Browsed by
Year: 2013

Sandøya

Sandøya

More than a month without any blog posts, what happened?! Did life turn boring, with nothing to write about? Nope, we have the opposite problem: we’ve been on so many trips lately that there was not enough time in between to edit any photos, let alone write a blog entry 😀 I’m really behind now, but I’ll try to catch up as much as I can. First of all: a weekend trip to Sandøya (an island near Tromsø) two weeks ago. You can get there by ferry 3 times a week, but we went with our own boat from Ringvassøya. It took about an hour, you can see our route on the map below…

Map of our route to Sandøya, the place we camped indicated with a blue star, and in green our route to the top of the island

We left late, as Saturday was a rainy day and we had some things to do at home. We arrived at the beach shortly after midnight, and by then it had cleared up almost completely. The beach looked straight towards the midnight sun – beautiful 🙂

Setting up camp in the midnight sun The sun set briefly behind the layer of clouds, then came back again :)

It’s been unusually warm in Northern Norway since Mid May, and we are weeks ahead of schedule – everything is green already, and even the cloudsberries are flowering! They were beautiful, backlit by the midnight sun. With views like this, who wants to sleep??

Summer is several weeks ahead of schedule here, the cloudberries are already flowering! Panorama of the beach we camped on, you can see our orange tent and red boat on the far left

But finally at two in the morning we went to bed. It was so beautiful to fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves and singing birds, and we slept soundly until 11! We enjoyed a lazy breakfast on the beach 🙂 and afterwards we decided to climb to the top of the island, at 427 m. The views down to “our” beach were amazing…

A lazy morning and breakfast on the beach Starting our hike to the top of the island, looking down on our camp

We followed a ridge that also gave us views to the east side of Sandøya (where there’s a small village, but only 2 permanent inhabitants I believe!) and towards Rebbenensøya, with some very pretty clouds…

View towards Rebbenesøya - lovely clouds! Paul on the way up, in the background you can see one of the houses on Sandøya

We then went straight up to the top of the island, on a very steep slope. It wouldn’t have been doable on a rocky slope, but it was covered in small bushes which give more grip. We first reached the (radio?) mast on top of the island, and from there you can look straight down to the beach we camped on – it made me dizzy! From the mast to the actual top is a huge almost-flat plateau which is great fun to walk on 🙂 and the views are incredible, here towards Sørfugløya (Southern Bird Island).

View from the top straight down to our camp - it made me dizzy! Paul poses in front of Sørfugløya (Southern Bird Island) - I took a similar photo of him in front of Nordfugløya (Northern Bird Island) just a few weeks ago :D

We didn’t meet a single person all day, the only signs of life we saw were some boats passing by. In the cairn on top we found the usual “guestbook” where people write about their experiences – and here we found out that 5 people had been to the top earlier that day 😀 Such a small island, but we never saw them.

Posing with the cairn on top. We didn't a see a soul all day, but according to the book 5 people had been to the top that day! Sørfugløya and some impressive clouds

There are some really steep drops near the top, with views to more sandy beaches. I think you can guess where the name Sandøya comes from 😉 We could see all the way from Rebbenesøya to Ringvassøya, Kvaløya, Senja and even Andenes!

Paul looking down at another beach Panorama from the top, with views of Rebbenesøya, Ringvassøya, Kvaløya, Senja and even all the way to Andenes (though that is impossible to see in this photo)

We were getting hungry so we were keen to get back to our camp – there was a bbq waiting for us 😀

Amazing colours near one of the beaches On the way back to our camp

Coming down the steep slope was hard on our knees, but we made it back safely and we enjoyed a well-deserved bbq on the beach 🙂

One last break to enjoy the views After a nice BBQ, we made our way back. The patterns on the beach at low tide were very pretty

It was getting late so we decided to make our way back home. We had originally planned to have a look around the small village, and I have also heard there is an impressive remains of a church on the south side – but this has to wait for another visit. I wouldn’t mind coming back, it’s such a beautiful place 🙂

Gråtinden on Ringvassøya (587m)

Gråtinden on Ringvassøya (587m)

The first of May is a bank holiday in Norway. We decided to climb a mountain around sunset, as the weather was supposed to improve in the evening. I used Turboka for the first time 🙂 and chose Gråtinden on Ringvassøya. We weren’t sure about the snow conditions this far out on the coast, so we took snow shoes as they can be used in any kind of conditions. We parked at the highest point of the road to Skarsfjord, and hiked straight up from there. The start is really steep! After that it flattens out a bit, before getting steeper near the top. The weather didn’t seem to improve – we even got a hail shower on our way to the top, and it was VERY windy. We were really happy when we found that it was possible to shelter from the wind behind the cairn on top 🙂

On the way up to Gråtinden On the top, sheltering behind the cairn, away from the strong wind

When we reached the top (after about 1.5 hrs), we had a bit of a “halleluja” moment – as this was our view….

