In early May, Christophe (on the left) invited me out for an 'extreme tour' on Snøfjellet ('the snow mountain', 1579 m). This is one of the smaller peaks around Innerdalen but accessible as a day trip from Trondheim and with a moderately steep line of descent on the west side, the ramp running between the rocks right over Sindre's (middle) head. This photo was taken in the afternoon, on the way back down to the valley. In the morning the face was in shadow and looked a lot steeper. The big guy on the right is Ivar.
There was no snow left in the bottom of Innerdalen where we parked the car, so we started out walking up through steep birch forest, but it wasn't long before we graduated to skis and then broke treeline (photo by Ivar; that's me on the left). Some of you may have heard me grousing about heavy telemark equipment over the years. Since moving to Norway I have found that snow conditions are variable and tough enough that I want that little something extra, especially if am going to ski anything steep, and unfortunately 75 mm plastic boots and cable bindings are the only thing available at this level. I'm not prepared to eat crow on this issue, however. Because of the weight and stiffness of the boots and cable bindings, I'm finding that it's a lot more work getting up the hill - with every step up you are working both to flex the boot and compress the springs in the cable. That's just dumb. I suspect that the randonee or AT equipment that Christophe uses is more efficient for this kind of straight up and straight down skiing. For mixed touring, I'll stick to my high-end 'system' boots and bindings (even if I keep breaking them!).
The upper part of the slope was too steep for skins, and the snow was still quite firm, so we traded skis for crampons and ice axes.
We stopped for lunch at the top of the steeps, then put our skis back on to finish the climb on the summit slopes. (Photos above by Ivar)
After a little time to take in the scenery, it was at last time to head down.
The summit slopes were still cold, with a dusting of powder. The top of the steep part was still hard, but just a little lower down the sun had softened up a creamy surface.
Sindre (top, right photo by Christophe) and Christophe doing what they do best...