Uløyatraversen med FSG (11.05.2013)
Written by hmsv1 (Hannah Vickers)
| Start point | Uløybukta |
|---|---|
| Endpoint | Hamnes |
| Characteristic | Randonnée/Telemark |
| Duration | 7h 30min |
| Distance | 18.0km |
| Map |
|
| Ascents | Blåtinden (1,142m) | 11.05.2013 |
|---|---|---|
| Kjelvågtinden (1,104m) | 11.05.2013 | |
| Uløytinden (1,116m) | 11.05.2013 |
Finally, a trip I had waited for with both excitement and anticipation over the course of several weeks was about to start. It isn’t often (or in fact has never happened until now) that I’ve had the opportunity to ski from one end of an island to the other over three different mountaintops, so this trip would be the first. I expected a spennende opplevelse and nothing less! After a peaceful night staying at the idyllic coastal spot of Spåkenes after our trip up Storhaugen, we woke up relatively early to catch the ferry from Rotsund to Uløybukta which departed at 08.45. It was only a short drive from Spåkenes to Rotsund and we left the cars at the quay when we got on board.
A scenic ferry ride brought us across Rotsundet, and it was a relaxing way to start what was going to be a fairly long trip across Uløya. Apart from two other passengers, our gang of 10 (Geir, Håvard, Trine, Åsa, Agnes, Kristine, Robert, Aslak, Helge and me) were the only others on board. Most of the people in the group I already recognized but there were a few new faces too. Robert came equipped with the skinniest pair of fjellski I have ever seen – lightweight for the ascent, but for nedkjøring? Really? After noticing his skis I had nothing but admiration. Anyone brave enough to ski downhill on those must definitely possess skills…… The rest of us were either on randonee or telemark skis, so there was a fair amount of variety amongst us.
From Uløybukta we walked up the road about one or two hundred metres before bearing left towards the Bakkelva valley and doing a quick test of the avalanche transceivers. It was gently-angled terrain amongst sparsely-distributed trees (would have been my ideal forest to descend) for the first few kilometres and we went at a very chilled-out tempo, which was kind of nice because it made it easier to walk and talk at the same time. There were good views towards the islands of Kågen and Arnøya as we started to gain a little height. Yet more islands which need to be visited :-)
After maybe two hours we found ourselves a sheltered spot for lunch close to Svarttinden. It was a little unfortunate that the beautiful warm sun we’d been soaking up earlier had disappeared - albeit temporarily - but it was still quite a comfortable temperature to sit and eat with a jacket on without freezing. After refueling with various sources of energy, we continued up towards Blåtinden, with one short section where it became steep enough that it was just plain easier to walk up with skis on our backs. From the top of that steeper section we had easier-angled slopes to continue on for a while before contouring around the northern side of a minor top en-route to Blåtinden.
The final slightly part up to the summit went by pretty quickly compared with the initial few hours when we had been just approaching the mountain. And only then, about 5 hours after we began the trip were we on our first top of the traverse! I think it would be fair to say that most of us were relieved to have finally got there and were looking forward to another break at the top. By the time I arrived, most of the guys had already been waiting a little while and were looking pretty cooled down.
We took a fairly well-deserved break while we were on the top, ate more or less the rest of our lunch and took off skins for the nedkjøring towards Uløytinden. Time was a sort of an issue now since we needed to get back down to Hamnes for the ferry at 5.25 and we had only about 2.5 hours left to ski two more tops and descend. It was admittedly a little bit of a chore to ski down to the saddle between Blåtinden and Uløytinden for about 10 minutes before having to stop again, take off the skis, put on skins and loosen up the boot straps. On the other hand it was quicker and more fun than skiing down with skins on.
Panoramas
From the low point between Blåtinden and Uløytinden there was only an easy-going slope to get up to our next top and it took a surprisingly short time. Whilst skiing up the sun also decided to make a return from and soon we had fantastic blue skies to look up at. The views were suddenly all that bit better with proper sunshine reflecting off the fjords and snow-covered tops. Perfect. We had the company of two other guys who were enjoying themselves with the great views and cooking hotdogs on the top of Uløytinden. While none of us had come so well prepared with such luxurious turmat, Trine was lucky enough to bag herself a hotdog courtesy of them.
It wasn’t such a long stop at Uløytinden and we left swiftly for the final top of the traverse: Kjelvågtinden. This was also pretty easy because it was more or less the same height as Uløytinden with only negligible descent/re-ascent and we didn’t need to faff around with taking off skins until we reached this final top. I think possibly we got the best views of the traverse from Kjelvågtinden, especially since we could peer straight down towards Rotsundet below as well as looking northwards along the ridge towards the two earlier tops we’d visited. And of course there was still the familiar sight across Lyngenfjorden towards the whole Lyngen Alps. Impressive? Oh yes.
And if the reward of fantastic views in every direction was not enough, the nedkjøring from the top of Kjelvågtinden all the way down to the forest was like the best dream ever. Unimaginably smooth and silky snow; easy to glide down and easy to swing. An amazing ride with nothing but Lyngen Alps and fjord to gaze down at. Indescribably good! While most of the group made easy work of the skogskjøring, I struggled (as usual) not to be freaked out by the sight of trees everywhere. Even though we were fortunate enough to find a trail to follow, it was still the longest part of the descent for me. Geir was extremely patient and waited (probably far too many times) even though I think he was quietly concerned about not catching the ferry on time……..
It was a huge relief to finally finish the forest skiing and emerge at the bottom in the quite village of Hamnes. From there it was a relaxed little wander down the ‘high street’ of Hamnes for 1km to the ferry quay. Could we have made more perfect timing? I think not. With only about 2 minutes waiting time, we made it in the nick of time for the short journey across to Rotsund.
Our incredibly satisfying traverse of Uløya was finished off with a combined effort of making a fellesmiddag of tasty kyllingsgryte when we got back to Spåkenes, and we enjoyed the results of our efforts by sitting outside one of the cabins and watching the sun dip behind the mountains. With memories of days like this, I can only love fjellsportgruppa samlings!
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