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Welcome Andrew Hall Group
Day 1. Opening day ski tour from Lyngen Lodge March 2. Air temp -6. Avalanche grade 2. weather clear.
Our inaugural guests arrived and their first ski tour was to Uloya Island 15 minutes via boat Spirit of Lyngen. After ascending 1200m to the summit of Kvelvagtinden we enjoyed magnificent views before skiing the perfect slopes down to a remote beach were Petter and Charles our boat skippers collected us via boat to return the group to lodge for afternoon tea.
March 2 - Transport via Spirit of Lyngen to Havnnes
Skinning up above the fjords
Closing in on the summit of Kvelvagtinden
Our group of 8 - from left to right Andy, James, Rob, Matt, Paul, Peter, Adrian, Andrew.
Rob cranking some tele turns in the powder
Lyngen in perfect form - A skiers paradise
March 3 - Day 2. Air Temp -6. Avalanche grade 2. Weather cloudy with hazy sun. Snow, Powder.
Reindeer Mountain which is located directly behind the lodge and accessed from the lodge door. This was an incredible day with excellent snow and the bonus of crossing a Wolverine track zigzagging up the mountain was a highlight. See photo below!!
Touring up to Reindeer Mountain or Storhaugen 1147m. En route first passing Dalbergen where the sun was shining through a thin layer of cloud.
We crossed the Wolverine (Jerv in Norwegian) track several times on our route up. These incredible tough mammals have no predators in the Arctic. They may even nibble on a straggling skier!
Reaching the summit with breathtaking scenery across the Lyngen Fjord.
Skiing down the southeast flank of Reindeer Mountain under the setting sun.
Lyngen's best forest skiing is above the Lyngen Lodge, the mature birch trees are finely spaced providing super skiing provided you keep both legs the same side of the trees!
Day 3. Traverse of Kaagen Island
Early morning drop off at Kagen Island
Skinning up the west face with Lyngen Peninsula in the back ground
What a view over lunch
Paul skiing South east on the Kagen island traverse
Paul on of the guests this week trying his hand at the helm with Petter the Skipper explaining the ropes
Magnificent sunset at 5pm over the Lyngen Peninsula
March 5. Day 4 - Clear skies and -2 degrees with 5m/s wind from SW. Tour to Blaatinden on Oloya.
Boarding the Spirit of Lyngen boat at 8.30am to be transported 10km to the eastern side of Oloya for the island traverse.
Skinning towards Blaatinden on the island traverse
The Lyngen Fjord below on the track up
What a descent! 1000m of near perfect powder snow. Skier James Whitehead
Carving turns towards the fjord, Andy Gorton in good form
The Northern Lights appeared behind the lodge at 8.30pm providing a spectacular display of green dancing light across the night sky.
March 6Day 5. Increasing cloud cover. -4 degrees and avalanche grade 2. Summit Sorbmegaisa 1288m.
Sorbmegaisa Ascent - this mountain along with it's abundance of wildlife is one of the finest in the Lyngen area offering excellent variety.
Paul skiing the upper slopes of sorbmegaisa as the cloud pulled in during the afternoon.
Evening events, shuffle board champs Brits verses the Norwegians....
March 6: Day6. Sunny weather wind still. -6 degrees. Traverse of the northern Lyngen Peninsula.
The last day for the Andrew Hall group: Perfect weather for the boat Spirit of Lyngen to tour up the east shore line under breathtaking scenery to our ski on the northern end of the Lyngen Peninsula
Leaving the calm bay below to begin the ascent
Gaining meters on the Gammelvik
Traverse complete below Lille Galten into the Nordlenangen western side of the peninsula.
A fantastic week with our first group, Andrew, Rob, Matt, Andy, James, Peter, Paul, Adrian - I would like to thank them for being great company and fun on the mountain and look forward to welcoming them back to the lodge for another round.
Last day for the intrepid Scottish ski group who skied up to Sorbmegaiser 1288m above the lodge. They've had a great week and succeeded in skiing many of the major peaks in the region.
Ascending Peppardtinden, located on the northern Lyngen Peninsula on the Gamvik Glacier.
March 13- Top day with perfect sunshine, 1 degree, southern breeze 1m waves in fjord providing exciting boating to the skiing.. 1. Ascent Peppardtinden Lyngen Peninsula. A perfect day for a glacial traverse to Peppardtinden over the Gamvikbreen and skied the south face to In Gamvik beach. But their favorite part of the day was diving into the hot-tub!! Finally it arrived and after we plumbed it in and filled it with water it's now play time after skiing!
Ok it's not a ski shot today but the hot-tub is up and running!
