Browsed by
Year: 2012

Raudfjellet

Raudfjellet

Last Thursday I had planned to climb Raudfjellet (540 m), but the clouds were hanging low all day. Fog usually disappears when the sun gets strong enough – or at least it’s easy to get above the fog. Low clouds can hang around all day though, and are not as shallow as fog. I noticed the top of the cable car (at 420 m) was in the clouds all day. So i stayed at home and edited photos, until the end of the afternoon, when it suddenly cleared up here in Tromsø. I jumped in the car and drove to Raudfjellet, but this is an hours drive from Tromsø and unfortunately it was completely cloudy at the trail head. I could see some mountains in the distance with sun, so I was hoping that it would clear up. I climbed Raudfjellet two years ago via a different (much longer) route, and was surprised to find how nice the new route was, even inside the cloud 😉

Even walking through thick fog can be pretty :)

I didn’t have much of a view on my way up, and I had kind of given up hope that I would have a view from the top. And indeed, at 500 m I was still in the clouds. But wait a minute, isn’t there a slight blue tint to the clouds? And isn’t that the sun, trying to come through?! I raced up, hoping that 40 more height meters would be enough. When I reached the top, the sun finally broke through, and a very strong fog bow appeared with blue sky above! Magic…

A magical moment when the clouds disappeared just when I reached the top, and a strong fogbow appeared

I was very happy and signed my name in the book. When I looked up, the clouds had lowered even more and suddenly I had a 360 degrees view over a sea of clouds, with several other mountain tops sticking out. And some big cumulonimbus clouds inland. WOW!!

The clouds dropped even lowers, and I could see big cumulonimbus clouds inland A strong glory :)

I took lots of photos and spent an hour on the top. It was lovely having this view all to myself, but I also enjoyed sharing the experience with the two sisters who came up a little later.

And everything in one photo: the fogbow, the glory (and Brocken spectre) and the cumulonimbus View towards Vasstinden, you can see how close the fog was - lucky me!!

After a long break, I reluctantly starting walking down – knowing I’d have to walk back into the fog 😉

Tverrfjellet and Middagstinden on the left, Durmålstinden on the right On my way back through a landscape glittering in the sun. This part of the mountain was covered in clouds on the way up

The first part of the way down is quite flat though, and I was able to stay above the fog for quite a while. So many photo opportunities! I was running around taking lots and lots of photos…

Walking towards the clouds A beautiful little lake

Everything was still soaked from spending the day in the clouds, and the wet landscape was sparkling in the sun.

Perfect reflections in the lake :) Soaked cotton grass

Finally I had to descend further down, and into the fog… This route is very well marked, which was really helpful when visibility became very low (especially since it was also getting dark).

Entering the fog, last view of the sun. Very thankful for the well-marked route! And then the views turned into this...

What a great hike! I got home at 23:30, really pleased that I did go after all 🙂

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back!

The northern lights are back!! Always an exciting moment to see them dance for the first time 🙂 It’s only just about dark enough, but there they are…

The northern lights are back!! Even though it's only JUST about dark enough :) Beautiful colours to the west

Here’s to a new season, and many sleepless nights 😉 And now I better get some sleep, I’m supposed to climb one of the mountains in the photo tomorrow!

Jamnfjellet

Jamnfjellet

The day after climbing Stålhovet, I took Paul to the airport at noon. I was hoping his flight would be cancelled due to fog, but no such luck 😉 In the evening I decided to get some fresh air, and I drove to Finnvikvatnet, where you can park your car at a height of about 250 m. I was hoping this would be above the fog, but it wasn’t actually. I took some photos of the very wet grass, and then followed the first part of the path to Kjølen, but only as far as Jamnfjellet.

Wet grass in the fog Spooky views walking up through the fog

It didn’t take long to reach the top of the fog layer, and I was excited to see a fog bow for the first time! It’s like a rainbow, but since the water droplets in fog are so tiny, the light gets so scattered that you don’t see all the colours, you see a white bow. A little later, I saw two other optical phenomenon: a glory (the rainbow around my shadow, you can see this quite often from a plane flying over a layer of clouds), and the rarer Brocken spectre (my long and strangely shaped shadow, in Dutch this is called Brockenspook – Brocken ghost :D)

A fog bow! I'd never seen one before so I was very excited. Tromsdalstinden is just visible on the right It got even more exciting for a meteorologist: a fog bow (quite weak in this photo), a glory (the rainbow around my shadow), and a Brocken spectre (my long shadow)

All very exciting for a meteorologist 😉 Here is a panorama of the whole valley…

Panorama over the valley filled with fog, you can also see the glory here

Walking further up, I was in full sun and the views were just amazing. So much fog, and yet there were big cumulus clouds in the inland – the forecasted afternoon showers. The whole weather forecast in one photo 🙂

Breaking through the fog and seeing the sun: always a magical moment View towards Tromsdalstinden, fog in the foreground and in the far background you can see the afternoon showers forecasted further inland

Towards the coast all you could see was a sea of fog…

Wow, what a view! A leaning cairn ;)

I sat against this cairn for quite a while, watching the fog roll by, watching excited kids run around above the fog on the opposite mountain (Sørtinden). I was a bit sad and alone with Paul away for so long, but how can you stay sad with views like this? 🙂

The island Vengsøya in the background I sat with my back against this cairn for quite a while, watching the fog roll by, and enjoying the sunshine. Until the mosquitos chased me away ;)

And here is another timelapse I took from there, consisting of two different parts. The first one is a bit bumpy, as my camera was placed at an uneven surface (I’d left my tripod in the car).

One more post about hiking above the fog is coming, and then I stop – I promise 😀