Lofoten Islands 2016 and Future Thoughts
I got back to write this post which means i made it to the end of the season with a few
cats lives left but cats were definitely sacrificed on the way to the end! The Lofoten
trip was a very mellow and relaxed trip which is what I really needed after a
very busy winter in work and in the mountains. I was properly losing hope with
the world a few weeks beforehand as there had been quite a few obstacles
attempting to make life crappy on the run up to the trip , I even was self-planning
the next few years with mass travel ideas just out of relief to tell myself
it's all worth it. I was a little tired from work but my legs could take one
last beating before hanging up the boots for another season and this trip had
been on radar for a while, The timing was right with my legs and energy charged
ready for one last ride. After a bit of disappointment in setting up our last
planned trip with a few guys who went M.I.A it was about time we laid down
blueprints and when all was said and done it came down to the two original
badasses who were still ready for anything , Myself and Damien D , There was no
way we would pass up this kind of trip to experience some of the best of Arctic
Norway , Even with limited time i think we did it proud. The travel itself was
one of the big things, I had to get from little old Glencoe to Edinburgh and
then meet Damien in Oslo for our flight to Evenes the next day at 8am in the
morning , I spent most of the bus ride up to Edinburgh talking to an American
traveller who i was sitting next to on the bus about Scotland and whisky and
then onto all kindsa random crap. 5 Hours later i made it the airport carrying
my big wheely machine ready to board the flight and onto Oslo where i met
Damien sitting there at the luggage just chilling and then we spent most of the
night drinking beer, enjoying the trippy artwork , eating some kind of mash up
of French animal paste and sleeping on our wheely bags on the floor, Yeah we
were horrible 3 hours later but luckily i think half our flight were doing the
same thing the same night. Damien managed to bring half of his fridge through
customs in fact if he could take his fridge he probably would because he eats
like a whale and farts like one too , He tried to blame it on Norwegian sausages
most of the time haha. So we touched down and after a bit of messing around
trying to find the timetable for buses we were on our way to Svolvaer!!!
Svolvaer was a great place man i mean totally different to narvik with a more relaxed small town kinda feel and being by the port and with great sunshine throughout the time of our stay really gave it a holiday feel, Our choices just worked out right , The time we decided to visit and the locations turned out almost as practical for us as we could get without a car. The guest house was really kind of kawaii cute next to the marine overlooking the harbour and run by some really nice peeps , Ruth was a character and a half and really friendly , Our room was sweet i mean total luxury compared to my usual adventures , We actually had a cooker , Fridge , Free food , Towels and a TV i mean it could have been another planet! I was looking at a few places beforehand and the guesthouse was my final choice so we really got the good straw in the end and also we hooked up with Patrick a family member of the owners working in the guesthouse who shared some local info over beers and some insight into living out in Arctic Norway and travel plans etc for the future. I think Damien was pretty shocked at just how pricey Norway can get from our first trip to the supermarket , We ended up getting something like chilli paste , rice , bread and milk , absolute basics which were nice but he was not in the mood to get fancy in our shopping list , The most exotic thing we tried was Kaviar mix in a tube for the first few days which was like some ultra salty fish probably made up of all kinds of marine animal maybe even old boots and fishing rods, anything they can get away with for 20 krona , It wasn't actually all that bad but there is only so much kaviar i can take , haha sounds much more sophisticated than it was. We had a good scan of the local mountains and almost instantly we knew we had to try and reach the imposing mountain at the entrance to the town, The great thing is we had a view directly from our guesthouse as we were almost underneath it.
We tried to get some information on best ways to get up the mountain , After some eagle eyes of Damien noticing tourists had taken a path to reach the mountain in a brochure picture , we went in search for the tourist office for more info who confirmed it and told us of a trail which leads up to the entrance of the mountain , What they didn't tell us is half of it involves rock climbing and there would be no goats, grhhhh i wanted to see goats!!!
i kind of saw goats on the way up to the first drop in , I followed a line of footsteps in the snow leading up to the spot but realised the footsteps were more like hoofs than feet , No wonder i was having trouble getting up there i was missing two more legs! i bet the goats were watching somewhere just thinking what the hell.