12 March- Clear +1 degrees, light southerly wind. Avalanche grade 1. Ascent Strupbreen Glacier to Koppangen.
Directly across from the lodge rises the Strupbreen Glacier that tops out at 1300m above sea level.
- The scenery is magnificent with peaks and bowls on all sides. The descent down to small fishing village of Koppangen (about 7 houses) is steep and good route finding skills are needed to weave in and out of
roll overs, steep gullies and the usual cheaky trees in the forest which try to trip up all skiers. Boat
pick up was around 4.30pm and it was an exciting trip back over the fjord in big waves to complete a fun day. Afternoon tea and cakes were served and then everyone piled into the sauna....
11 March: weather clear: temperature +1 at sea level. Avalanche grade 2.
Chris Forrest's group took good advantage of the settled weather and decided on a Kaagen Island traverse from west to east. The fjord was almost flat calm and on the return journey home they saw some whales out towards Arnoya. They found good skiing after the high winds from the past days and now the snow pack is settling once again allowing for the higher mountains to be skied safely.
March 8. 0 degrees sea level -15 deg wind chill at 1000m. Cloudy. Avalanche grade 3.
New Group arrived and Chris Forrest mountain guide from the UK arrived with his group of 6 members.
The weather has changed with a strong wind blowing from the south west creating freshly wind blown snow on the east faces. Chris took his group up the home Reindeer Mountain above the lodge today and found good snow in the forest lines. Tomorrow will be the first day in the boat and Oloya is planned. Photo taken from Mark.
March 16. Day 1. New week and new group from the UK. Fresh snow for 2 days and zero wind has left fresh powder on all slopes providing top quality skiing that looks like will remain all week. Check the four photos from today from Oloya Kjelvagtinden over 1000m of pow... I've added a bonus picture of a member who is clearly the challenge for the week!! :)
Skiing Oloya Island
Summit of Kvelvagtinden
Above the fjords
Name the nut... ok it's Adam!
March 17. Day 2 - Fresh snow overnight and clearing conditions. Temp -2. No wind. Avalanche grade 2.
We decided to skin up from the back door of the lodge up the home mountain and wail freshies down the west face of Reindeer Mountain (Storehaugen). Perfect conditions under foot and really excellent skiing with fantastic views over the fjord and the peninsula below. Four pictures from today's journey.
Contemplation....
Alistair
Adam
Summit Ridge
March 18. Day 3. A little fresh snow and cloud with sun breaking through. Temp -3. No wind and great snow.. Avalanche grade 2. Boat trip to Kaagen Island to ski from west to east with 3 skin ups and 3 great descents in sensational terrain. The longest pitch is 1000m of pow... It's amazing what guests will do to make it onto the daily web update page.....Mark has set the standard with an ice cold apre ski swim from the beach at the pick up point to the boat! What a fruit cake!
Mark survived
Swimming for life
Summit shot
Couloir drop in
March 19. Day 4 - Heavy snow over night (15cm) and no wind. Temp -3 creating dream powder skiing. The whole Lyngen Peninsula is covered in powder so we chose Sorbmegaiser behind the house as both the forest and top slopes offered appropriate angled slopes for today's conditions. We reached the summit in heavy snowfall and after a quick lunch we descended in mega face shot powder into the forest below where the lads were keen for some serious jumping action! ....check below for some big air time!! ps this is the advanced group - so don't be nervous if you're arriving next week!
Alistair will do anything to get back first for afternoon tea at the lodge......
Cheggers popping in
Lizzy sneeked out of the office and ambushed the group
Skinning up towards Sorbmegaiser
March 20. Day 5 - Blue bird day and after yesterday's snow we're looking at 15 - 20cms of fresh. Temperatures are cold due to the northerly weather system and it was around -5 this morning. We headed over to the main Lyngen Peninsula 15 mins by boat to ski Fastdaltinden 1275m. From the summit you can view the entire Lyngen Fjord and the descent down the glacier from the summit is amazingly long and the lower section is both technical and steep. We arrived back at the beach after a little bush whacking but no tour is complete without that!
Beach pick up on the bow
Fastdaltinden summit
Tom Skinning up to Fastdaltinden 1275m - The red square marks the location of the lodge with Reindeer Mountain above.
March 21. Day 6 and last day for my lively bunch. Today I try top break them but they're a tough lot!
We headed off in the Spirit and headed north towards Kaagen Island. The weather is still a northerly system which brings heavy snow squalls in from the ocean and creates a mish mash of weather, so we aborted mission and headed for an Oloya traverse to Blaatinden instead. It was a great alternative as there was not a track in sight and the powder was super light right down to the beach. Back at base Elisabeth had some hot wine for us outside then everyone dived into the hot-tub!
