Hallo Peeps
Just come back frome 4 days snowholing out in Finse, Norway. Had a lovely time and even managed to come back with all my fingers and toes! The weather stayed at a balmy -6 Centigrade with unmentionable windchill. For most of the time it was lots of spindrift snow which gets EVERYWHERE!
This wasn't a Bushcrafting trip out there as there was no bushes to be found, in fact the only bit of wood I saw out there was the hazel withies they use to mark paths out there in the snow, and I wasn't about to move any of those!
Did an ascent of Finsenuten on our second day which someone told me it is higher than Ben Nevis. Lots of crampon and iceaxe work to get there, and only managed to spike myself once with my own crampon point in the back of the calf(nice square hole there now!) Lovely views from the top but the wind just blew straight through you
While we were there the Norwegian Search and Rescue Teams and the Norwegian SARDA were having an exercise around us, we even came back to our snowhole to find about 6 Team members stood on the roof. after some friendly banter we explained to them what they were standing on and they moved, turns out we needn't have worried, we couldn't collapse the roof on the final day with 4 of us jumping up and down on it!
All the SRT members were using reindeer skins to sleep on and nordic skis to get around, something I may look into next year!.
LESSONS LEARNT
Finse, in March, is cold
Don't try to walk in deep powder snow, skis or snowshoes were invented for a reason
Snowholes can get up to +5 Centigrade for a short while with 3 burners going
Norwegian women are very healthy looking!
Spindrift snow gets EVERYWHERE!
Just come back frome 4 days snowholing out in Finse, Norway. Had a lovely time and even managed to come back with all my fingers and toes! The weather stayed at a balmy -6 Centigrade with unmentionable windchill. For most of the time it was lots of spindrift snow which gets EVERYWHERE!
This wasn't a Bushcrafting trip out there as there was no bushes to be found, in fact the only bit of wood I saw out there was the hazel withies they use to mark paths out there in the snow, and I wasn't about to move any of those!
Did an ascent of Finsenuten on our second day which someone told me it is higher than Ben Nevis. Lots of crampon and iceaxe work to get there, and only managed to spike myself once with my own crampon point in the back of the calf(nice square hole there now!) Lovely views from the top but the wind just blew straight through you
While we were there the Norwegian Search and Rescue Teams and the Norwegian SARDA were having an exercise around us, we even came back to our snowhole to find about 6 Team members stood on the roof. after some friendly banter we explained to them what they were standing on and they moved, turns out we needn't have worried, we couldn't collapse the roof on the final day with 4 of us jumping up and down on it!
All the SRT members were using reindeer skins to sleep on and nordic skis to get around, something I may look into next year!.
LESSONS LEARNT
Finse, in March, is cold
Don't try to walk in deep powder snow, skis or snowshoes were invented for a reason
Snowholes can get up to +5 Centigrade for a short while with 3 burners going
Norwegian women are very healthy looking!
Spindrift snow gets EVERYWHERE!