Anyways the first drop was the last cats life i sacrificed of the season , I had got prepared and scanned the turns out but upon dropping in realised just how icy and steep the terrain was going to be but within the second turn i had lost my edge and began sliding down into a rock which lead to even more rocks over the horizon , i was sliding and picked up speed but still had control of the direction of the board even if i couldn't slow down, within the last second i dug deep on my back foot heel edge to turn the board out of danger away from the rock and barely escaped before turning toeside and losing edge again this time into another rock, luckily this time i had already made enough space to avoid it but just narrowly before sliding out and getting composure to get up and ride out in one piece. My mind was blank riding out just thinking what happened and how i even got out of it but i didn't dwell on the situation for too long as the reality is these things can happen and i wouldn't allow it to bring fear or doubt into the rest of the trip , But it could have easily been game over on the first day, Damien made the wise choice not to ride it and we had fun riding out and down the face , I got well and truly ready after bailing out at least 4 times on the way in the spring slush , It was pretty funny and Damien got a good laugh out of it whilst ripping on us snowboarders. The climb down was sketchy as we were carrying equipment on our back over narrow stone pathways with nasty drops but eventually we got down and i got a good picture shot of Damien looking like a wildlife presenter. A short walk back through the housing estates and we were back and sleepy and hungry and ready as ever for a beer and plans for the next day. Day 2 we found out that the sun sets at ridiculous o clock which meant we took the chance to enjoy a sleep in before setting out on our next and final ride in Lofoten. We decided to go check out the mountains around the local ski area which we never even knew about but had been closed already for the season, one thing Norwegians don't do too great is make things very clear for tourists which we found out a few times later in the trip.
Today was just a fun day and a hike up to the ridge overlooking the town , these locals have some sick terrain no wonder we didn't really see anybody around but telemarkers after the lifts are closed they are probably still burnt from powder days throughout the season, The telemarkers we caught up with were also like Olympic speed walkers , We managed to stay within distance at first but they were soon gone and over the horizon within the first hour of our hike up to the ridge. We took a look up to the face leading down off the ridge and with good snow conditions we had a real fun ride down not doing anything too stupid but just nice cruisey mode back to the start point , We had tracked some big jumps on the same line but looking down the face it was hard to judge whether we were in the right part to take off and come out safely as there were some big jumps leading into other big jumps kind of sketchy if losing control of the wood. I got into a little trouble on the way up , about 3/4 up the face at the steeper point I hit an icey spot and i was in a really dodgy position not really able to step back or even properly strap in if i had to bail out of the line but i couldn't really go on and i just didn't trust it enough to carry on trying to walk sideways across an icey face with nothing but a long a way down underneath me so i had to make a call and ask damo to give us a hand for the final section but hey it was all worth it in the end.
Next day we planned to set out and head over to Narvik by coach , i noticed that more Norwegian flags were around than usual and we figured they are probably having some kind of national holiday but we totally forgot that most things and services would be shut on this day and we hadn't really prepared or expected it , We set out for the bus and after waiting for about half an hour realised something wasn't right , then it hit us that the holiday is probably the reason and made a call to head back to the guesthouse where we made plans to stay 1 more night and head out the next day. We got chatting to Patrick and Ruth again who updated us on the holiday thing and had no choice but to just ride out and have a chilled day checking out the sights and the area and plan to set out the next day. We were pretty happy to get some free hire bikes for the day and wanted to go further down the road and visit the village Kabelvag, we got there pretty quick and raided a local café bars coffee stop and cinnabuns!!! damo was laughing at a till which sounded like a duck everytime it opened up. We still had plenty of time left and thought what the hell lets go deeper into the Lofoten’s, since we had no real destinations damo suggested us go visit a village called Brenna which is named after his mate so we headed out down there cross country style. The bike ride was beautiful but a long long way, i reminded damo a good few times she better be worth it, the way there wasn't too bad until we reached a point in the bend where we thought we had already made it only to find out it was beyond the bend and further into the coastline two steep hills later. Brenna was nothing special but a good spot to just stop by the coast and take the views of the ocean whilst making tinned mackerel sandwiches which we hijacked from the guesthouse. There was very little talking on the way back , even after the few turns of the wheel as we set back it hit me bad how far we still had to go and how much my legs just don't want too but out of determination we got some good speeds down taking turns to lead the front and set pace and made it about half way pretty quick , The last half of the journey was just defiance to get back as we were struggling for a little while but we could see civilization again after the remoteness of the coastal road , first thing we did was head back to the café for more cinnabuns!!There was a ska night on that night which would have been great but we were so wasted by the time we got back i made the call to just take it easy and relax rather than head back out on the bikes late on and come back drunk and tired at 4am and also we had to get the bus at 10am so i was just not really feeling it and damo didn't need any persuasion to stay in bed once he crashed out for a quick nap.
