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Crossing a Norwegian national park on foot: a test fraught with pitfalls

31.7.2019

Translation: machine translated

Arthur and Jannik are two photography apprentices. Last winter, they took advantage of their holidays to conquer northern Norway. Here is their diary.

On 26 January 2019, two weeks before our departure for Norway, the three of us set off for Amden. Our colleague Deborah decided on a whim to accompany us for our trial snowshoeing/winter bivouac weekend above Lake Walenstadt. She had planned to photograph our adventures with her mobile phone.

Jannik was still stuck in Basel on the Friday evening, so we met up in Zurich the following day at lunchtime. In our classroom, to which we have the key, we check our bags one last time before leaving for Amden in the afternoon. Once we arrive at the terminus of the "Amden, Arvenbüel" postbus, we start loading our equipment onto the equipment sledges known as "pulkas". We take on board almost 50 kg of equipment per pulka per person, which also includes ballast that simulates the weight of the 10 days' food we'll need in Norway.

A test full of pitfalls

As we arrived late and it was already dark, we pitched our tent near the village in order to be ready for the climb the next morning.

After a good 12-hour night in the tent, a piece of bread and a pasta broth made on the gas stove, we're ready to tackle the Leistchamm. We dismantle our tent and begin our journey along the ski run.

We are pleased to see that the pulkas carrying our equipment are gliding along beautifully on the hard snow. But this joy is only short-lived, because as the path becomes steeper, the equipment attached to the pulkas starts to slide backwards. With this one-sided weight distribution, pulling the sleds quickly becomes tiring. Not to mention that in powder snow, the snow falls on either side of the pulkas.

We regularly take short breaks to reorientate ourselves in this austere landscape and remove the snow from our pulkas. Suffice to say, we're not making very fast progress. After about two kilometres, we came to a wood. As it hadn't snowed the night before, we could use the snowshoe tracks of our predecessors to orient ourselves. As the snow has already been packed down, our snowshoes barely sink.

The wood becomes denser and denser and the path narrower and steeper. It's best to stay focused or risk getting hit in the ankles by the pulka. We decide to set up camp for the night on a plateau just below the Leistchamm. No sooner had our 3-seater tent been set up than a strong wind picked up.

Fearing that he wouldn't be able to get the stove working because of the wind, Arthur decided to build a small trench for it. Once inside, it won't be able to switch off. At least that's the plan. By the way, snowshoes turn out to be excellent snow shovels.

The wind and the snow

An hour after Arthur has built his trench, the snow begins to fall heavily. While Jannik and Deborah rest in the tent, Arthur tries to boil water in the middle of a blizzard, without success.
Half an hour and a lot of gas later, Arthur was forced to come out of his hole. The hole had filled with gas during the many unsuccessful attempts to light the stove. "So how's your trench?" asked Jannik as Arthur, freezing and reeking of gas, made his way into the tent. "Just like at Verdun," he mumbles back. The three of us ended up lying down in the tent as the storm raged outside, filling the poor trench Arthur had painstakingly dug with snow. The next day, to his great regret, there was almost nothing left of it.

The gusts of wind and the temperature of -14°C quickly discouraged Arthur in his attempt to cook pasta. After four unsuccessful attempts, between which he came to warm up in the tent, he decided to give up.

That night, we barely slept a wink. Hardly surprising, with a temperature of -14°C and gusts of wind of up to 100 km/h sweeping across our tent. Our sleeping bags and good ISO-sensitive mattresses ensure that we don't freeze in place, but our cheap tent is struggling to withstand the wind. Its poles were bending and threatening to give way in the wind and snow. Nearly 40 cm of snow fell that night. We take it in turns to press down on the hoops with our feet to counterbalance the gusts of wind we hear howling through the woods.

As we emerge from our sleeping bags the next morning, we find that the storm has subsided, but it hasn't spared our poor shoes, which had to spend the night outside.

We remove the snow from our shoes, which have surprisingly remained dry, and quickly start dismantling the tent and loading the pulkas. Last night's storm has completely erased the footprints in the snow. It's not until we pass a sign that was much higher than us the night before that we realise just how well our tent is holding up.

With no tracks in the snow, we struggle to assess the terrain. Fortunately, our GPS Garmin 680T has recorded our ascent route. The "track back" function allows us to find our way back. The ski area is now closed, probably because of the avalanche risk. We're completely on our own, with only the occasional military helicopter flying overhead to keep us company. The path is now almost impassable in places. The fresh, slippery snow and steep slope make our pulkas feel like they weigh far more than their 50kg.

Fatigued but happy, we finally reach the Arvenbüel bus station. We take advantage of the post bus journey to make an initial assessment of our trial weekend with our Garmin GPS.

With two metres of snow on the ground and 50kg of equipment each, we were able to cover 12km and 800m of ascent. That won't be enough to keep us on schedule for Norway. But given that the terrain there will be much flatter, we remain optimistic about our chances of reaching the hut.

The heavy storm on our second night of bivouacking near the Leistchamm has given us an insight into how damp our boots feel and how high the wind can blow to cook pasta on a gas stove. We also know that we'll need to cover our pulkas with waterproof tarpaulins to protect them from the snow, and that carrying a GPS is always a good idea.
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All in all, it's been an emotional weekend with lots of snow and elevation gain. We can't wait to start our expedition to the Arctic Circle.

Come aboard, and accompany us all the way to the Great North. You'll find all our stories about powder in the middle of summer in our logbook.

We're looking forward to it.

Previously...

Background information
Walking through a Norwegian national park: planning the suicide mission
by Arthur Gamsa und Jannik Kaiser

To find out how Arthur and Jannik came to tell Galaxus about their experiences, it's here.

Background information
Two photographers, one objective: crossing a Norwegian national park on foot
by Patrick Bardelli

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Arthur Gamsa und Jannik Kaiser

patrick.bardelli@galaxus.ch

We are two photographers in training at the F+F (School of Art and Design) in Zurich.
Since we are very fascinated by nature, we are much in the mountains and forests of Switzerland on the road. Mostly with camera, tent and a gas stove in the luggage.

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