"Viajar a pie" is Spanish for "Travelling on foot"

Category: Europe

Norge Midt Facts and Figures

I routinely take key notes at the end of every hiking day. Bringing them all together makes for some interesting stats.

Field notes

Final route

I followed the E1 track by the book, with variations in the off-trail sections too small to be worth registering. Starting point, as planned, in Sulitjelma, county Nordland. Effective ending point in As i Tydal, county Trondelag.

Distance: 825 km

This was the effective trip distance if I trust the mapping tools. Actual walked distance was about 10 km longer after being forced to backtrack to the closest hut in front of a dangerous stream ford and stormy weather on day 26.

Days: 29

That’s hiking days. I hiked every day of the trip except for the evening fly-in, evening fly-out.

Average: 28.5 km/day

That’s if I calculate based on the effective trip distance. I fell a bit short of my intended, loose and completely pointless goal of averaging 30 km/day. If I take day 1, when I started hiking in the evening, out of the count, my average goes up to 29 km/day.

Longest day: 38 km

This was on day 5. I did several 37 km days too.

Full hiking days: 21

Did nothing but hike.

Short hiking days: 8

I include here all days where I walked less distance, time or both than usual, broken down into the opening and closing days, the two resupply days and four days with an early stop due to weather. Some of these latter were actually tougher than any normal hiking day.

Days with rain: 19

These include any kind and amount of rain. Put it the other way, there were 10 dry days. Rain was heavy and/or long-lasting for only 11 of those 19. Norway is a notoriously wet place.

Wet and dark

Camps: 18

Camping being my default, this time amounted to almost 2/3 of the nights, my highest ratio so far for all my trips in Norway.

Saltfjellet-Svartisen

Hut stays: 7

Every time I felt like enjoying a Norwegian hut, I’d indulge, no questions asked to myself. There were always some weather reasons behind the indoor thing but sometimes there would also be just some comfort factor or a need for a break from the outdoor after an accumulation of exposure weight.

Holden hut

Lodge stays: 3

Two of these were planned to go with my two resupply stops, the third was a handy option at the end of a rainy day.

Limingen Gjestegard in Royrvik town

Full resupplies: 2

Full resupply number 1 was a mail drop in Umbukta lodge on day 8. Second one, a supermarket run in Royrvik town on day 16. Both locations were on trail.

Supermarket in Royrvik town

Food supplies for the final week were from the pantry room of several huts along the way.

Days where I met nobody: 1

This was on day 19, north of Skjaekerfjella National Park. Ironically enough, I started the day from a front country hut in a small village but it was very early and there was nobody around. Nobody on the trails or off the trails, where I spent a good part of the day.

Days where I regretted being out there

This is not in my notes but very clear in my head: there were none. Reminder to myself.

Norge Midt Highlights

I’ve let the memories sink, then dug them out. This here below is what’s stuck after spending one month hiking the length of Norway where the country is at its narrowest.

Norge Midt

Linking steps for one month

This is about the great synergy in following a continuous path for an extended time, starting somewhere and ending some place else when it feels the latter is half a world away from the former.

There is something unique about this. On the most basic, it’s the old known feat about doing some actual travel so it’s not just walking around but actually going somewhere. Going deeper, there’s this beautiful idea about meeting the land as it is and facing the challenges. Show me what you have, I’ll make my way through it no matter what.

Scenario

My first working title for this section was the most obvious “Scenery” but as I developed the idea it changed to what you see now, a subtle but meaningful update. This trip was not as much about breathtaking views and more about a flow through the landscape, a scenario where stuff happened.

Borgefjell highlands, where stuff happened

This was a bit of a revelation to myself. I had always pictured Norway as the postcard-perfect hike and part of the idea for this trip was to challenge such cliché and see what would happen, which takes me to the next point below.

Less obvious Norway

It’s not all glacial valleys, rock walls or lake basins, Norway hiking can also get rather mundane and, guess what, it remains very attractive and interesting.

It was only my third hiking trip in this part of the world. Before this last, most of the going had been high latitude, high altitude or both. In the lower figures, there was a different world comprising stuff like conifer woods, birch woods, farming communities, endless moorland and way more water than the land can hold. It made for less spectacular, often tougher hiking but it felt for real. I loved visiting this other Norway.

Sylan region

Going off-trail

This is about meeting the place in its own terms, not only because of the obvious absence of a trail or any signaling to follow but also and mainly because of the limited availability of shelter infrastructure for extended periods. In a place like Norway, this changes everything.