So that's us checking out! the sleep did us good and we were on our way for our final days in Narvik, We nearly missed the bus after some dramas and Damien flipping out at the driver haha but they kissed and made up later on.
So back in Narvik for the third and hopefully not the last time , We got the timing right on this one with the weather playing nice for all days well except the day I was leaving which went overcast and kind of crappy but fresh snow was still falling even this late into the year. The drive up on the bus i was pretty surprised to see so much snow still lying around the trees on ground level it's like winter never stops out here and loads of cutesy reindeers!!
The guesthouse we were planning to stay turned out to be shut down, We got there and the place was looking dumped out Damien couldn't believe i brought him to such a dive after our harbour view luxury of Lofoten, The place looked a lot nicer covered in snow and eternal darkness haha. Even i lost my nostalgia goggles though when we turned up , pretty mashed up grounds no signs anything , We got talking to a guy in the pub one of the days later and he told us they had to shut down quick time because the railway owned the land and wanted it or something like that but apparently they were selling it anyway , I got in touch with them a few months before we left and they were all good and open , strange man but whatever we were hoping on the backup plan and in the end it worked out better closer to the mountain and a lot nicer building with some badass view of the city and lake, also unlimited free tea coffee biscuits and strawberry teas and breakfast hell fook yes its heaven for balling on a budget. We got some help up from an eccentric Norwegian cat lady who stuck a picture of her cat onto her wheelie bag haha i loved her but she was hard work very chatty beyond a level where even i could keep up without losing the will and i don't mind having a good waffle myself , Damien was looking for the nearest exits every time we popped into her haha and we both looked at eachother like oh shit here we go again , But i liked her very friendly and overly outgoing but she would jump over crocodiles to help you out for anything.
Narvik seems to have got even pricier than last time i was here, Even the cheap shop wasn't that cheap anymore we could barely agree to buy a bag of nuts lol but i think once in Narvik we were a bit more relaxed and accepting that nothings cheap so screw it lets just enjoy some nice stuff while were here. We took a walk on the first day to find some info at the ski centre and first thing we noticed was an event going on at the base and a load of Norwegians in dnb bank outfits because that's soooo badass cool in Norway right? anyway i knew it , Damn site played me bad and the wrong information was put up leading me to believe the event was going to be on the next day , yeah i was pissed i wanted to do a bank slalom to finish off the year crapathon of average events but it wasn't going to happen and i just accepted it and moved on to our ideas of riding the mountain over the next few days.
We ended up going out later on , we first got to the club and it was dead at about 11 , Most people back home in UK can barely stand up at that time never mind only just think about going out later on , We ended up staying in the local pub and had a good chat with the locals and a bar man who supported united, damiana pissed off some drunk girl by calling her crazy haha she was cute but nah man too much hard work for me. The club was ok , kind of cheesy typical local club kind of thing , We noticed it was mixed all ages which was kind of different to see and pretty laid back , one guy was rocking too hard and got ejected by a bouncer straight in front of us and just gangster style left the building it was funny. Rest of the night the standard kinda night out , I don't think Damien was feeling it just to chill and enjoy it , He was on a mission for women whereas i just weren't that bothered i was just out and chilled, i stick to bro code always unless made clear , I can do all this back home so my focus is on the riding of boards and the rest comes after. Anyway we made it to the end and enjoyed a few hours’ sleep before getting up for breakfast and ready for the ride later on in the day, The great thing about the place too is that the lift access didn't open til 3pm but it stays light until really late so we knew we had all night long to ride.
The first ride was ok, the snow was hard pack on the slope and hard tracked out crust off it on the main resort part of the mountain, My board and legs didn't like it all but i could cope . We later started exploring the backcountry areas and found sweet powder just waiting for cruisers so we took the invitation and mainly stayed in this area for the rest of the day with big rides down through the trees and long ass traverses to get easy distance back to the slope. Damian was self-made camera man for most of the trip , i didn't really think too much of it , I brought my Holga film camera for the best shots and just the phone which i never got to work properly enough to take clear shots whilst Damien had all the gadgets and took most of the shots and films during the trip which in honesty was a good call as my phone was just not set up properly until i got back home and realised the exposure focus was not properly set up because of the stupid default settings.
