Lofoten Loving – Norway (July 2010) | The Adventures of a Splitboarder

No snow……no splitboard…….but mountains!

Lofoten is at a latitude of 68 degrees. Basically way up there past the Arctic Circle (66 degrees 33′) which means it’s dark all winter and light all summer (give or take a few lumens ;)). And despite it’s latitude actually relatively mild due to the coastal currents (most notably the Gulf Stream) which means there’s no snow in the summer. Booo! But gorgeous all the same. I went up there with my girlfriend, Angelita, for our annual pilgrimage back to her home village of Napp for a few days.

Views from Angelita's childhood home in Napp

I’m yet to ski there but that didn’t mean I couldn’t scope out a few lines for some future projects! Hopefully, we’ll get back there next March/April when the days are long enough for some skiing.

Midnight Sun

The mountains are by no means the biggest in the world. Things of interest seem to start around 500m, with the tallest mountain reaching 1,161m (Higravstinden). But you ski down to sea level most of the time, so the vertical gain is respectable by most people’s standards. And they come in all shapes and sizes, nice wedge mountains, steep couloirs and lots of gentle terrain too. Now, I haven’t skied here yet, so I’m not sure what the conditions are like but there is lots of lovely, greasy, grass (prime base for avalanches) and the weather can be very unstable, with fairly big temperature swings, so you have to choose your time wisely and then still rely on luck. But there are some really cool lines to ski. I didn’t manage to get a picture of Stor Nappstind but there is a beautiful line on the East face of this for those that venture that way. I did get some other project lines though….

Couloir Central!! Go to Eggum. I'll see you there!

The two summits in this picture are Mustaren (405m) and Middagsheia (570m). Endless ribs and couloirs. I won’t know for sure how many go until they are filled with snow but it looked very promising. Really easy access too. The car park is about 1km away and then an easy skin round and along the lake (there is a lake at the foot of these. Beware.)

Jellvollstinden (746m) or the Organ as I called it. Stacks upon stacks of rock.

The ridge tops out at this peak (Jellvollstinden). The picture doesn’t really do the lines justice. A real beauty. It reminded me of an organ, with small peaks stacked on top of each other, reaching upwards.

So no skiing but lots of walking and I managed to get a few nice shots to share…….