Going off-trail is something I wouldn’t probably choose, given the chance but I was also intrigued by the prospect. Being parts of a set route, it helps for those of us unfamiliar with the region know that it’ll be walkable, which is pretty much the only basics I’d need to know, the rest is just the added challenge.

Hike through this

I spent about the second third of the trip going mostly off-trail. The eventual return to the trail network became my brightest beacon, something to fight for when the going was rough.

Sometimes the off-trail wouldn’t look like much different from the signed routes. Among all the factors that would shape the hiking experience, being off-grid was just one of them. In the right conditions (fair weather, firm ground, low vegetation, no obvious obstacles), it could be easy and enjoyable walking but it wasn’t gonna be that perfect for long, not in Norway. Adding the lack of trails, signage or shelters to the typical array of difficulties pushed the experience deep into the type-2 fun. It was challenging for me.

In retrospect, it was a highlight and I was happy it was an integral part of the trip.

Camping

It’s the pretty settings and the welcoming feeling about camping out being the natural thing to do. Finding home in the wilderness and being comfortable after the hard work.

Being native to a place where you take firm ground for granted, it’s always a bit of an initial shock, even if it’s not the first time, to hike and camp where everything seems to be a giant, endless marsh. You need to learn to read the land so you can find the best potential for good camping spots as you go. This is a great learning experience. Other than the obvious convenience, it’s a way of connecting with the land.

Finding dry ground

Hutting

I’m echoing myself here, see the Highlights section for previous trips in the region, but let me tell you (again) how important the shelter infrastructure is in a place like Norway. I’d say “for me” but I’ve met enough fellow hikers relieved to be inside to not feel alone in this.

Summer conditions are nice for hiking, the camping is wonderful and whatnot but there are times when I just needed to be inside, be it after a traumatic weather event or a simple accumulation of weight on my emotional shoulders. Come such time, the Norwegian hut system is the place to be and the simple knowing makes life plain nicer on the trail.

I went through some of my finest times on the trip sipping warm coffee by the fireplace. That’s a lot to say about an outbound experience.

Whatever by the fireplace

Type-2 fun at its best

Thru-hiking in Norway is tough, no surprises here, yet I’m doing it here again because I know I love the challenge, if only in retrospect.

Norge Midt Preview

In 2023, I’ll have a full month in summer that I’ll devote to hiking. With the exception of 2019, where I did a multi-month thru-hike, a full, continuous month hadn’t happened for me since 2009, i.e. this is a special one. For such occasion, I’ve chosen to hike in Norway.

Idea

In line with all my hiking trips, I mean to do a continuous hike, camp along the way, be in nature and go with the flow. Norway is a great place for this: outstanding scenery, good network of trails, seamless links of natural areas, virtually no restrictions beyond the natural ones and a hiking/mountaineering culture very welcoming to long-distance hiking.

Trollheimen to Hedmarksvidda

WhereSouth-Central Norway
WhenJuly/August
Distance464 km / 288 miles
Length15 days

Mellomfjell in Trollheimen

The trip idea started with hiking in Southern Norway for 2 weeks. I chose a continuous line of travel through some of those evocative Norwegian names: Trollheimen, Dovrefjell and Rondane. Then I noticed this uninterrupted line of highlands going further south that eventually became the final leg of my trip through the Lillehammer and Hedmarksvidda regions.

Norway is well known for its spectacular scenery. I also realized how varied its landscapes can be and enjoyed both the remoteness and the Norwegian hiking culture.

See the menu to access all content for my trip in South-Central Norway.

Gear notes Norway 2022

A few details about gear and skills in my 2022 Norway trip that I’ve found worth mentioning.

Locus Gear Khufu DCF tent

I got this tent in the months prior to the trip with the intention of making it my main, 3 season thru-hiking shelter, lightweight enough to take it anywhere, solid enough to take it to places like Norway. I had the chance to use the tent and play with the different setups before the Norway trip, if only to learn about pitching and know what to expect. I didn’t have the chance to use it under challenging conditions. What follows is about the Khufu in the Norway trip.

Hedmarksvidda

In the summer of 2022, I travelled in Norway to walk train station to train station between Oppdal, county Trondelag, and Hamar, Innlandet county, taking a high line across 3 mountain regions as well as National Parks/Protected Areas, Trollheimen, Dovrefjell and Rondane, and the high moors in the less renowned Hedmarksvidda region.

Hedmarksvidda section

Rondane

In the summer of 2022, I travelled in Norway to walk train station to train station between Oppdal, county Trondelag, and Hamar, Innlandet county, taking a high line across 3 mountain regions as well as National Parks/Protected Areas, Trollheimen, Dovrefjell and Rondane, and the high moors in the less renowned Hedmarksvidda region.