We did the walk up to the more serious backcountry terrain and luckily were followed behind by a local board guide and some skiers , We ended up walking on past the first drop in point for our position which we had traced out for ourselves , On the way up we started getting caught up in the clouds and walking into whiteout conditions , We took a break to stop and eat and wait out to see if the clouds would clear before after half hour deciding to make the decision to turn back and ride down, anyway on the way back we bumped into the guide group who were taking the earlier drop in point , after a break in the clouds these guys dropped in and were down , we thought we would enjoy the silence and views and take a few shots before heading back down but we left it too late and got carried away and before we knew it the clouds were closing in on us ready to settle down on our ass for the night , we tried to wait it out again but realised that we just need to get down in one piece as we were both getting cold hanging around doing nothing , after a quick sparring session we waited for a break of visibility and decided to go for it. I was trying to stay within visibility of Damien on the way down but i could see him sharp jumping turns but i didn't want to lose sight of him in worst case scenario terrain , so i had to stay on my edge hard to keep in the same direction but i went on a bit of a slide over some hard pack which i didn't see until it was too late , a lil dodgy but nothing to worry about too much as i knew there was nothing dangerous underneath. We took the ride out through more great powder , i think it's official I'm going to become a powder hunter from here on as I've had a fair share of crust to last a lifetime, we must have been the last people on the mountain as it was deadly silent, we got back after a few funny moments , one where i took out Damien whilst trying to slow down off a jump haha , back down and back to the house for beers , strawberry teas and food time!! The final day and the day we had been waiting for finally to get into further backcountry lines and the line we wanted to take from the beginning. We started the ride off just lapping the slack around the top of the resort , We had a dusting of snow the night before which made conditions a lot better and the sun had came out for us for the entire day , We knew we were in for a good one , That's until damo yardsaled his phone and it could have been game over right there . The search for the phone wasn't looking hopeful as he lost the thing in the most tracked out area on the hill making it hard to retrace the last line. We lapped the lift to look for the phone , I didn't give up hope totally but it was looking like we were in for a long day , Luckily somehow damo found it almost right next to him as he stopped and was ready to leave it behind , The final day could have been so much different if things didn't work out , but he found it in good time , we even had time to relap the resort and come up for the final lift to start our final journey up the mountain at 8pm in the evening!
I didn't really show it back then but after a pretty heavy session of walking and riding for the last few days i was touching reserve tank to reach the summit point , i was happy to see it and i think damo was looking like he was also ready to sunbathe rather than hike the rest of the way which wouldn't have been a bad idea because the sun was shining down on us even until this late on the evening , a quick look back and the views were something amazing and it confirmed it was worth the wait and drama for the last day after all.
We met up with the local guide with a group who had been up the day before and even he was blown away by the scenery and such an amazing day in amazing conditions , I don't think at that point any of us were in the rush to do the line down, We got a few really good poser shots overlooking the sunset but it was one of those true moments which deserved it. The group jumped off down the straight line and we headed out to our final line further across the ridge , a few sketchy places especially on a snowboard where balance and vision was the difference between ruining the line or ruining the entire trip by falling over the ridge to the right and a final ride to the hospital , I had to hold it even if it meant falling on my ass proudly to stop any momentum of the board from tipping me over the edge , Easier said than done on a stiff directional freeride board .
The sun was coming down and we had this pinkish sunset glow overlooking us , Damo said to us he wanted to carry on riding the next morning before i left for my flight but i said i wanted to end the day, trip and season with a nice final ride and this was the day to do it , What has been another mixed season with some highs lows and a complete change of pace and lifestyle i think this trip and final ride confirmed to me that this is the life. I made a final glance and safety check with damo before dropping into the sunset with a few nice long sweeped turns and a fast exit into powder before we both headed off down almost like a video game run of powder, cornice drops, more powder, trees, more trees, a bit of piste ,more trees, park and the final furlong into the car park, what a day, what a trip, we finished at around 10.30pm still in the arctic semi light sky, the ride took us about an hour to get down , a new record , shattered but sad to leave it all behind and once again Narvik has opened my mind and created ultimate memories.
