This was my fourth year leading Sail and Ski trips to Arctic Norway. There are longer reports with more pictures elsewhere on this site of my trips in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
This year conditions were unusually mild with frequent rain showers and a wet snow pack in several places. Despite less than ideal weather we managed to ski on 6 out of 7 days, at 6 different locations, and everyone agreed that it was a worthwhile and enjoyable trip.
Friday 13th March
Arrival in Tromso.
Saturday 14th March
Sail north up Grotsundet and turn into Langsundet. Anchor at Glimma and land all members of the team on the bach by zodiac. We set off for Nordfjellet (1000m) but turn back at 500m as the misty conditions turn to light rain. We sail east through Ullsfjorden to arrive late at Uloybukta on the east side of Uloya Island.
Sunday 15th March
In cold, clear and windy conditions the team made an east to west crossing of the island of Uloya. We missed out on the summit of 1142m Blatinden due to the strong winds and chose to descend from around 1000m. We reached the west coast at Berglund and were collected by van for the 6km journey to Havnnes at the southernmost tip of the island. In the early evening we sailed south to Olderdalen.
Monday 16th March
On a bright and sunny day we climbed Gillavari 1163m, meeting two other ski groups before descending back to the boat. In the late afternoon we sailed south down the Lyngenfjord to anchor near Furuflaten.
Tuesday 17th March
The weather was cloudy and we made an early start to climb 1533m Daltinden. We climbed to 980m before bad weather forced us to turn around and ski back to the boat. In the afternoon we made a long sail northwards around the tip of the Lyngen Peninsula and down into Ullsfjorden to spend the night at Nordlenangen.
Wednesday 18th March
The weather was not great in the morning so we sailed further south into Grotsundet. By noon the weather had improved and we anchored at Aborsdalen and set out to ski up the 1000m peak, 'Rema 1000'. We chose to turn around at 800m and found some good snow on the descent to the boat.
Thursday 19th March
It was raining when we woke so we chose to sail back to Tromso.
Friday 20th March
In fine conditions we chose to climb Tromsdalstinden 1238m, the prominent peak overlooking the city of Tromso. This was a long ascent involving a valley approach and a climb over several subsidiary summits. We had fine views of the solar eclipse during the climb and reached to top in very windy conditions, before returning to the city. In the evening we had dinner in Tromso before driving to the airport for our direct flights back to the UK.
In total we climbed up and down skied down a total of 5,600m in 6 days, and sailed more than 280km.
David Hamilton 25th March 2015