Lofoten Islands via Svolvaer and Henningsvaer
We flew to Oslo and spent the night in a walking distance hotel close to the airport. The next morning we flew through Bodo to Svolvaer. Views out the airplane window were of pure white mountains rising through the clouds and ocean. We met Ian at this connection in Bodo. We landed at the tiny airport in Svolvaer, went out to lunch in the small city, then drove the road north a bit and did a short tour in the afternoon up toward Store Kvittind. This was a short tour where we exploded our luggage on the side of the road. We had cool views across the valley of the famous Geitgallien massif. This is one of the biggest peaks in the zone.
In the afternoon we drove south past Svolvaer to the small fishing village of Henningvaer. We stayed in modernized cod fisherman cabins. Views in all directions were stretches of the sea and mountain fjords. There were a handful of small restaurants to choose from. We bought breakfast to cook in the cabins and ate out in the local restaurants for dinner.
Day 1 – All the local / seasonal guides had been talking about how insanely good the season had been with constant refreshes and good stability. We rolled into a little more challenging conditions for our trip. The first day was grey with cranking wind and not much new snow. We chose a tour that worked well to ease into the terrain and the zone. We drove from Henningsvaer to a trailhead on the west side of Varden Peak. The peak is commonly skied from the east from Svolvaer. We toured over a saddle on the south side of Varden and skied east to a natural bench. We then climbed northwest through a saddle just southwest of Caritinden. The wind was howling through the saddle. We had a long ski down the valley through an open basin / tube feature into a craggy gully. We then reskinned the meadow to the car with views of water and mountains in the distance. I will always remember the drives home to the island chain of Henningsvaer with the golden light, water and mountains in the distance. We went to dinner in a small restaurant that sat along the edge of the harbor of Henningsvaer. Everyone was happy!
Day 2 – The windy squall topped off with several inches of fresh snow overnight and the weather calmed with lingering clouds. Ian cooked up another tour on the fly and we blasted our rented BMWs to the north end of the fjord toward the mountain of Stauren. This was a fine tour as we approached through a north facing forest and into a basin that revealed a protected ramp into a couloir. We skinned the ramp and transitioned to booting on the edge of the couloir. From here, we booted to an upper plateau under the summit of Stauren. The couloir was capped in by smooth granite on either side and smears of ice dripped down the rock. We had nice steep powder skiing down the north facing couloir and ramp with views of water below and fjords to the north. As we returned to Henningsvaer we drove around the north side of the fjord and I noticed the increase in swell along the shore. As we headed south and back east through the middle of the fjord we saw the Geitgallien massif again from a different perspective with the rime encrusted summits towering.
Day 3 – This was a highlight! We intended to ski the classic Geitgallien tour which approaches via the west face and descends over the peak winding down eastern and southern slopes to the waters edge. As we drove up and previewed the ascent basin, there were many groups launching up the classic line. Debbie and Ben were not so excited by this as most of our time over the years has been at secluded Colorado huts south of Aspen. Ian had an excellent back up and instead of climbing Geitgallien we skinned around the inlet and climbed a long sustained north facing basin up to the summit ridge of Langstrandtindan. The climb involved steep skinning to a mid basin crux, where from a distance we noticed protrusions of ice and rock with just one slender passage of snow. We booted this steep, short channel which fortunately had enough snowpack over the ice. The terrain then backed off into a sprawling upper basin that branched into many arteries with granite rimed summits crowning the ridgeline. The sun and blue sky shone over the ridge to the south and back to the north rested white slopes rising out of blue inlets. We followed the long weakness of the basin up and right and gained a weakness in the ridge. This summit was in a way, the high point of the trip. The descent was settled powder back down through our climb with the excitement of the crux ribbon through the ice choke. Everyone managed to ski the short steep ribbon which gave way to open powder in the lower slopes and gullies down to the waters edge. We skinned back across the inlet gazing back at our ski run and analyzing the complicated terrain we had threaded. We drove back to Henningsvaer and Debbie constantly hollered at me as I looked out the window up at different terrain features while behind the wheel.