Damo is off to New Zealand for the start of the ski season out there , Part of me doesn't want to stop but I'm also going to be terribly committed to my real life of work but what this trip has taught me is that there is still so much fun to be had on the road in fact it could never really end unless i decide to slow life down but I’m not nowhere near feeling my age just yet , the love of travel has brought me here and travel is what's inside me and what i need to continue to do going into the future.
Svolvaer was a great place man i mean totally different to narvik with a more relaxed small town kinda feel and being by the port and with great sunshine throughout the time of our stay really gave it a holiday feel, Our choices just worked out right , The time we decided to visit and the locations turned out almost as practical for us as we could get without a car. The guest house was really kind of kawaii cute next to the marine overlooking the harbour and run by some really nice peeps , Ruth was a character and a half and really friendly , Our room was sweet i mean total luxury compared to my usual adventures , We actually had a cooker , Fridge , Free food , Towels and a TV i mean it could have been another planet! I was looking at a few places beforehand and the guesthouse was my final choice so we really got the good straw in the end and also we hooked up with Patrick a family member of the owners working in the guesthouse who shared some local info over beers and some insight into living out in Arctic Norway and travel plans etc for the future. I think Damien was pretty shocked at just how pricey Norway can get from our first trip to the supermarket , We ended up getting something like chilli paste , rice , bread and milk , absolute basics which were nice but he was not in the mood to get fancy in our shopping list , The most exotic thing we tried was Kaviar mix in a tube for the first few days which was like some ultra salty fish probably made up of all kinds of marine animal maybe even old boots and fishing rods, anything they can get away with for 20 krona , It wasn't actually all that bad but there is only so much kaviar i can take , haha sounds much more sophisticated than it was. We had a good scan of the local mountains and almost instantly we knew we had to try and reach the imposing mountain at the entrance to the town, The great thing is we had a view directly from our guesthouse as we were almost underneath it.
We tried to get some information on best ways to get up the mountain , After some eagle eyes of Damien noticing tourists had taken a path to reach the mountain in a brochure picture , we went in search for the tourist office for more info who confirmed it and told us of a trail which leads up to the entrance of the mountain , What they didn't tell us is half of it involves rock climbing and there would be no goats, grhhhh i wanted to see goats!!!
i kind of saw goats on the way up to the first drop in , I followed a line of footsteps in the snow leading up to the spot but realised the footsteps were more like hoofs than feet , No wonder i was having trouble getting up there i was missing two more legs! i bet the goats were watching somewhere just thinking what the hell.
Anyways the first drop was the last cats life i sacrificed of the season , I had got prepared and scanned the turns out but upon dropping in realised just how icy and steep the terrain was going to be but within the second turn i had lost my edge and began sliding down into a rock which lead to even more rocks over the horizon , i was sliding and picked up speed but still had control of the direction of the board even if i couldn't slow down, within the last second i dug deep on my back foot heel edge to turn the board out of danger away from the rock and barely escaped before turning toeside and losing edge again this time into another rock, luckily this time i had already made enough space to avoid it but just narrowly before sliding out and getting composure to get up and ride out in one piece. My mind was blank riding out just thinking what happened and how i even got out of it but i didn't dwell on the situation for too long as the reality is these things can happen and i wouldn't allow it to bring fear or doubt into the rest of the trip , But it could have easily been game over on the first day, Damien made the wise choice not to ride it and we had fun riding out and down the face , I got well and truly ready after bailing out at least 4 times on the way in the spring slush , It was pretty funny and Damien got a good laugh out of it whilst ripping on us snowboarders. The climb down was sketchy as we were carrying equipment on our back over narrow stone pathways with nasty drops but eventually we got down and i got a good picture shot of Damien looking like a wildlife presenter. A short walk back through the housing estates and we were back and sleepy and hungry and ready as ever for a beer and plans for the next day. Day 2 we found out that the sun sets at ridiculous o clock which meant we took the chance to enjoy a sleep in before setting out on our next and final ride in Lofoten. We decided to go check out the mountains around the local ski area which we never even knew about but had been closed already for the season, one thing Norwegians don't do too great is make things very clear for tourists which we found out a few times later in the trip.
