Istinden Behind Tamokhuset

There is something special about leaving your accommodations and ski touring from the front door. Istinden behind Tamokhuset is one of those places as it holds terrain for all ability levels as well as perfectly sheltered Northeast facing slopes. This is one of the most popular ski tours in the area and other then one small crux zone it is completely safe from avalanches. When the sun comes out this is one of if not the first place that people will ski tour to. Not a bad place to have as a backyard.

After less then an hour ski touring through the gladed forests we were happy to be in the sunshine and alpine. To the north we had striking views of Sjufjellet, Lille Russetinden and Blåbærfjellet starting from the right. Our route followed a summer road buried under meters of snow and we could tell that there was good powder snow from the top all the way to the valley below.

Before long we were at the base of the single crux zone of the route. Being a 100 meter convex roller it is small but serious section where we gathered below before doing a low angle traverse one at a time. Looking at the terrain I decided to cut across from where we are in the photo to the lit up ridge on the right hand side.

Once I was able to get to the upper bowl of Istinden I put on my down coat and waited for people to start arriving. A few minutes later Jarkko made his way into view and before long everyone else would start showing up.

With the group gathering above the convex roller it was time to start laying down a skin track on the upper bowl of Istinden. Being that it was a nice day I focused on a low angle skin track that we could use multiple times throughout the day.

Laying in the route I did a long sweep with the first switchback as a catch line for riding back to it. With the upper route we kept it off to the side of the gully to preserve the powder snow below.

Once we arrived on the summit Jarkko laid out first tracks. Each turn picking up clouds which lit up with the sun. 30 minutes and nearly 3,000 feet later he would be back the hut. That is the beauty of Istinden behind Tamokhuset

After riding down to our lower skin track we were back to skinning up to the ridge. From our vantage point we had a great view of the Southwest ridge of Blåbærfjellet.

Once back on the ridge we climbed a little bit higher to access the upper gully. The sun was moving fast and soon the terrain would be in the shade. After quickly transitioning it was time to get going.

Not being able to resist riding in the sunlight we made our way down the right side of the gully.

From top to bottom we found bottomless powder turns soon arriving back at our skin track.

For our last run we wanted to attempt the North Bowl making our way over to the lower ridge. This previous season I had rode a chute and wanted to go check it out. Riding onto the lower ridge we found it both covered in rocks and icy. While we thought we saw the entrance we weren’t 100% sure. In the end we decided to turn back and ride back down our first run all the way to the valley below.

Once at the Tamokdalen Valley we got into a car and drove out to take some pics of the North Face of Istinden. We had been in the right place but wanted to go to the left of the prominent rock ridge on the right.