Home > Non-rowing > Holidays > 2002 Synfjell
Day 0 - Easter Sunday
Flew out from Heathrow to Oslo airport, then onto a coach for an hour and a half's journey to Bjorn's motel just outside Lillehammer, where we were transferred to a minibus for the 45 minute trip up the hill to the Spåtind Hoyfjellshotel. The transmission on the minibus sounded distinctly unhealthy, and there were moments when we thought we might have to get out and push. Fortunately it didn't come to that and we arrived safely, just in time for an excellent buffet dinner.
Day 1 - Monday
A nice gentle day (well, that's what the brochure suggested...) to start with. Unfortunately it was late in the season and the weather had been fairly warm recently, so the snow was pretty dodgy and we were forced to use klister (aaargh) for the whole week. We were using a local map and mainly following the way marked loipe. We started on the Yellow trail up towards Skjervungfjell, turning onto the Brown loipe around the summit. We were so close to the summit is seemed a shame not to "bag" it (1098m on one map, 1088m on another - you take your pick!) so we did. We came back around the Brown loipe and joined the Blue one around a frozen lake, Store Skjervungen. The Blue loipe meets the Red loipe a couple of km from the road, and as we'd be revisiting this marker several times, Dave decided to mark it in his GPS. He chose a deer symbol to mark it with, and henceforth this junction would be known, to us anyway, as "The Reindeer". Map (50 kb)
Day 2 - Tuesday
Followed the Red and Green loipe round to some farm buildings at Rokkvomseter for a nice lunch break, and then back round the Red to "The Reindeer". Map (140 kb)
Day 3 - Wednesday
Started off down the same track as yesterday, but continued on the Red directly towards Rokkvomseter. Then it was decided that a summit attempt on Snuen would be worth trying. The snow on the lower slopes was very soft, and climbing up we spent a lot of time up to our knees in snow. Dave, who was trail-breaking for us, decided to use his climbing skins, but we persevered without (partly because Judy had left hers behind - oops, but my klister was working pretty well anyway). We made it to the snow-free summit (1179 m) so we had to abandon our skis a few metres from the summit and walk to the summit cairn. Unfortunately someone had taken the summit book away, so we couldn't record our achievement, but Dave did take some photos. We came back the way we'd gone up, but the descent through the rotten snow was tricky, and we all spent more time than we should have face down in the snow. Map (140 kb)
Day 4 - Thursday
Today we decided to ski out towards Norway's smallest national park, the Ormtjern National Park, and with any luck try another peak. We skied out along the northern side of the Red loipe, past "The Reindeer" and on towards Ormtjernseter. We had to cross a small lake to get to the farm buildings, which we did with some trepidation as it was all starting to get a bit too warm! We all survived the crossing, and discovered a handy little slate picnic table near the farm buildings. This made an excellent lunch stop, and right on cue, the sun came out for us. An idyllic spot. After lunch we decided to make a bid for the summit of Ormtjernskampen (1128 m). This involved a climb up a small valley which was fairly heavily wooded. Unfortunately with the snow conditions being so poor, it took us over 40 minutes to gain only a few metres altitude. The snow was thigh deep in places, and it was easy to break through into the stream running down the valley. We decided that this wasn't going to work, so we turned round and headed back. On paper, this was a straightforward route back, along a track leading to a main summer road. But once again, the snow conditions made this extremely hard work. It was barely possible to take even one step forward without sinking at least ankle and often knee deep into the rotten snow. But we made it. Map (110 kb)
Day 5 - Friday
Friday dawned very foggy. We were rapidly running out of marked routes to follow, and skiing off track wasn't a realistic option in these snow conditions. The one loipe we hadn't yet completed was the Green one, a low level tour around Skjervungsfjell. We set off into the murk and reached the top of the ski lift (whatever do you need those for ;-) ). Just as we set off on the Green track, Katrina broke one of her cable bindings. Dave attempted a repair, but that broke as she and Bruce were heading back to the hotel. Although we weren't far from civilisation, given the dodgy weather we decided that making a tactical withdrawal from the slopes was the sensible option.Map (20 kb)
Day 6 - Saturday
A weird day. Dave turned up at breakfast looking pale and complaining that he was feeling dizzy and sick, and definitely not up for skiing today. It would have been foolish to take a chance, so while he headed for his bed, the remaining six of us went off to do our own things. As we were both pretty worn out by this stage, and had never skied completely on our own, we decided to do a nice and straightforward route around the (short) Yellow track. This was about 3 km long, but it gave us the opportunity to practice the basics. We bumped into a party of Norwegians who remarked that we looked like we were "properly prepared" for the conditions. Given that we were only 1 km or so fro the main road, perhaps our fully packed 40 litre rucksacks, complete with bivvy bag, shovel, satellite transponder beacon, liferaft, emergency supplies and, of course, Swiss Army knife, might have been a little over the top. We got chatting to them, and one of them offered to take a bit of video of us, skiing into the wild white yonder. Fortunately, we both managed to stay upright, so there's no scope for winning £250 from "You've Been Framed". Pity. Map (20 kb)
Day 7 - Sunday
Having had dreadful snow all week, it was just typical that we should wake up to find that it had dumped a few inches of nice fresh powder overnight. Just as we had packed up all our gear and were getting ready to come home. Grrrrr. Still, we went for a walk in the snow to take some photos.
1:50,000 - Statens Kartverk (Norwegian Mapping Authority) Sheet 1717 II (Synnfjell) - available in the UK from all good map shops (e.g. The Map Shop in Upton upon Severn)
1:20,000 (showing local marked loipe) Spåtind Turistkart - only available locally from the Spåtind Hoyfjellshotel. Watch out for the Troll.