Today was just a fun day and a hike up to the ridge overlooking the town , these locals have some sick terrain no wonder we didn't really see anybody around but telemarkers after the lifts are closed they are probably still burnt from powder days throughout the season, The telemarkers we caught up with were also like Olympic speed walkers , We managed to stay within distance at first but they were soon gone and over the horizon within the first hour of our hike up to the ridge. We took a look up to the face leading down off the ridge and with good snow conditions we had a real fun ride down not doing anything too stupid but just nice cruisey mode back to the start point , We had tracked some big jumps on the same line but looking down the face it was hard to judge whether we were in the right part to take off and come out safely as there were some big jumps leading into other big jumps kind of sketchy if losing control of the wood. I got into a little trouble on the way up , about 3/4 up the face at the steeper point I hit an icey spot and i was in a really dodgy position not really able to step back or even properly strap in if i had to bail out of the line but i couldn't really go on and i just didn't trust it enough to carry on trying to walk sideways across an icey face with nothing but a long a way down underneath me so i had to make a call and ask damo to give us a hand for the final section but hey it was all worth it in the end.
Next day we planned to set out and head over to Narvik by coach , i noticed that more Norwegian flags were around than usual and we figured they are probably having some kind of national holiday but we totally forgot that most things and services would be shut on this day and we hadn't really prepared or expected it , We set out for the bus and after waiting for about half an hour realised something wasn't right , then it hit us that the holiday is probably the reason and made a call to head back to the guesthouse where we made plans to stay 1 more night and head out the next day. We got chatting to Patrick and Ruth again who updated us on the holiday thing and had no choice but to just ride out and have a chilled day checking out the sights and the area and plan to set out the next day. We were pretty happy to get some free hire bikes for the day and wanted to go further down the road and visit the village Kabelvag, we got there pretty quick and raided a local café bars coffee stop and cinnabuns!!! damo was laughing at a till which sounded like a duck everytime it opened up. We still had plenty of time left and thought what the hell lets go deeper into the Lofoten’s, since we had no real destinations damo suggested us go visit a village called Brenna which is named after his mate so we headed out down there cross country style. The bike ride was beautiful but a long long way, i reminded damo a good few times she better be worth it, the way there wasn't too bad until we reached a point in the bend where we thought we had already made it only to find out it was beyond the bend and further into the coastline two steep hills later. Brenna was nothing special but a good spot to just stop by the coast and take the views of the ocean whilst making tinned mackerel sandwiches which we hijacked from the guesthouse. There was very little talking on the way back , even after the few turns of the wheel as we set back it hit me bad how far we still had to go and how much my legs just don't want too but out of determination we got some good speeds down taking turns to lead the front and set pace and made it about half way pretty quick , The last half of the journey was just defiance to get back as we were struggling for a little while but we could see civilization again after the remoteness of the coastal road , first thing we did was head back to the café for more cinnabuns!!There was a ska night on that night which would have been great but we were so wasted by the time we got back i made the call to just take it easy and relax rather than head back out on the bikes late on and come back drunk and tired at 4am and also we had to get the bus at 10am so i was just not really feeling it and damo didn't need any persuasion to stay in bed once he crashed out for a quick nap.
So that's us checking out! the sleep did us good and we were on our way for our final days in Narvik, We nearly missed the bus after some dramas and Damien flipping out at the driver haha but they kissed and made up later on.
So back in Narvik for the third and hopefully not the last time , We got the timing right on this one with the weather playing nice for all days well except the day I was leaving which went overcast and kind of crappy but fresh snow was still falling even this late into the year. The drive up on the bus i was pretty surprised to see so much snow still lying around the trees on ground level it's like winter never stops out here and loads of cutesy reindeers!!
The guesthouse we were planning to stay turned out to be shut down, We got there and the place was looking dumped out Damien couldn't believe i brought him to such a dive after our harbour view luxury of Lofoten, The place looked a lot nicer covered in snow and eternal darkness haha. Even i lost my nostalgia goggles though when we turned up , pretty mashed up grounds no signs anything , We got talking to a guy in the pub one of the days later and he told us they had to shut down quick time because the railway owned the land and wanted it or something like that but apparently they were selling it anyway , I got in touch with them a few months before we left and they were all good and open , strange man but whatever we were hoping on the backup plan and in the end it worked out better closer to the mountain and a lot nicer building with some badass view of the city and lake, also unlimited free tea coffee biscuits and strawberry teas and breakfast hell fook yes its heaven for balling on a budget. We got some help up from an eccentric Norwegian cat lady who stuck a picture of her cat onto her wheelie bag haha i loved her but she was hard work very chatty beyond a level where even i could keep up without losing the will and i don't mind having a good waffle myself , Damien was looking for the nearest exits every time we popped into her haha and we both looked at eachother like oh shit here we go again , But i liked her very friendly and overly outgoing but she would jump over crocodiles to help you out for anything.
