed. It would have been nice to ski down a steep gully leading fairly directly back to the hut but our leader decided this could have been too dodgy with avalanche risk and we repeated the long plod back down the valley.

You can ski out from Glitterheim but it’s quite a long way with little gradient until the end.

I opted for a morning ski and a lift out with the Snow-cat. I was skiing on Fischer 109s with leather Alico boots and yettie gaiters. This is my favourite touring ski of any of the several I have owned.

The trip fulfilled my desire to repeat my summer hut tour and ski some good mountains. Lack of practice and a dodgy shoulder meant the touring sections on waxes the were hard work for me as I’ve done far more skinning than waxing recently but it was worth it for the scenery and getting into mountains.

The three big mountain days were exactly how I like my skiing.

Only problem – NOW FOLLOW THAT!!

author: Ian Weatherley
publish date: November 2009

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