A traverse of Lyngen, Part 2 of 3, Nordkjosbotn to Lyngseidet

Bagging a summit in the Lyngen Alps

13th April 2019 - Nordkjosbotn - Gurgela, a warm up day

I was carrying what felt to be the heaviest pack in the world.  It was full, with skis strapped to the side and all 6kgs of tent on the top.  I could manage, fresh and full of energy for the start, it was carrying the pulks and bag of food in my hands that were trying to tire me out.  2km later we reached the snow and had a pleasant warm up on a well skied summer road towards Storvatnet.  Continuing on in the fog we route found our way towards Gurgela.  The wind picked up and set us to finding a sheltered campsite.

Checking the map to try and locate the valley we needed to leave the road on

"Chris... hold on... there's a change in colour of the snow there...!" and he disappeared.  S**T, I thought.  Cautiously I traversed along the edge of this subtle colour change, my eyes desperately trying to see more, throwing snow ahead of me, until I spotted him.  Fortuitously he had found a great campsite behind a 4m windlip, and was unscathed.  It would be the first of many times on this trip I was thankful to have just spent several months winter walking in Scotland.

Our first campsite, you can just about make out the windup on the RHS that Chris 'hopped' over!

14th April 2019 - navigating in the white room

Well, I might as well have stayed in the Highlands!  I plugged two coordinates into my Garmin Fenix GPS watch as key points to skin through on the flatter shelf above camp, between that, feeling the contours and following compasses we made headway.  The slope we were aiming for should take us on a maximum of 25degrees or so to Rieppevatnet, crossing below slopes that were so steep they shouldn't pose a threat to us.

Ski touring in the white room, somewhere on Lyngen

Heading eastwards we were skinning on compass bearings to changes in contour features trying to stay between the valley and the edge (which we didn't want to fall off).  Upon reaching the col we finally had enough visibility to be helpful and made as much progress as we could, northwards in the poor weather forecast.  After an exciting and rather steep sided valley bushwhack we camped just West of Elvevoll.

Visibility after the col.  Our camp still a way ahead of us

15th April 2019 - first day of sunshine

Another travel day.  We left camp at 8:30 and headed up towards the shelf beside Imajávri.  Weaving our way up behind Øvervatnet we remained on pleasantly angled slopes and the sun was shining.    

Skiing across to reach the safest skiable slope with our pulks.

The crux of the day was still to come, curving carefully around Middagshaugen we found the section we were aiming to ski down after a couple of brave kick turns.  The ski reminded us of what was to come later in the trip, steep (for pulks - approaching 30degrees) and the added fun of some tree weaving the lower we got!

One more ascent took us to the next shelf along with Lomvatnet on it.  Here we met our first people since starting out, a group of cross country skiers who were doing a bit of unsuccessful ice fishing!  It was a beautiful place to spend the evening, views of the fjords and our journey so far.

Camp on the shelf, complete with a patch of earth and ski boot drying racks!

16th April 2019 - Daltinden, our first ski peak of the trip

Not only did our campsite have a good view but it positioned us at the start of the ski descent into Lyngsdalen, reducing the number of changeovers we would need to do.  The ski was quite a wake up!  Focussed navigation led us to the shallower angled track above the Storfjorden, which turned into a hair raising icy track.

Leaving camp (yes that is a team member waving from the toilet!)

Weaving our way through the village we soon met other skiers, Daltinden, our ski peak for the day, was one of the most popular in the area.  Client's passed us bemused, whilst their guides asked us what we were doing.  Most people looked at us like we were crazy and all of the locals engaged us in talk about snow conditions and avalanches.  I found it vaguely amusing that we were travelling nearly as fast as some of these groups, despite our loads!

Steve taking his pulk for a walk in Lyngsdalen

Stashing our pulks, we were set loose and followed the gravy train to the summit.  Steep in places, and still quite weary of the snow pack, we often took our own line, all the while considering what would happen if each bit of the slope went.  It was a well skied route, but the fickle nature of PWLs (persistent weak layers), and the raising temperatures made me alert.

On our way to the summit, behind Chris, at the front, you can see the glacier snout that we will be aiming to cross under before heading along the valley on the right

Team summit shot - with thanks to someone else on the mountain

Spring snow and the odd section of wind affected power brought us happily down from the summit.  We found home for the night west of the Lyngsdalshytta, on a patch of snow that didn't appear to be either on a stream or below an avalanche prone slope.

Chris enjoying the ski descent of Daltinden

17th April 2019 - the technical crux - could we get past the snout of Vestbreen?

Making our way towards the glacier I hoped that we would be able to find a way through to the valley with Bredalsvatnet.  We knew the area would be steep, but we were unsure if we would be able to get through safely, if double carries might be required, or if there would be complete snow coverage.  One of the advantages of having such good mobile phone signal meant that we could zoom into the latest map on the Varsom app and see the gradient of the terrain to work out a few possible routes.  Looking across at the terrain from yesterday's peak only served to tell us that it might be passable.

Our first view of the Glacier, the sections in pink show earlier avalanches as the camera I used isn't the best at picking detail out in low light conditions

Avalanches from the heat of the previous days were visible besides our route.  We took the shallowest route possible and eventually had a good view of the end of the glacier.  Mini serac collapse covered the terrain.  Opting to spread out, despite the cooler morning air, we traversed this section efficiently, and continued to the steeper slope on the right.  Arduous kick turns followed to the thin rock line of semi covered moraine forced us across to the other side.  Finally the slope angle reduced enough to allow us a much needed picnic stop, and we were through.

