Info on Vågakallen South Couloir
Vågakallen is one of Lofoten’s tallest peaks with a summit elevation of 943 meters directly rising from the sea. Located just north of Henningsvær the south couloir stands out among the rocky face. The only way to properly access this line is via kayak leaving from the 816 road and kayaking a little over 3 kilometres. The couloir itself tops out at 200 meters below the summit and offers steep turns all the way to the sea in Mid winter. During the spring this is the last snow to melt off offering spring turns late into June.
Kayaking to the base of Vågakallen
Finally after 3 weeks of sub par weather the forecast called for a day of blue skies. This was our last chance to ski something good as everyone was leaving the following day. Brett mentioned that we should head out to the Vågakallen South Couloir as he had looked at it for years. Being a prominent line outside of Henningsvær we were staying only a few kilometres away.
Setting out in the kayaks we got our first view of the line once we wrapped around the bend. The line looked steep but it was later in spring so we hoped it would be corn snow. It was a striking line that cut through the rock and seemed like a fitting final line of our trip together.
Arriving at the shoreline we pulled the kayaks up onto the boulders before getting moving. By now late April the lower snowpack had already melted out so we put our skis on our packs and immediately started climbing.
Traversing into the South bowl we finally made it to the base of the South Couloir. It was smooth from top to bottom with no avalanche debris and looked even steeper then from a distance.
We immediately put on our crampons and starting climbing. Using an ice axe I pulled myself up to the low col in the still firm snow. Arriving at the top we looked out among the open sea. It was a unique view and we took it in for an hour waiting for the sun to soften the snow.
Riding down in firm conditions
After a while we decided it was time to ski down. It was still pretty firm up high so we decided to ride down with ice axes. One at a time we dropped in with Brett going first. He was able to make solid turns as we listened to the ice under his snowboard edges.
One he was at the base Lorenzo dropped in and made hop turns all the way down. The scenery was stunning with the Henningsvær Islands in the background.
Before long we were all back at the base and looking back up the line. While it was a great line we imagined how good it would have been in powder snow.
It was time to head back to civilisation as we followed the ridge back down to our Kayaks. We were fortunate that the sun had finally came out for one last line.
The end of 3 weeks together in Lofoten
We kayaked over to Henningsvær where we grabbed a traditional Norweigan snack. Drinking coffee and eating Waffles filled with brown cheese we chatted about our 3 weeks in Norway. It had been challenging with the weather being bad for 90% of our trip but we had had some awesome experiences. It seemed that we had come a bit too late in the season and if we returned March would be a better month.
I felt fortunate to have Brett showing us around and the great company of all of them. The next day Lea and Lorenzo were off on there way back to Austria and Hummel was heading back to Washington. A few days later Brett was leaving so I decided that I would head North to the Lyngen Area for my final week in Norway.