Day 4 – This was our entry day into the Trollfjord and our 3 night stay at the Troll Hut. Unfortunately, a warm storm hit from the south and we woke up to spitting rain and a little swell peeling into the south facing beaches of Henningsvaer. We rallied the cars to the Svolvaer harbor to meet our captain and load the open air zodiac for the approach to the Trollfjord. We wore dry suits, waterproof gloves, goggles, hats, life jackets and boarded the zodiac with all of our gear tied down. Once we peeled out of the calm of the harbor there was a solid 4 – 6 foot swell running through the exposed water. We crested and dropped wave after wave and took on plenty of cold ocean spray. The zodiac finally pulled into the long protected inlet of the Trollfjord capped on the right by a sweeping granite wall rising directly out of the water that looked impressive for potential climbing routes. We docked and confirmed our pick up and then quickly repacked for the sled haul into the hut. The decision was to bring avalanche airbags along, so with the amount of quality food we brought and sleeping bags etc., we improvised plastic saucer sleds with cord and tied them into our packs. The sleds worked relatively well for the entrance with some rolling here and there. The valley we entered through was capped by increasingly massive slopes on our right hand side off the Vestre Trollfjortinden and at about half way we climbed up and west through a bowl to gain the Issvashaugen spur to get some relief from the overhead hazard on the right hand side. We paid extra attention to this hazard with the spitting rain. The climb up the bowl to gain Issvashaugen felt steep with the sleds in tow and at one point my skins started to fail from the rain and moisture in the snowpack. We finally reached a high point in the spur and skied a small pitch down to the hut. Suffice to say we were happy to move into the hut, dry out and settle down to some warm food. There are actually two huts directly next to each other and a separate sauna. We were officially booked for the old school small hut which is very intimate but comfortable.
We tried our hand moving into the newer spacious hut seeing how we were in such a remote location late in the evening. Unfortunately for us, at dusk, headlamps appeared, voices sounded in the distance and soon enough boots were stomping on the deck. A large group of young Austrian skiers rolled in a little agitated to have to claim the hut from us as they had just toured from the road up over the massive ridge lines extending from Blaskavitinden and had just before reaching the hut, triggered an avalanche on a short but steep roll over off a moraine just nearby. The warming and rain likely had a component in the trigger. But all was well, no one was hurt and we quickly moved down to the original cozy Trollhutt where we remained for 3 nights.
Day 5 – In the morning as we woke and slowly readied for our first proper tour on the Trollfjord, we could see the Austrians in the distance skinning back up through a high slope to access the ridgeline. They would descend to the small Blaskavien pocket glacier and down and out to the roadway near the start of the Geitgallien tour. This would definitely be a fun but engaging way to enter and exit the Trollhutt. The storm had moved out and it had cooled off overnight to mitigate wet avalanche concerns but the extent of a solid freeze was somewhat in question as the warm storm had persisted into the night. We chose a mellow tour on this day to ease into the surrounding terrain of the Trollfjord. We skinned up over a small plateau northeast of the hut then skied a short descent down to Austpollvatnan (Vatnan meaning lake). From there we transitioned back to skins and climbed up a long northeast facing ramp toward Blaskavltinden. Skies were grey and the snow was in a category of corn condition but it was still nice to get out and stretch the legs without overnight packs and to be clear of the rain. As always we soaked in the ever changing views of snow covered mountain terrain in all directions. The feeling here north of the hut was quite remote with no roadways on the periphery of the Trollfjord.