Fantastic sunbeams on the horizon! On the right the islands Sandøya and Sørfugløya

There is a large plateau around the top, with views towards Kvaløya, all the islands on the outer coast (Sandøya, Sørfugløya) and Rebbenesøya. Fantastic views!

Paul on his way to the edge of the plateau, with Kvaløya in the background So beautiful...

I’ll have to come back here in summer, and walk all the way to the westernmost tip of the plateau to have an even better view over the sea and all the islands. Would be great during the midnight sun season 🙂

Another panorama of the view

We were hoping the sun would eventually come below the cloud layer and give us a nice sunset. It looked like it was just going to disappear behind the next cloud layer however. But just when we gave up hope and decided to turn round, the sun briefly appeared – how nice! Luckily it was also finally clearing up, and the wind calmed down.

Just when we gave up hope and turned back, the sun appeared briefly between two cloud layers On the way down - good to see the snow is disappearing from the mountains!

It had gotten quite late (sunset is after 22:00 now), so we made our way back to the car. The snow conditions were variable, there were areas with very icy snow, lots of bare rock, crusty snow and some soft snow. I actually managed to fall over THREE times – I didn’t think that was a risk on snow shoes 😀

Map of our trip Height profile. We walked around the plateau on top for quite a while. The start (and end) is pretty steep!

It was a great little trip, and a mountain to remember for the summer season 🙂

Natt på Nattmålsfjellet

Natt på Nattmålsfjellet

Yesterday was a perfectly sunny day in Tromsø, but as a geeky photographer I decided to wait for the prettiest light around sunset. I chose Nattmålsfjellet as my goal for the evening/night: quite appropriate as the name means night-goal-mountain 🙂 it’s only 297 m high, but it has a fantastic view in all directions. I’ve been there once before, but that was in summer. I reached the top just after sunset (which was at 20:40!), with great views…

The view on the way up to Nattmålsfjellet, with Ersfjorden on the left and Kaldfjorden on the right The top of Nattmålsfjellet just after sunset

Especially the view towards Ersfjorden is beautiful. In the other direction you can see part of Tromsø island. The top was partly bare, partly covered in windblown snow ridges.

Ersfjorden Lots of windblown snow

A couple of reindeer kept me company for a while, and they didn’t seem bothered by my presence. They would sometimes look up when my camera was beeping, but they seemed too busy with their dinner to walk away. When I turned around, the lights had suddenly turned on in the city, what a view!

A reindeer searching for dinner View towards Kaldfjord/Eidkjosen and (in the background) Tromsø - so pretty to see all the lights far below

Towards Ersfjorden the moon was sinking and reflected in the fjord… I could hear the call of ptarmigans all around me – they have a very special sound which made the evening even more magical.

Self portrait with the moon The moon was sinking and reflected in the fjord

I was there for a couple of hours, enjoying the solitude and the views, taking lots of photos. Suddenly I heard voices… “Where is the top, where that man is?” “Yes, a scary man with a chainsaw!”. Erm? 😀 It turned out to be 3 British tourists with a guide, all on snowshoes. As soon as they reached the top, the guide made them dress in bright orange sleeping bags with only their heads and feet sticking out – they looked like Tibetan monks 😀 My solitude was broken, especially when they got out their iPhone and read aloud who liked their latest photo on Facebook… sigh.

View towards Kattfjordeidet, the road there has been closed for weeks because of a huge avalanche that went over the road, they still haven't finished clearing it up Night time panorama - you can see the crazy tourists in their orange sleeping bags in the middle

Just like the tourists and their guide, I was hoping for the northern lights to show up. A big show was expected that evening, and I figured it would be one of the last nights where it’s dark enough to see them – especially since the weather forecast for next week is rain, rain, rain. But when it got to half past midnight, without a single sign of the northern lights (quite rare!) I gave up and walked down. When I was almost back at the car, I suddenly noticed something green in the corner of my eye…

I almost missed it, but there it was: the northern lights!

It didn’t last long, and most of it was very weak, but it was a nice ending to my night hike. When I got home at 02:30 in the morning, dawn was breaking already… We’re approaching the midnight sun season rapidly, and even though that means no aurora for about 4 months, it’s so exciting. We still have a lot of snow, but spring is in the air and summer is on the way – I can’t wait 😀 (yes I know we are still far from summer but I always get impatient this time of year 😉 )