I Got High On Mountains!

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I'm back!

So now that I have time to do a proper-ish update, there shall be details about my hikings in Jotunheimen! I've also included a map that you may or may not be able to follow. =)

Let's see. Monday morning I got up early, bought some food to keep me alive for a week in the wilderness, and took a bus to Jotunheimen. I was initially going to just hang around for a day before starting my hike, but the weather was looking better than forecast so I decided to go for it. After all, I only had a limited supply of food!

The first day was mostly along lower mountains near the edge of the park, as I went from Gjendesheim (one of the popular starting points) to Glitterheim, a hut two valleys over near the base of Glittertind, Norway's second highest mountain. It was decent going, although at one point the trail disappeared into a boulderfield and I had to pick my way through rocks for a while.

Norwegian trails, it seems, are largely dependant on how many people hike them. The way is marked with frequent red 'T' symbols painted on rock cairns, but there's no actual trail built. It's up to people to follow the T's and create a trail themselves. This means that in places people don't go often, there's no trail; and in really popular places there are multiple trails all over the place, but none are really good quality.

The next day was cloudy. I went up and over the top of Glittertind to the lodge at Spiterstulen, on the other side of the mountain. It was a long way up with a heavy pack, and much of it was on snow. The summit view was decent, but nothing spectacular because of the clouds. It was also really cold and windy, so I didn't stay long. The descent was fast and fun though, again on snow most of the way!

That night I camped at Spiterstulen. Despite this being a backcountry-ish area, most of these mountain 'huts'are located near the edge of the park, and are accessible by road. As such, they have electricity and running water, serve dinner and breakfast, operate a small kiosk where you can buy important things like ice cream, and are generally more like a good hotel than like a mountain hut of the type I visualize. Many people do multi-day treks here in the park carrying only spare clothing with them, since they can get everything else at the lodges. Camping, however, is free if you're over 150 metres away from the lodge, so I went with that system. You can still usually sneak in and use the showers and toilets (even if you're supposed to pay for them!).

Wednesday I left my tent and gear at the campground and ascended the peak on the other side of Spiterstulen, the mountain Galdhopiggen. This is Norway's highest summit, beating out Glittertind by 3 metres. There's actually some debate about this, because if you count the small glacier on the summit of Glittertind, it's actually a scrap higher. Therefore, I clearly had to climb them both to be sure I bagged the highest one!

It was sunny in the valley when I started, but by the time I reached the summit it was totally fogged in. So much for a view! I could see nothing other than the small hut on top. Yep, there's a guy up there who serves the most incredibly overpriced coffee, tea, and chocolate bars imagineable. It's also a nice place to eat lunch out of the weather! I didn't stay long, but the fine weather in the valley seemed to have drawn out other hikers too: on my way down I counted over 200 people making their way up! Glad I got there early to beat the rush!

In the afternoon, I decided to hike a couple hours up the valley so I wouldn't have a long day the next day. It was a good choice. When I woke up Thursday morning, the sky was crystal clear blue without a cloud to be seen. Wishing I had started a day later so as to have good views from Galdhopiggen, I carried on to the top of the pass for the day. From there, despite feeling lazy, I decided the weather was too nice, so I scrambled up a nearby mountain. It was a steep walk up snow that seemed to go on forever, until suddenly I was at the pointy top. What a view! The only clouds were far distant, and this peak, despite being 200 metres lower than the high ones around, was isolated enough to give an amazing over much of the park. (I also later discovered that this peak is visible from many other locations, so I have good photos both of it and from it!)

Back on trail after lunch, I headed down an idyllic valley. It had the perfect mix of rock, greenery, snow, streams, lakes, and mountains to make me want to stay for ever! I ended up lying much of the afternoon with my feet dangling in a pool, soaking up the sun. By evening I was at Gjendebu, a lodge at the western end of lake Gjende. This long, skinny lake stretches some 20km east from here to Gjendesheim, where I had started my walk.

Friday was another perfectly blue day, and also incredibly hot. I was faced with a very steep 500m ascent to get around lakeside cliffs in a burning hot sun first thing in the morning. It was a bit of a slog, although a couple pitches with chains up the rock face were fun! The trail then rolled along through a bumpy upland before descending to Memurubu, the hut halfway along the lake. I set up camp early after a shorter day, then went for a swim in the glacially cold lake. Very, very refreshing!

By Saturday my food supply was running low and my body was getting tired of hauling a heavy pack around, so I decided to make it my last day. I was up early and on the trail by 6am to beat the sun, and it worked this time. Another hot sunny day, but I covered much of the days elevation gain before it got too hot. This trail again went up high above lake Gjende, over a few bumps, and then down to a low point. This is one of Norway's most famous hikes, the Besseggen, with 30-40,000 people completing it annually. The low point I was at is on the shore of one lake, Bessvatnet, and only a few hundred metres away from the shore of lake Gjende. However, Gjende is also about 400 metres below Bessvatnet!

Following this is an exciting portion of steep ridge. They say it's difficult terrain and many people don't like it if they suffer from vertigo. I must be used to that sort of thing though, because I was only just getting warmed up when it was already over. I even got a couple funny stares from other people as I walked casually up while they were slowly and carefully picking the easiest path! At the top of this narrow ridge is probably the world's biggest summit cairn. It's a fairly small mountain, but the top is artificially about 4 metres higher due to the rock pile!

I was back down at Gjendesheim by mid afternoon, my walk completed. What a great 6 days! I wish I had gone longer!

Since then, I haven't done quite so much. I got into a place called Dombas Saturday night, where I discovered a music festival going on. No worries, it was just a band playing in the park. Then, just as I was falling asleep around 10:30, the party really got started! Ear plugs and half a kilometre of town didn't help, and I felt like they were right beside me. Needless to say, I didn't get any sleep at all until after 2:00am when they ended.

I couldn't sleep in long on Sunday since my tent got so hot in the sun, so I nosed around the town before moving on to Trondheim, where I am now. This is Norway's third largest city, and has some interesting places to explore. For instance, it's the location of Norway's crown jewels and other coronation regalia. It's also home to the world's northernmost gothic cathedral, and Scandinavia's largest. Unfortunately the cathedral is closed today! July 28th is St. Olav's day, the patron saint of Norway. I believe he's also buried under this same cathedral. There are festivities here for the next 2 weeks, so that's adding a little excitement to the day, but I guess I might have to see the cathedral some other time.

Ok, so that was a long update without photos to make it exciting. I'm still working on getting my photo woes worked out, so bear with me!

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