Stampen (22.03.2013)
| Characteristic | Backcountry skiing |
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| Ascents | Stampen (574m) | 22.03.2013 |
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My first trip of Camp Lofoten with Aline and Siv. We'd expected to be taking a trip to Sautinden, but as things happened we ended up on Stampen instead. The meet-up with the ret of our group and the guides was at 9.00 by the Henningsvær Bryggehotell and the drive to the starting point for the ascent was a scenic 40-minute drive down the E10. And we couldn't have asked for a better welcome with the blue skies and sunshine we got, even if the forecast did hint that it wouldn't be staying like this for very long! The group was around 9 or 10 including our guide Sverre, and we used the first hour or so using the avalanche transceivers in search mode. For us and perhaps one or two others in the group, the practice wasn't new but served as good revision on what we had already learnt on the skredkurs we took in January. There were others in the group who hadn't taken any sort of skredkurs though, so I can imagine it was a useful training session for them.
After that we finally made some progress in ascending the mountain, practicing some kick turns (I actually think the norwegian style works easier for me at the moment) on some steeper sides and also taking a look at the snow profile and its stability. We took what seemed like a super early lunch break with superb views across Austnesfjorden towards Rulten, Higravtinden and Geitgallien. All peaks which I made a note to add to my ønskeliste :-) After the break we continued further towards the northeastern ridge over a combination of fokksnø and patches of ice higher up. No powder for us today though.
Unfortunately a band of fog had advanced towards us fairly quickly so by the time we reached the crest of the ridge there was virtually no view. Visibility wasn't terrible, but it could have been better. Since the final part of the ridge to the summit would have required use of ice axes and crampons, we didn't get the opportunity to continue to the summit on this occasion and instead prepared for the nedkjøring.
The first part of the ski back down the mountain wasn't a huge amount of fun, mainly sliding sideways down patches of ice until we were back on fokksnø again. And actually, the fokksnø was not particularly easy or enjoyable to ski on either, easily reminding me of my somewhat disastrous descent down Trollvassnova from the previous weekend! After scraping against the top of one or two hidden rocks with my skis, I felt a little nervous for the rest of the way down (which didn't help my forest-skiing style much).
Fortunately I made it back down to the road, albeit with less confidence but without any injuries. All in all, we'd had good views and weather to start off with, but the trip had not been one of the most memorable. Much shorter than I'd expected and I have to admit to feeling disappointed over not having gone to the top of anything, and the nedkjøring had not been all that enjoyable either so in a way the day had seemed more of a short tur rather than a topptur. Well, at least we still had another two days in Lofoten to improve on today's experience.
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