Training Log Archive: SarahD

H-F Day 5 Dyranut - Kjeldebu
Short hop over to an unserviced hut. Sunny when we got up and forecast for sun all day, so more than a tad disappointing to set off into thick clag. Snow was tricky and combined with the poor light it made for some interesting descending, but managed to survive with just the one splatter.

Wee bit of afternoon peak bagging (Smyttenutane) with EG above the hut. Nice skin up then a slightly iffy descent but only fell over once and proud of myself for having a crack at it.

H-F Day 4 Sandhaug- Dyranut
Slightly overcast start to the day but it soon brightened into a cracker of a day and we were stripped off down to single layers. Following the main “road” out to Dyranut with regular skidoos racing past (turns out it’s peak season for transporting equipment into the huts before the snow melts). Snow was in perfect condition and gradients very easy, so enjoyed feeling like we were skiing properly rather than just walking on skis. Group split up a lot so we had some long breaks waiting to regroup. That was fine as it was such pleasant conditions and a joy just to be out. Out for 5.5h. Kids are still awesome. All of them.

H-F Day 3 Litlos - Sandhaug
Bright again first thing and a lovely start to the day with fair bit of climb but good snow conditions. Then the cloud came in a bit, headwind got up and visibility dropped. Nothing too tricky but it turned it into a bit of a slog and the snow got quite sticky too. Got sight of the hut from ~4km away but it took forever to get there across the lake.
Well pooped by this stage. Enough so that we succumbed to a very expensive beer. 3 teams of huskies came in for the night- fab sight but their howling after we went to bed was part of the experience we could have done without:-) Out for 6h 20m

H-F Day 2 Hellevassbu - Litlos
Woke to a much brighter day. Skins on again for the first climb but made good progress and everything so much easier with clear visibility. Spirits well up with great views and nice snow. Various undulations before a long steep descent where I lost my record for staying upright, but it was great fun all the same. From the bottom, there was 5km along a couple of lakes to the hut with some nice skiing. Once I’d got the wax sorted on my skis I couldn’t resist a bit of a tempo effort and the group split up as we all made our own pace to finish the day. Superb spot looking out across the mountains as far from anything as you could imagine. Out for just over 5h

H-F Day 1 Haukeliseter- Hellevassbu
Snowing lightly and v low vis as we set off up the steep climb out of Haukeliseter. On the plus side it wasn’t cold and the wind was light. Skins were pretty essential for the first climb, but we soon reached the first col and some easier gradients. Following the kviste, but checking the map, compass and gps as we couldn’t see any distance ahead. All good until we reached a point where the kviste marking seemed to just stop in the direction we thought we should be going. Followed the still marked trail a bit further up the valley before confirming to ourselves that we needed to climb out of the other side. We could see crags and cornices, so picking a line was not trivial. Fortunately it worked ok and we were happy we were back pretty much on line. Another long climb up a re-entrant to a col before we took another bearing to head diagonally down the other side. Sometime around here J took a tumble and snapped a pole - onto the spare set rather sooner than we would have hoped. After a long steady descent we found ourselves back at the start of kviste marking again ( subsequently discovered there were landowner issues in the middle section). From there it was all straight forward to the hut, but a very long way . 8.5 hours start to finish for 25km!
Massively underestimated how tough this was going to be and a wakener for what might be in store . Kids were amazing though. Arctic fox outside the hut in the evening was well cool.

Travelling most of the day up to Haukeliseter. Then a short foray to find our skis and reccie the start of the route. So far so good.

Travelling