Rondane section

Dovrefjell

In the summer of 2022, I travelled in Norway to walk train station to train station between Oppdal, county Trondelag, and Hamar, Innlandet county, taking a high line across 3 mountain regions as well as National Parks/Protected Areas, Trollheimen, Dovrefjell and Rondane, and the high moors in the less renowned Hedmarksvidda region.

The second leg lasted 3 days during which I crossed Dovrefjell. Compared to the previous section, Dovrefjell is higher and drier ground, it is also further inland. Other than the deep, glacial scars, Dovrefjell feels like a high plateau dotted with lakes and criss-crossed by rocky hills with the occasional vertical wall wherever there had been a glacial body.

Dovrefjell section

Trollheimen

In the summer of 2022, I walked train station to train station between Oppdal, county Trondelag, and Hamar, Innlandet county, taking a high line across 3 mountain regions as well as National Parks/Protected Areas, Trollheimen, Dovrefjell and Rondane, and the high moors in the less renowned Hedmarksvidda region.

The first leg was a 3 full day (plus a half day approach), anti-clockwise jaunt through this evocatively named region in the title, located in the transition area between the coastal fjords and the inland ranges. The name stands for Home of the Trolls, who knows why. It’s a very alpine looking area with sharp peaks, lots of precipitation and deep, lush valleys.

Trollheimen section

Norway South Highlights

When I think about my summer 2022 trip in Norway, these below are the subjects that first and most often come to mind.

Scenery

This almost goes without saying but let me remind myself that Norway is painfully scenic. I wouldn’t need to try to find the beauty, it’d just be there, all the time, no room for doubt. Add to that the diversity in environments and landscapes but let me elaborate on that under its own title.

Looking downstream from the upper reaches of Grovudalen in Dovrefjell

Norway South Preview

In the summer of 2022, I’ll be hiking abroad again. This is always a big deal, more so after a 2 year gap. I chose Norway and I chose The South.

Overview

I’ll be hiking roughly north to south across Trollheimen, Dovrefjell, Rondane and Hedmarksvidda for a total length of 456 km and a maximum of 15 hiking days. This is the planned route:1

Via Alpina 1 Daily Account

Via Alpina 1

WhereSwitzerland
WhenSeptember
Distance268 km / 167 miles
Length8 days

The Blümlisalp massif from Hohtürli, highest pass on the Via Alpina 1

Via Alpina 1 Stage 8: Bundalp to Adelboden

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartBundalp
EndAdelboden
Distance31 km / 19 m
PassesHohtürli, Bunderchrinde

I wake up wondering if I’ll be fit for walking today. It’s difficult to say when nothing really hurts and a resting position makes everything feel right. Straight off bed I feel weak but that may be normal. I decide to give breakfast a go and see how it feels. It went down this well:

Alp breakfast

Via Alpina 1 Stage 7: Lauterbrunnen to Bundalp

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartLauterbrunnen
EndBundalp
Distance24 km / 15 m
PassesSefinenfurkke

For the first time in the trip, the day starts overcast. Chance of rain in the morning, getting dryer in the evening. Me, climbing right away, pretty much off the hostel door and up the glacial escarpment with interesting views back to Lauterbrunnen.

Lauterbrunnen from the other side

Via Alpina 1 Stage 6: Wetterhorn to Lauterbrunnen

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartWetterhorn base
EndLauterbrunnen
Distance29 km / 18 m
PassesGrosse Scheidegg, Kleine Scheidegg

After the early night thunderstorm, the morning is crisp and clear. The Wetterhorn is still there.

Dawn on the Wetterhorn

Via Alpina 1 Stage 5: Engstlensee to foot of the Wetterhorn

This entry is part 5 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartEngstlensee
EndWetterhorn foot
Distance33 km / 20 m
PassesNone

I’m glad I slept under tree cover, the Alps are a surprisingly damp place! but my shelter is mostly dry in the early morning and I didn’t need to compromise on views.

Dawn on the Engstlensee, Jochpass at the far end

Via Alpina 1 Stage 4: Brüsti to Engstlensee

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartBrüsti
EndEngstlensee
Distance36 km / 22 m
PassesSurenenpass, Jochpass

Morning is brilliant blue and it doesn’t take as long as on previous mornings for the light to shine, it’s the first time on the trip that I don’t sleep on the valley floor. I couldn’t arrange for tree cover overhead for the night but my shelter is dry nevertheless. Surenenpass is still there and it’s my next milestone.

