For our Easter trip this year we decide to visit western Dovrefjell, sometimes known as Sunndalsfjellet. This trip required a little more commitment than our previous family trips: we planned to use mostly self-service huts, carry most of our own food, and would use unmarked routes to move between huts. It was a heavy snow year in this part of Norway. The outbuilding that is used as a hunderom (dog room) at Vangshaugen, our first hut (above), was very nearly buried, with several steps chopped into the snow to get down to the door.

The next day we skiied 15 k mostly uphill to Raubergshytta (above), at over 1300 meters the highest hut in the region. We arrived in a near white-out, and were glad to have a GPS to help us stay on course. This hut was rebuilt quite recently and now has 16 bunks in four or five sleeping rooms and a very comfortable common room (below). We planned to stay three nights here, do a lot of eating to shed some (backpack) weight, and bag a peak or two in the vicinity, weather permitting. We never had to share the hut with more than four people, and had the whole place to ourselves one night. We spent one bad-weather day mostly lazing around the hut, eating, reading, and playing Scrabble. Dogs aren't allowed in the common room, so Sebastian found a way to stay as close to his people as he could.

   

We also spent a lot of time playing in the snow outside the hut. Sticky spring snow and a gentle slope were ideal for giant snowballs, forts, and snowball fights.

This is one emergency exit that's not much use in the winter.

Raubergshytta is the little speck in the left center of the picture above, with Seterfjellet behind it. It would be easy to get lost up  here. Here we are headed up to the high point of the week...

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