Norway

For spring break this year, I went to Tromsø Norway in search of some powder and fjords. Located above the arctic circle, Tromsø  is the largest city in northern Norway. We based ourselves out of Tromsø, but for the first three nights, we rented an apartment in Lyngen, home of the Lyngen Alps. The nice thing about Tromsø and northern Norway is that there are not any developed "ski resorts". All the skiing is ski touring. Equipped with our skins, crampons and ice axes we were able to do some pretty fun tours. We were very lucky with the snow during our time in Norway as it snowed a lot in our first few days there.

Our first ski tour was just outside Tromsø. It was a short, four hour, tour en route to our apartment in Lyngen. The weather was epic that day and snow was great.

I took these next few photos from the top of the ridge seen in the previous photo.

These next few shots are from various tours in the Lyngen Alps

Quintessential northern Norway

This is the house we rented in Lyngen

Given that it was March, we had about 12 hours of daylight in any given day. One night, from our house in Lyngen, we took an evening stroll along the arctic shores in arctic temperatures.

Sion, Ben J, Me, Finn

Finn, Ben J and Sion on our evening stroll

These next few shots are Ben and Finn in the setting sun on the shores of the arctic

Our last day in Lyngen, the boys went for a tour that was rated "extremely difficult" and could possibly require some absailing. I chose to begin my marathon training while they tackled that tour. I ran 20km while they skied. Ben was feeling ill, so he actually turned around early from the tour.

Ben

Ben looking for some photo opportunities

What other kind of car would you expect your rental to be when you are in Scandanavia?!

On this day, we were back in the Tromsø area. The snow conditions were not great so I decided to continue my marathon training with a 22km run while the boys skied this couloir in the photo. Luckily, for me, the snow report when they returned was poor. They still enjoyed themselves.

On the last day, we did an easy ski tour. The weather conditions were sub-par so we chose a close slope with easy terrain in case bad weather rolled in....which it did. We were unable to summit as a white out and some very strong winds rapidly encompassed our group. The snow conditions were not great this day, but we were able to descend safely.

Here's a quick video clip of the spot where we decided it best to turn around. This weather came in quickly and without much warning!

Ben and Sion putting the skis on the roof rack on our final day. Shortly down the road, one of Ben's skis would fly off the roof rack and get run over by an old Norwegian man driving his car.