Narvik seems to have got even pricier than last time i was here, Even the cheap shop wasn't that cheap anymore we could barely agree to buy a bag of nuts lol but i think once in Narvik we were a bit more relaxed and accepting that nothings cheap so screw it lets just enjoy some nice stuff while were here. We took a walk on the first day to find some info at the ski centre and first thing we noticed was an event going on at the base and a load of Norwegians in dnb bank outfits because that's soooo badass cool in Norway right? anyway i knew it , Damn site played me bad and the wrong information was put up leading me to believe the event was going to be on the next day , yeah i was pissed i wanted to do a bank slalom to finish off the year crapathon of average events but it wasn't going to happen and i just accepted it and moved on to our ideas of riding the mountain over the next few days.
We ended up going out later on , we first got to the club and it was dead at about 11 , Most people back home in UK can barely stand up at that time never mind only just think about going out later on , We ended up staying in the local pub and had a good chat with the locals and a bar man who supported united, damiana pissed off some drunk girl by calling her crazy haha she was cute but nah man too much hard work for me. The club was ok , kind of cheesy typical local club kind of thing , We noticed it was mixed all ages which was kind of different to see and pretty laid back , one guy was rocking too hard and got ejected by a bouncer straight in front of us and just gangster style left the building it was funny. Rest of the night the standard kinda night out , I don't think Damien was feeling it just to chill and enjoy it , He was on a mission for women whereas i just weren't that bothered i was just out and chilled, i stick to bro code always unless made clear , I can do all this back home so my focus is on the riding of boards and the rest comes after. Anyway we made it to the end and enjoyed a few hours’ sleep before getting up for breakfast and ready for the ride later on in the day, The great thing about the place too is that the lift access didn't open til 3pm but it stays light until really late so we knew we had all night long to ride.
The first ride was ok, the snow was hard pack on the slope and hard tracked out crust off it on the main resort part of the mountain, My board and legs didn't like it all but i could cope . We later started exploring the backcountry areas and found sweet powder just waiting for cruisers so we took the invitation and mainly stayed in this area for the rest of the day with big rides down through the trees and long ass traverses to get easy distance back to the slope. Damian was self-made camera man for most of the trip , i didn't really think too much of it , I brought my Holga film camera for the best shots and just the phone which i never got to work properly enough to take clear shots whilst Damien had all the gadgets and took most of the shots and films during the trip which in honesty was a good call as my phone was just not set up properly until i got back home and realised the exposure focus was not properly set up because of the stupid default settings.
We did the walk up to the more serious backcountry terrain and luckily were followed behind by a local board guide and some skiers , We ended up walking on past the first drop in point for our position which we had traced out for ourselves , On the way up we started getting caught up in the clouds and walking into whiteout conditions , We took a break to stop and eat and wait out to see if the clouds would clear before after half hour deciding to make the decision to turn back and ride down, anyway on the way back we bumped into the guide group who were taking the earlier drop in point , after a break in the clouds these guys dropped in and were down , we thought we would enjoy the silence and views and take a few shots before heading back down but we left it too late and got carried away and before we knew it the clouds were closing in on us ready to settle down on our ass for the night , we tried to wait it out again but realised that we just need to get down in one piece as we were both getting cold hanging around doing nothing , after a quick sparring session we waited for a break of visibility and decided to go for it. I was trying to stay within visibility of Damien on the way down but i could see him sharp jumping turns but i didn't want to lose sight of him in worst case scenario terrain , so i had to stay on my edge hard to keep in the same direction but i went on a bit of a slide over some hard pack which i didn't see until it was too late , a lil dodgy but nothing to worry about too much as i knew there was nothing dangerous underneath. We took the ride out through more great powder , i think it's official I'm going to become a powder hunter from here on as I've had a fair share of crust to last a lifetime, we must have been the last people on the mountain as it was deadly silent, we got back after a few funny moments , one where i took out Damien whilst trying to slow down off a jump haha , back down and back to the house for beers , strawberry teas and food time!! The final day and the day we had been waiting for finally to get into further backcountry lines and the line we wanted to take from the beginning. We started the ride off just lapping the slack around the top of the resort , We had a dusting of snow the night before which made conditions a lot better and the sun had came out for us for the entire day , We knew we were in for a good one , That's until damo yardsaled his phone and it could have been game over right there . The search for the phone wasn't looking hopeful as he lost the thing in the most tracked out area on the hill making it hard to retrace the last line. We lapped the lift to look for the phone , I didn't give up hope totally but it was looking like we were in for a long day , Luckily somehow damo found it almost right next to him as he stopped and was ready to leave it behind , The final day could have been so much different if things didn't work out , but he found it in good time , we even had time to relap the resort and come up for the final lift to start our final journey up the mountain at 8pm in the evening!