Our route from camp shown via the orange dotty line, Photo by Steven taken the day before on Daltinden

You can just spot our final team member about to arrive at our rest stop having crossed through the last steeper section by the rock behind him.

Passing through the valley we stopped on the edge of a large flattening in the ridge above Dalvatnet, where we would be safe from any avalanches, and gave us enough sunshine for an afternoon nap outside.

The perfect campsite?  Rocks to dry kit on, space to dig a kitchen area, views of our ski peak tomorrow (back right)

18th April - Rundfjellet, another ski peak

When your main aim is a ski traverse, any peaks skied are a bonus.  Combine this with being able to access a peak, finding a safe route up and down it that is mostly skiable, and getting your timings right so you are able to summit it before weather / temperature changes, whilst not expending so much energy you can't make it to the end of your route; and soon one starts to understand the juggling act.

Traversing across the snow, the sun already quite high in the sky

Views along the skin to Rundfjellet, you can see the plateau we camped on our night before passing through Lyngseidet

Rundfjellet seemed to tick all of the boxes, we left camp (still unpacked) and began a long traverse and ascent around the mountain to the Eastern side of Myrvatnet.  In hindsight it would have been much easier to approach from behind camp, with a short ski down to the lake from the North, but we were aiming to have as little as possible ascent at the time.

Self timer photo on the summit. Photo by Steve

Euan getting the chance to free his heel again

From here there was a shallow valley heading SSW taking under the steep face of the mountain until a pleasant ascent along the South ridge brings you to the summit.  Excellent spring snow and light powder brought us back to the lake, where we opted to skin up the extra 300m enabling a ski straight to camp.  Still feeling quite fresh after a shorter day yesterday the trail breaking felt pleasant, and my legs remained energetic.

Skiing down infront of Rundfjellet

After packing up camp we had one of our best pulk skis of the trip, perfect snow and gradient led us to mushy snow in the valley floor and the poignant reminder of the threat of wet snow avalanches from steeper slopes above.  It also made for hot hard work zig zagging up the short slope to the shelf of Oksefjellet.

Our campsite, clouds always make for atmospheric photos!  Rundfjellet under sunshine on the left.

The following day we would cross the road at Lyngseidet and therefore the halfway point of our traverse.

A traverse of Lyngen, part 1 of 3, how a scenic ferry convinced us to take plan B (sort of!)

Fantastic views on the Lyngen Peninsular

Always have a plan B, and C, D, E... etc...  At least, that's what I tell my clients (and I endeavour to follow this too).  And, to be fair, in my head a plan B in steep skiing terrain is, don't bother.  I guess that is a plan B, but it's probably not the plan you consider when organising a traverse of a specific mountain range, to which you have booked flights to; and most people would have a more skiing orientated plan B rather than just quit.

Walking to Tromso bus station at the start of our journey

Last April a small team of us flew to Tromso with the aim of traversing the Lyngen Peninsular.  Many hours of googling and pouring over maps revealed what could be an incredible route through the high glaciers and mountains of the area including a traverse of Jiehkkevarri.  It would be an arduous but amazing journey over two weeks, 100% self sufficient, pulling our pulks.  Research told me that a few people had more or less completed a traverse of the area (the only camping one I could find sounded like a complete epic of bad weather), some guides offered a variation on it, the 'Lyngen Haute Route'.  Nowhere could I find any record of anyone attempting a higher traverse over the glaciers.  And it was quite difficult to figure out what route previous and advertised groups used.

As you do, for the months preceding a trip, you read the avalanche bulletins and weather reports.  Dipping in and out more frequently the closer you are to departure.  Initially things looked good.  During March there were still persistent weak layers, well, that's nothing new.  For a while it looked like the snowpack might just stabilise and head into a more Springlike cycle.  Then, it just snowed and snowed, and then stopped.  We touched down and found very difficult conditions.

I hate persistent weak layers, how often do you actually know how close you have been to triggering it?  With more than half of our route in prime 35degree avalanche terrain at this height, the answer was simply to avoid it.

The classic Lyngen photo - fjords and mountains

What was our skiable plan B going to be?  Earlier in the month when I realised that plan A looked doubtful, I put all of my spare hours into finding another route.  It was broadly based on the 'Lyngen Trek', a summer hiking route that follows a series of shelves on the East side and then crosses through to the West side of the peninsular.  But... I couldn't find anyone that had skied it, and there were a couple of shorts sections of which I had no idea if we would be able to get through, most notably the end of the Vestbreen Glacier, west of Lyngsdalen.

The Lyngen Trek route marked in green, from The Lyngen Alps by Fri Flyt AS

A look on FATMAP and the Norwegian mapping website revealed that the vast majority of this route would avoid avalanche terrain, and there would be appropriate safe escape routes to a road if we couldn't continue through a more challenging bit.  Phew, what a relief to finally have a plan, that might work.  

Safer travel in a higher risk environment

Researching public transport options, we were able to get a bus from Tromso to Nordkjosbotn; and, the highlight, a ferry back from Nord Lenangen if we arrived on time.  To be honest, after the disappointing reality of having to change our plans, I think the possibility of taking a ferry tour at the end, sold Plan B to us!

The following day we got on the bus in misty weather and began our traverse in Nordkjosbotn.

On our way to find snow somewhere in the outskirts of Nordkjosbotn