We learned a lot during this trip. We had plenty of issues with our equipment. Petter was struggling with his footwear and sleeping mattress. Myself with the satellite phone. Our new tent is smaller and a bit claustrophobic compared to the previous one. We intentionally did not bring enough fuel to actually heat the tent in the evenings. Because we have been training routinely at a higher pace than we usually hike in on skis, we moved too fast and expended ourselves too fast. We worked too hard with our sleds and became sweaty the two first days, resulting in both of us having trouble keeping warm during our brakes. But worst was our mistake during the planning. We had miscalculated the distance from start to finish. It was twice as long as we planned for. As we realized that we were not going to make it to the end point on time, we had to abort the trip early to avoid being stuck in the middle of the mountain without supplies the night before we planned to return to work.

All of these factors weighed heavily on our morale through the whole trip. At one point, energy reserves completely depleted, we briefly discussed if we actually had any business on the Greenland ice cap at all. Luckily – that type of attitude evaporates when one gets a warm meal and some rest. At this point we consider this a great learning experience and head on towards our goal undaunted.

You can see the few pictures we took in the photo album.

This weekend, Ingunn and went to Finse for our first trip on ice since the glacier training on Krossbu early this summer. We were invited to join Adele and Cato Skeie, a really nice couple with 10 and 15 years of glacier experience. We met late this summer on Sota Sæter, where Den Norske Turistforening (DNT) arranged a trip for young children.

We took the train to Finse (1222 masl) and stayed at Finsehytta (DNT) from Friday to Saturday. We were happy to get the last 4 available beds in the dormatory. A lot of people were sleeping on the floor in the living room.

On Saturday we left Finse around 10 o’clock, and headed for Midtdalsbreen via Appelsinhytta. The ascent went mainly on blue ice, and I guided the group through the labyrinth of deep, wide and long crevasses. From Midtdalen we headed west and crossed the highest point just south of 1812-skjæret. We followed the advice from Breføreren (handbook for glacier walking in Norway), stayed away from the difficult descent on Rembesdalsskåka and descended on 09-skaret instead. We locked ourselves into Demmevasshytta around 8 o’clock in the evening. Adele served delicious pasta bolognese, which was consumed with great appetite and a few glasses of red wine.

We left Demmevasshytta around 10:30 on Sunday and headed North towards Finse via the old postal route. The western part of the glacier had just a few cravesses so we crossed the ice with just crampons. The weather did not motivate us this day. It was foggy and +1 degree celcius when we left Demmevasshytta, and after a few hours the rain was pouring down and the wind increased. When we descended from the glacier we were all soaking wet and spent the next two hours heading for Finse unpleasingly wet and tired. We arrived the station half an hour before the train departed.

Now, I’m back home again, warm and dry, stunned by the overwhelming nature we experienced this weekend. It was wonderful to meet Adele and Cato, and I’m thankful for being invited to this trip and the opportunity to leverage their valuable glacier experience.

Click the image to see more photos from the trip.

We left Oslo behind on Friday after work in Terje’s Opel Kadett filled with expedition gear, food and drinks. A few foggy and rainy hours later and a couple of Bacon Burgers consumed, we arrived Base Camp at the shore of Lake Krødern. Terje was in charge of the tent and the gapahuk bivouac while I fixed the camp bonfire. We enjoyed the evening over a few Beers and Hot Dogs, and concluded that Friday night was a success.

We woke Saturday morning just in time before sun rise. Well, Terje isn’t exactly as much of a morning person as I am (I guess I can blame my kids for waking early). So, while he was still breathing through the narrow opening of his sleeping bag, I prepared a standard wildlife expedition breakfast (Coffée, Eggs, Beans and Bacon). A couple of hours later at altitude 900 m the sleigths were mounted and we skied of into the windy west side of Norefjell. To be continued…

As part of the preparations we are experimenting with filming. You can see the result below.