I didn't really show it back then but after a pretty heavy session of walking and riding for the last few days i was touching reserve tank to reach the summit point , i was happy to see it and i think damo was looking like he was also ready to sunbathe rather than hike the rest of the way which wouldn't have been a bad idea because the sun was shining down on us even until this late on the evening , a quick look back and the views were something amazing and it confirmed it was worth the wait and drama for the last day after all.
We met up with the local guide with a group who had been up the day before and even he was blown away by the scenery and such an amazing day in amazing conditions , I don't think at that point any of us were in the rush to do the line down, We got a few really good poser shots overlooking the sunset but it was one of those true moments which deserved it. The group jumped off down the straight line and we headed out to our final line further across the ridge , a few sketchy places especially on a snowboard where balance and vision was the difference between ruining the line or ruining the entire trip by falling over the ridge to the right and a final ride to the hospital , I had to hold it even if it meant falling on my ass proudly to stop any momentum of the board from tipping me over the edge , Easier said than done on a stiff directional freeride board .
The sun was coming down and we had this pinkish sunset glow overlooking us , Damo said to us he wanted to carry on riding the next morning before i left for my flight but i said i wanted to end the day, trip and season with a nice final ride and this was the day to do it , What has been another mixed season with some highs lows and a complete change of pace and lifestyle i think this trip and final ride confirmed to me that this is the life. I made a final glance and safety check with damo before dropping into the sunset with a few nice long sweeped turns and a fast exit into powder before we both headed off down almost like a video game run of powder, cornice drops, more powder, trees, more trees, a bit of piste ,more trees, park and the final furlong into the car park, what a day, what a trip, we finished at around 10.30pm still in the arctic semi light sky, the ride took us about an hour to get down , a new record , shattered but sad to leave it all behind and once again Narvik has opened my mind and created ultimate memories.
Damo is off to New Zealand for the start of the ski season out there , Part of me doesn't want to stop but I'm also going to be terribly committed to my real life of work but what this trip has taught me is that there is still so much fun to be had on the road in fact it could never really end unless i decide to slow life down but I’m not nowhere near feeling my age just yet , the love of travel has brought me here and travel is what's inside me and what i need to continue to do going into the future.
Below is a Picture Diary of the blog Post Lofoten Islands
Cocky statue at Oslo Airport
We're going where?
Arrival at Svolvaer
Already causing trouble in the neighbourhood
Me and Damo outside Hotel
First Meal Overlooking our target
Damo chilled out on the hotel deck
The Route
Local Fishing huts
Something was fishy about this place
Damo couldn't hold back
House Tattoos
OKwe had a night planned out
Even in the country we found funny artwork
Made it to our destination, Brenda, in honour of damo's friend
The weather was setting in on the horizon
Back into Narvik
Interesting Map of the Area
Yes when two snowsports guys live together in a short space
Looks Steep
Here we go!
Climbing to Narvik Peak
I didn't make it
Damo boosting for this sunset shot
Damo Wildlife presenting up the Svolvaer climb
The climb was worth it for the views alone
Damo climbing to hit a natural kicker
Here he goes!
Knackered, reached brenda for our lunch
Damo at the cube
Overlooking a pretty heavy lip in Svolvaer
Damo on his way
All the fish sent him a bit crazy in the end
The perfect couple
Damo Charging for the drop
Sunset Damo
Nice lake on walk around Svolvaer
Oh yes!
Looks tough but was a fairly straight forward Climb to our peak
This one
Frozen Lake
Lunch time with a view
I love the vehicle choices in Narvik
WTF Narvik
Directions Please
One of the best views of my life
We were trekking to this peak the long way around in Svolvaer
We found some others ready to ride at the top of Narvik
The lower forest stage of the climb
More Narvik Vehicles
Beautiful sunny day
With an amazing sunset in the Arctic Circle
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