Steinskartinden (02.05.2013)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Kattfjordeidet |
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| Characteristic | Randonnée/Telemark |
| Map |
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| Ascents | Steinskartinden (817m) | 02.05.2013 |
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Had a short trip after work with Aline and Christian again, this time to Steinskartinden in Kattfjord. We were fortunate again with gorgeous spring-like weather as we drove out of Tromsø at 4pm and were optimistic about getting some good snow since the usual route ascended from the north side of the mountain and would – we hoped, be less påvirket by the sun.
After conveniently spotting some obvious sets of ski tracks leading up the mountain from the road, we parked more or less closeby. For the first few hundred metres the snow was firm but not too hard. Unfortunately the condition deteriorated quickly as we gained height and when we were just above the treeline there was not much else apart from icy snow surface. The gradient was not the gentlest either, so it was a struggle to actually skin up with sliding back down again.
In the end I decided to give up keeping my skis on and walked some way up until the gradient eased off a little, though the hard wind-blown snow continued. Aline and Christian fought a bit of a tough battle by keeping their skis on but at managed at a slower pace. During one little pause to take pictures, we noticed another pair of skiers going at full speed past us, having not seen them at all while going up. How on earth were they managing to skin up ice with so little effort? But then it was obvious that they were using skarejern when they strode past us. Clearly these devices are the way forward next time!
Panoramas from the top
Even though the ice was not much fun, the views were pretty good and as we approached the top they just got better, as always! Lots of interesting clouds and quite special evening light shining through. I think we all forgot about how terrible the snow was and got distracted by the light over Kattfjord instead while skinning up the last few hundred metres to the top. Once we finally got there though, we got a real eyeful of views in all directions. Not the worst reward for persevering with difficult snow! We spent around 15 or 20 minutes doing the usual round of summit-stuff – taking photos, eating, drinking, taking off skins…… the sun did some disappearing acts behind the clouds a couple of times, and after a while it got a bit chilly while we were waiting patiently for it to come back out again. By that point we decided to ski back down again.
The upper 200m of height from the top of the mountain was not actually so awful. There was enough fokksnø here and there that the snow was not as icy as lower down, so that first part of the nedkjøring all went swimmingly well for me. Maybe a bit boring for pro-skiers Aline and Christian, but if it was boring they didn’t say so! The rest of the descent was not so fun; steeper (up to 35 degrees at the steepest part), icier and quite frankly, scarier. I don’t have a fear of heights usually, but with a pair of skis and hard snow underneath my feet, that all changed. Unsurprisngly the descent took us far longer than it would have done If Aline and Christian didn’t have to wait for me. Just like on the final part of our trip to Tafeltinden, I gave up on the skis and walked the parts where I didn’t feel comfortable. I guess there is no rule about having to keep skis on for the entire time if you don’t want to!
We were back down at the car by 7pm, satisfied with the views, less satisfied with the ice but overall very pleased with the trip.
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