Norway: Part 1 - The Scouting Mission.

Dave Searle

Nov 1

4 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

As always, lower down in this post is links to the gear I use (plus discounts!), maps and more!

Heading to Norway this past April we were optimistic about finding and skiing some classic lines. There was a small dump of snow in the forecast and we were hopeful for stable conditions and good weather.

After a night in Tromsø we headed to the Lyngen Peninsula to check out the first line that I suspected would be on the list; The Godmother Couloir. It looked a bit scratchy and without snow all the way to beach my enthusiasm to hire a boat or take on the 3 hour beach walk of doom waned. Best save that one for another trip I thought... but at least we had eyes on one of the lines that would no doubt go into the book.

We decided to meet up with local ski guide Finn Kristoffer Hovem to get some beta on the current conditions and figure out what to do with the coming few days of good weather. We met Finn in his garage / training room / apartment that is a few meters away from a perfectly good house that he owns and for some reason still unknown to me he prefers not to live in over his more humble and cosy abode. We got one of the best beta sprays off all time which involved whisky, guide books and story's from past adventures in Arctic Norway. We came away with a reasonably good plan for the coming days and a much better understanding of the area and conditions.

After a cosy night in our accommodation at X Lyngen we woke the next day to great weather and headed back down the peninsula to Store Lenangstinden to check out a line that I'd already heard of and wanted to ski; The Hastings Couloir. Here I should mention this was my second time in Norway and on a previous 5 day trip I only managed to ski for 1 day, although that was due to a stomach bug, not the weather which is normally the culprit for a lack of productivity in these parts.

Hastings is a very attractive couloir (on a very cool peak) that starts a little ways down from the ridge to the summit and Finn was happy to put a seal of approvement that it was a classic. On the way to the base of it we got a good feel for the snow quality. I would describe it as bulletproof.

ATK Timepacer Bindings with ski crampons being put to the test!

My dreams of cold snow in the couloir seemed dashed and it soon became more apparent that the couloir had a bad runnel in it as well as some refrozen avi-debris out the bottom. Darn, things weren't going well but we had be told about another Face on Store Jægervasstinden that looked like it might be holding snow so we headed up towards the base of it to check it out. Without being 100% certain it seemed that the face was rock hard snow with 4-5 cm of snow covering it up. Not really the kind of conditions I wanted to ski a no fall zone steep face in..

It was at this point I was feeling a little dejected. Conditions are everything when it come so skiing these lines and it wasn't lining up quite as I had imagined it. But at least we had a good idea of what was going on.

The next day we headed to Tverrbakktinden which has a beautiful south face with several nice wide couloirs. Although I'm not certain this will make it on the list of the 50 greatest Ski mountaineering descents in Europe it is a very beautiful summit and a worthwhile objective and if you are in the area and looking for a south facing decent.

No much more to say on this trip other than the famous words of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator "I'll be back".

Your vote matters in helping me decide the final list of Europes top 50 Ski descents. Please vote!

Do you think the Hastings Couloir is a Classic?