Ski Touring and Sail in the Romsdal Alps, Norway
Norway is certainly the most famous European destination for lovers of freeride and exploratory ski touring. The wild charm of its mountains, the infinite number of itineraries and the possibility of skiing until late in the season are just some of the aspects that entice you to travel.
For this group, however, the main ingredient of the trip had to be adventure, a 360 ° adventure … So: few people, wild mountains to ski, rediscover the true essence of the Norwegian fjords, with its fishermen and inhabitants, a spartan but cozy accommodation and why not, go whaling … So the right answer for this adventure comes from the Framstig and the Romsdal Alps
The Framstig is a “pirates” style sailing boat built in the early twentieth century for commercial use and “modernized” (in 5 years of work) in 1971 by a group of “dreamers” to make the round the world (which they made in 2 years). A sailing show, deserves the trip almost only for the stories of Captain Sven around the world
the Romsdal Alps instead are the place where Kilian Jornet lives, so to speak, wild and wonderful mountains (the highest in Norway) on the west coast more or less halfway between Norway between Molde and the most famous Alesund (without knowing it you will have seen it in a photo representing Norway, it’s always her)
But let’s go back to our adventure…
After finding myself with the super group made up of Piero, Laura, Giuse, Gigi, Chiara, Bruno, Patrizia and Giorgio having made a stop in Oslo which allowed us to visit the city for a few hours and landed in Molde we finally entered the Framstig and we started the actual journey
The first day was not exactly a crackling start, on the contrary, rain to the top and fog, a wolf weather… The typical Norwegian climate… so you decide to let go of your skis and sail to Misund with destination Rørsethornet, the longest stone staircase in norway, 2200 stone steps, for 600 meters in altitude, built is not well known because from Himalayan Sherpas… mysteries… The various reports speak of it as one of the most spectacular views of Norway but as you can see the photos below… just fog…
A muscle warming that will destroy our calves for the whole holiday
After this excursion we left to land near Innfjorden from where we would have left the following day for the first real trip
After getting completely wet on the 2200 steps of the first day, from the second day of travel the luck has turned on our side … The good weather has arrived, and luck of the fortunes the good weather has arrived stable and will follow us until the end of the adventure
In good weather the trips begin!
We are at the end of April so there is snow at this latitude but we do not start from the sea as further north as for example the Lofoten or Tromso, we use a van supplied with the Framstig which in 20 minutes takes us to Bøstølen, a micro shepherds’ village at 550m above sea level from where we start our excursion
As a first trip we climb the Nonstinden and the nearby Bøstølfjellet, 1000 meters in altitude and a fantastic panorama! We begin to savor the true ski mountaineering of Norway
Throughout the day we will only meet a ski mountaineer who will overtake us at 100 per hour for 2 times (in the time that we have climbed 300m in altitude he made the tour 2 times). Who could it be if not the super Kilian Jornet in one of his daily workouts…
The pro of this period is that at sea altitude you certainly don’t suffer from the cold and this allows you to navigate enjoying the Norwegian fjords impeccably and so after a good sailing we land in Åndalsnes, a beautiful fishing town surrounded by magnificent mountains. Here we will spend 2 nights.
On the third day of travel we spend it with the second trip… Taking our 9-seater minibus we go to another valley above Isfjorden with the aim of climbing the Skarven
This as skiing will be the most beautiful of the trip with 700 meters of constant slope on perfect firn and an unforgettable view of the fjord
Another day and another trip… This time we went a little further inland and the landscape changes, a little more similar to our Alps, with the sea at the bottom, a show!
In this area there are the most demanding, long and steep trips, with couloirs and walls that have nothing to envy to ours in the Dolomites. We choose the “shortest” but symbolic of the area and we climbed the 1000 meters of altitude difference to the top of Blånebba, a beautiful mountain with different descent possibilities (two of these are really steep). There is something for all tastes!
Fifth day and fourth ski tour, today towards Smørbottind
The Smørbottind is a wide and ideal amphitheater for skiing with an approach between a tourist village close to the area’s only lift (it closes in mid-March) and between a dense forest that with very little snow (as we have found) is very “challenging”
The last day of this adventure we spend as real sailors, sailing, fishing and whaling (seen) and with a “pirate” rescue of the drone landed in an emergency on a beach (but that’s another story) that perhaps it is better to tell by voice… I only tell you that we had to pull out the rubber dinghy which we managed to break the engine… hahaha…)
An incredible adventure with a really super group!
The wonderfulness of this place in addition to the panorama (there are no hills, here there are alpine-style mountains that reach 1700m in height, considering that you start from the sea) is precisely the variety of trips that can be done, an infinite possibility on every exposure and on every difficulty. This means that you can ski quietly from February (before there are too few hours of light to enjoy) until late May (using the van of course and not leaving skis on the sea)
For some additional information on this trip and to organize a group click here