Day 6 – With one more night of freeze and a dusting of new snow we became motivated to eyeball some of the couloirs above Botnavatnet. This lake is directly west of the hut and the steep terrain we surveyed was off the north and east slopes of Issvastinden. Our day started with the most prominent couloir at the head of the valley. We approached with a sizeable skin to the mouth of the couloir and then transitioned to booting with a quick snow profile to double check the upper layers. Everyone topped out and had a great ski back down to the lake. Afterwards Debbie was content to hang at the hut and Ian, Sammy, Ben and I circuited two more laps. We skinned a workable east ridge from the hut that rose toward Issvastinden and then linked into steep mini golf north facing shoots from the ridgeline. This was a fun day with a different dynamic of circuiting laps in steeper terrain while staying close to the hut. The snow was a blend of compressed powder and corn condition and it was generally quite rippable and fun.
Day 7 – This day was a second highlight of the trip. The plan was to exit the hut but also hit one of our biggest tours of the trip on the way out. We packed up all our gear and lashed our saucer sleds onto our packs. From there we skied a south facing descent in firm melt freeze condition down to the massive Trollfjordvatnett. In all honesty with the heavy loads and firm conditions this felt like one of the most “for real” moments of the trip.
After the 1500 foot or so descent we glided across Trollfjordvatnett to the base of our ascent. We quickly stashed our overnight gear and climbed an impressive basin to the Trolltinden ridgeline. The lower segment was melt freeze from the warming but the upper segment was packed powder to a high saddle in the ridgeline. This was our largest tour aside from day 3 and had a similar overall feel minus the mid basin crux. We stashed skis at the high saddle and booted a short segment to a rime encrusted summit. An interesting aspect was that from this vantage we could see across the way back toward the summit of the classic Geitgallien from a different vantage than our memorable day 3 tour. We observed parties in the distance booting to the summit of this classic peak. We also observed skiers dropping into legitimately steep terrain further out the ridge extending from our summit. Their line drained toward the Trollfjord side so they had either toured up and over from Geitgallien or taken an early boat into the Trollfjord and booted the line they skied. There were other groups touring our line who had come in by boat for the day. Either way, it was mind expanding to observe the connection in the terrain and realize different options within this incredible zone. We had a wonderful long descent from Trolltinden down to the massive frozen lake. Debbie in particular was thrilled and skied the frozen lower portion quite well. From here we hitched our saucer sleds and skated for what felt like multiple football fields across the lake. Then we skied our sleds out a low angle drainage to the mid afternoon boat pick up. That night after the zodiac ride out from the Trollfjord, we relocated to small converted cod fishing cabins in the city of Svolvaer and ate dinner in the lobby of a hotel overlooking the harbor.
Day 8 – The weather turned on us a bit on our final day with warmer temps and light spitting rain but the group was quite satisfied with the trip. Debbie and Sammy hung out and did some shopping in the small town of Henningsvaer where we had originally stayed. Ian, Ben and I went driving past our original tour on the west of Varden in search of a potential ski but the feature we observed seemed all on its own against the sea and merely had ribbons of snow pasted on it. As we drove back towards Henningsvaer, we found some boulders sitting in the flat grass along the road. We hung out and bouldered there, along what felt like a massive open expanse of water and sky. The grey squall felt somewhat fitting. We met Debbie and Sammy back at a bar / coffee shop in Henningsvaer for lunch and then afterwards we motivated ourselves for an impromptu ski of a pinner couloir we had been eyeing just above the road in and out of Henningsvaer. It was a straight booter with crampons with a short amount of skinning from the road. Even though it was warm and damp, the couloir was locked up with the maritime snowpack and the many days of melt freeze consolidation. Ben, Ian and I took the couloir to what felt like a logical high point given the conditions. We then chiseled a platform in the steep line, transitioned to skis and descended. That night we all had a final dinner in a large historic fishing lodge that was adjacent to our cabins in Svolvaer. It felt in a way as if we were in the hull of a massive ship with the thick wooden walls and the lamp light.
Join Aspen Expeditions on a private, custom trip in Norway and we can put together the perfect trip for you and your group!
By Britt Ruegger