Skinning up to Blaatinden in fresh powder an approching snow squall off the ocean is chasing us
Heidi on the descent in a snow squall with the sun's reflection in the fjord below
As I said yesterday - Alistair will do anything to get afternoon tea first! With or without skis attached
Tom only happy when hucking some air time at any opportunity!
Our mad Mark - professional cold water swimmer +2.5 degrees today and he swam out to the Spirit from the beach with the dingy as back up boat - it's not recommended but he swims in the English Channel almost every day!
Mark is still alive that's him drinking hot red wine looking at the camera after his swim! It's all bonkers
March 23. New week welcomes new group Jim, Catherine, Caroline, Tom, Mike, Matthew, Julian and Peter.
A cold start to the week coupled with very strong winds on the mountain made for a challenging first day on the skis. We headed up to Storehaugen behind the lodge and found great skiing in the tree line but above it is best not talked about! As the snow has been blown by the wind to a sort of crusty layer. We'll try and seek out some sheltered areas tomorrow.
Jim boarding through the wide open forest below Storehaugen
Mike from the US surrendering to the wind
Skinning up towards the summit - strong winds made it a good challenge for the first day - but if it was easy then everyone would be doing it!!
March 24. Day 2. Sunshine, wind has dropped thankfully to 2 m/s but still relatively cold at -8 degrees. The mission today was to find some snow that has escaped the brutal wind from yesterday. It was a boat day the first for the group this week and we decided to go to Havnnes to climb Kvelvagtinden and ski a sheltered aspect that I hoped would hold some good snow. We reached the summit at 1pm and the weather closed reducing visibility a little. The ski down was good with plenty of good turns mid mountain and we ended up with some serious bush whacking before the forest spat us out on the beach where the boat Spirit of Lyngen and Petter were waiting.
Cath at the helm and trying to send a call to confirm that the hot-tub will be ready!
Matthew cranking some turns mid mountain just before the bush whack.
Skinning up to Kjvelvagtinden and the snow looks good without any wind today.
Fish heads - We visited the Toerrfisk fabric (drying fish which you hang up for 3 months outside) tastes great with beer. The heads are best kept for making for soup.
March 25. Heavy snow over night and during the whole day delivering at least half a meter above 600m. Visibility was low and due to the heavy snow the avalanche risk was increasing so we opted for Sorbmegaiser behind the lodge which offers great forest skiing and moderate angled slopes within safety of the avalanche grade for today. The powder was incredibly light and with very little wind results in dream skiing conditions. We had a blast through the forests with one or two splendid wipeouts!
Tom picking up speed through the open birch trees
Caroline showing off with a perfect somersault...oppps!
And still smiling
Lunch rock cafe - is the perfect stop en route
Light powder covered the entire forest and all were looking forward to the journey back down between the trees.
March 26. Super sunshine and not a cloud to be seen. Temp -5 and avalanche grade 3. Funnily enough the group appeared early for breakfast and all loaded up with the porridge - somehow they knew it was going to be big day! We headed out the back of the lodge in fresh powder and skinned through the forest to Storehaugen summit, we skinned twice and skied two mega lines. The views today were quite incredible over the entire Lyngen Peninsula and the snow was top quality powder from Summit To Sea! Yeehaa..
Fresh pow right from the back door
Up through the forest with views over the Lyngen Fjord below
The summit ridge is quite a view both downwards and out to sea
Mad Mike from the US giving the thumbs up
Mad Mike tele madness - he doesn't stop talking even when he skis!!!
Tom cranking the powder down the left gully
March 27. Weather system moved in from the North West bringing snow showers and sunshine varying from minute to minute. Actually it's great weather as it creates an amazing atmosphere with vibrant contrasts between bright snow and dark grey clouds swirling around the fjord with beams of sunlight reflecting off the water - good for photos! Our mission for the day was to traverse the Oloya Island east to west and ski from the summit Blaatinden. The clouds pulled right in on the summit, just as we planned our ski!! Aghh - but it was great powder snow right down to sea, views improved half way and managed to shoot a few pics of the guys....
Spirit of Lyngen at anchor just off the beach of Oloya
Caroline arriving at the summit in windy conditions
Julian at about half way mark just through the clouds
Caroline enjoying smooth turns - no somersaults today!
March 28. Film day... Discovery Channel are filming a documentary on the Tromso area and featuring the lodge for the skiing section. So we headed north and shot some footage between the snow squalls that blew in over the ocean from the NW. I couldn't carry my camera today as I had to assist with helmet film cameras and tripods, so no real action shots today. Anyway it was the last day with my group and just like to say a SUPER SIZE thanks to the group for a week full of laughs and the BROCHURE states you're all welcome to come and we are thankful for you all to leave....! That's for Mad Mike from the New Mexicooow...
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