By early May the standard forecasts were cloudy during the day with a brief clearing around Midnight. By now the Midnight Sun had arrived and time really wasn’t a determining factor anymore. The previous night I had climbed Sjufjellet with mixed results and wanted another tour close to the huset as I was solo. Thinking up potential ski tours I came up with the plan to climb and lap the Northwest Ridge of Istinden. Following a small forest road I would cut off near the alpine and do a long traverse. Then when riding down later I would always run into the skin track. I would check the snow and make the most out of my skin track and the weather.
Solo Trip on Istinden Northwest Ridge Behind Tamokhuset
I started at 1 a.m. hiking from the Red House at the base of Blåbærfjellet. Making my way through the lower trees it was an eerie Blue Night with the sun barely under the horizion. Since I was solo I listened to music while steadily climbing through the trees and up into alpine. Once there I did a long traverse before skinning up the ridge to the upper headwall. Switching over to crampons I did another long traverse trying to minimize my exposure to wide open terrain. I had planned to ride down in the morning alpenglow and had timed it perfectly riding down with the first lights of the day. Before long I was back at the skintrack heading up for another lap.
The photo below was taken by Aadne early in the morning as I was cramponing up the main face.
With a nice open field below I decided to ride a bit to the skiers right of the first run for the second lap. Knowing that all the snow below me was good but the top was bad I decided to stop on top of the main face before transitioning.
By the time I was climbing for my 3rd lap the mountains in the distance glowed in morning light. The weather window was coming through compared to the previous night but there was still low clouds in the distance.
Attempting to keep my mind busy I started counting every step I had to take marking the snow with my pole every hundred feet.
In total I counted 1347 footsteps once I transitioned to cramponing before reaching the end of the steep and switching back to skinning for the final bit. By now my footsteps were packed in and easy to follow.
For the next run I decided to skin a bit higher and go for the wind sheltered Northeast bowl. Transitioning on top I waited for the sun to come out before making my descent. After about 20 minutes of waiting finally there was a small break in the clouds and I rode back down to the skin track.
By now the weather had turned for the worse as I climbed to the top of the headwall. Though there was glimpses of sun it was pretty flat light. Having climbed a few times I noticed how good the snow looked next to the skin track so I dropped in and loosely followed my ascent route.
For my fifth and final run I had planned to exit via the North face so I cramponed over to the entrance to see if I could get a better look. Staring down the line I could see it was icy up top with rocks down lower. While it looked good I was riding solo and decided not to take any additional risks. Instead I climbed up to the top of my 3rd run and waited for the sun to light up the slopes below me.
After 20 minutes the sun came out again and I snapped a shot of my old tracks before dropping in and riding to the valley below.
Arriving back at the road it was still only 11:00 as I walked the final few kilometers back to the house. Occasionally I would turn back and look at my tracks in the distance. It wouldn’t be long before the mountains would be covered in clouds once again.
I found this route to be a really nice alternative to the standard route up Istinden. With a hour climb I was back on the top for my next lap so it utilizes the ascent route well. It is a bit more technical and exsposed then the other way but if snow conditions feel right then it is a fun way to access the Northeast Ridge.
Thanks For Reading this and here is a link if you want to check out more
Ski Tours in the Tamokdalen area
Options for Other Ski Tours Tours Abroad
Snowboarding in the Cascade Mountains
Exploring the Khibney Mountains of Russia
Lyngen and Lofoten in Northern Norway
Huge Thanks to Jarkko, Christel and Aadne for having me help take care of the Tamokhuset.
Thanks For Reading this and here is a link if you want to check out the area
Ski Tours in the Tamokdalen area
Options for Other Ski Tours Tours Abroad
Snowboarding in the Cascade Mountains
Exploring the Khibney Mountains of Russia
Lyngen and Lofoten in Northern Norway
Huge Thanks to Jarkko, Christel and Aadne for having me help take care of the Tamokhuset.