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Year: 2012

Foggy Sunset

Foggy Sunset

When I came back from Stålhovet, I was planning to go for dinner in town with Paul. It was his last evening in Tromsø, the next day he’d leave for Svalbard and his annual research cruise (he will be away for a month). Paul was quite envious of the views we had above the fog though, and we decided to take the cable car up instead 🙂 The cable car station conveniently has a webcam, so it’s easy to check if there is a view from there. We took the cable car up at 21:00, just in time to watch the sunset over the fog 🙂

Panorama at sunset, with the cable car station on the right, and the viewing platform (with another photographer :D) on the left Paul taking photos

It wasn’t quite the romantic evening out that we had planned, as we were both running around taking photos 😀 But it was a beautiful experience that we didn’t want to miss. Here are some of the photos that Paul took:

One of the photos that Paul took: the road to Skulsfjord Tromsdalen filled with fog, Tromsdalstinden in the background

Terrace with a view :) Somewhere below is Tromsø island ;)

In the mean time I shot a timelapse video of the sunset:

We couldn’t stay long, as the last cable car down leaves at 22:00. It was quite spooky to descend back into the fog…

Descending into the mist with the cable car Last view of the clear sky

We decided to stop in the city centre on our way home. The fog had become really thick, and the atmosphere was quite special – almost scary, I was glad I wasn’t alone 😉 Actually we met another member of the photo club here, the second one that day 😀

The wharf in Tromsø The bridge from underneath - scary cracks!

We walked to the end of the jetty in town, which is quite a strange place anyway. Half falling apart, and very far away from anything. Sounds become really distorted, and it was like a horror movie when you hear footsteps and voices but you can’t tell where they’re coming from at all. There was a student party going on at Driv, which we could hear although we couldn’t see Driv itself at all.

Bridge into fog Reaching the end of the jetty

These were taken at the very end of the jetty…

A channel marker in the fog Not much of a view, but you can just about make out the Rica hotel in the background

What a fun little trip! The fog lasted for another two days, and I made the most of them – so more photos are coming 🙂

Rundfjellet – Stålhovet

Rundfjellet – Stålhovet

On Tuesday we woke up to thick fog, but never mind: I was going to climb Stålhovet (861m) with Eelke and Maaike, and I knew the sun would be shining above the fog 🙂 It was quite exciting to reach the top of the fog, conveniently located near the tree line, so that we had spectacular views over a sea of fog…

Climbing above the fog, rewarded with a spectacular view A sea of fog

It was so beautiful that we couldn’t stop taking photos, so our progress to the first top – Rundfjellet at 472m – was rather slow 🙂

Slowly the fog was lifting and we saw more and more of the landscape below Panorama of our view

Never mind, it was a beautiful warm day and we were not in any hurry 🙂

Cotton grass Maaike enjoying a short break

Finally the fog cleared up over a huge part of the landscape around us, but some patches of fog kept dancing around the north part of Tromsø island. The bridge to the airport kept disappearing and reappearing in the fog.

Here the fog was at its minimum. You can see the calm water in the foreground reflecting like a mirror, while there is more wind around Tromsø island

After a short break at Rundfjellet, we continued towards our destination. The landscape here was really beautiful, with lots of little lakes and great views towards the high mountains in the northwest.

Leaving Rundfjellet, the first top A little lake - we were quite tempted to dip in as it was really warm - but these lakes were all way too shallow

Here too, we kept stopping to take photos, with every bend in the path we had a new view 🙂

Another pretty little lake View towards Store Blåmann

The path was well marked with red cairns, though at some point we had to find our own way up.

The markers we were following Eelke taking photos

Crossing a small stream. After this, the landscape changed to lots and lots of loose stones – not ideal to walk around with a camera in your hand, so I didn’t take any more photos until we got to the top. The photo from the top looks back at the ridge we crossed. It was quite long!

Crossing a small stream View from the top, looking back at the longgggg ridge we crossed to get there

There is a steep drop on the other side of the top, and the views were really spectacular! I had never been here before, it’s a popular mountain for skiing (though most skiers stop at the first top on the ridge, Lille Blåmannen – for mysterious reasons marked as Botnfjellet on my map – confusing 😉 ) but I never joined when Paul went here.

View of Steinskardtinden (on the left), there was someone on top of that mountain too :) Nice patterns in the fog, and the friendly guy who took a group photo of us

And thanks to Maaike and the friendly stranger we met on the top, a photo of the three of us 🙂

The three of us on the top :)

The way back was long and warm, and I was too tired for any more photos 😀 It was a great day though, I really enjoyed it. Maaike has also shared some really nice pictures of this trip: see here. In the evening the fog increased and covered all of Tromsø again, Paul and I took the cable car up to watch the sun set over a sea of fog – so beautiful. But these photos will have to wait for another blog post 🙂

Tent Testing

Tent Testing

This week has been wonderful 🙂 On Monday afternoon it cleared up completely, and we decided to test our new tent at Telegrafbukta. We bought a Mountain Hardwear EV3, which we found on sale for 50% – quite a bargain. It’s a light but spacious tent, we are planning to use it for hiking trips.

Our new tent! It weights only 3 kg but it's very spacious inside

This tent is a bit different from most tents: it only has one layer. It seems really strong though, and it’s easy to set up. And I love the little windows 🙂

This tent has only one layer, one of the advantages is that it can have little windows! The view from the 2 doors... nice :)

We had a nice bbq, and watched a beautiful sunset…

A beautiful sunset

The weather stayed good for the rest of the week, very sunny though we often had fog. I love fog 🙂 I took LOTS of photos, so check back soon!