Trailstar in the meadow, Surenenpass at the far end

Via Alpina 1 Stage 3: Urnerboden to Attinghausen and beyond

This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartUrnerboden
EndBrüsti - Attinghausen
Distance33 km / 20 m
PassesKlausenpass

In the morning, as expected, everything is dripping wet and I need to leave well before the sun shines so I pack a wet mess and a good excuse for an extended break in the sun later on the day. The setting is not idyllic, too close to human habitation but the valley is beautiful and very well worth a camp pic:

Dawn in Urner Boden

Via Alpina 1 Stage 2: Elm to Urnerboden

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartElm
EndUrnerboden
Distance42 km / 26 m
PassesRichetlipass

Morning is dark inside the thick conifer woods where I’m camping just outside Elm village. I go through town in daylight but still well before the sun rises above the mountain tops. My legs are sore from day 1 efforts that no amount of stretching could heal but as soon as I warm them up, I can walk with reasonable dignity.

Morning in the conifer woods

Via Alpina 1 Stage 1: Sargans to Elm

This entry is part 1 of 8 in the series Via Alpina 1
StartSargans
EndElm
Distance36 km / 22 m
PassesFoopass

Sargans and nearby Mels sit in a wide, oddly flat valley confluence flanked by high peaks. The Via Alpina 1 enters the mountains along the Weisstannental in a course due west. This valley is narrow and deep, with a public road near stream level. The trail takes a different course on the upper floor, i.e. it makes an initial climb to the south-side slopes, then traverses along, linking the small communities and farms clinging to the hillside.

The Seez in Mels

Via Alpina 1, the passes

It used to be called the Alpine Pass Route so you can bet the passes are an important feature. They always are on mountain terrain! They’re the main landmarks to help us break the trail down into meaningful stages, they’re the double-side viewpoints and they decide where the water goes. This is a power list of the passes I crossed on the Via Alpina.

Via Alpina 1 Description

Via Alpina 1 is the newer name for the trail formerly known as the Alpine Pass Route. It goes East to West along the northern edge of the Swiss Alps from Liechtenstein to Lac Leman for a length of about 360 km, more or less depending on a few existing options.

Via Alpina 1 Deep Impressions

The Via Alpina 1, also known as the Alpine Pass Route goes east to west across Switzerland through the Glarner and Berner sections of the Alps for about 360 km, give or take some depending on options and starting point. I hiked along in mid September, 2018 with the loose, ambitious idea of completing it in a week. I didn’t make it to the opposite end but I did make a lot of other stuff. This here is a list of the aspects that left a lasting impression on me. It’s about the land, the mountains and the trail and it’s mostly about myself and how I was feeling at the time.

Via Alpina 1 Preview

Starting mid September, I’ll be hiking on the Via Alpina 1 all the way across Switzerland. Background, motivation and rough plan below.

Hecho Valley

The Hecho valley is on the Western Pyrenees. It’s the westernmost pyrenean area of consistently dramatic mountain scenery and some features make it special: there are no through roads across the range and there are no ski resorts. It is a wild and quiet place. What the mountains are meant to be.

GR 5 Alpine Traverse

Making friends at the Combe de Crousette

WhereWestern Alps
WhenAugust/September
Distance852 km / 530 miles
Length24 days

There’s lots of user information about the Alps already, yet traversing a significant section of the range while camping out most nights, packing several days worth of food at a time or not climbing any peaks is probably not the most typical activity people do in these mountains.

During the GR 5 traverse, I was never more than a couple hours hike from some kind of civilization and if I count on the stuffed huts that couple of hours happened very few times, if any. The Alps are no wilderness and the GR 5 is certainly not the most remote you can get in these mountains. It’s dead easy and requires no big planning effort to hike the GR 5 and get lodging every night.

In my very limited experience, lots of people use the GR 5 trail system but it seems not many try to hike it all and even less attempt any kind of extended self sufficiency. It will be odd to leave the last village only to climb up to some alpine meadow for camping but once there you’ll quickly forget the taverns you missed. It’s beautiful up in the alpine and these mountains are famous for a reason or two.

Conflicts with the wildlife

The Alps don’t stand out for the wildness and there are no big mammals to worry about. The goat-like chamois and bouquetin seem the most ubiquitous among the sizeable ones, relatively easy to spot and I never seem to remember which one is each.

Another common trail companion is the shy marmot, bound to be the main character in this comment.

Maps and Guidebooks

The GR 5 is well documented. As any GR trail in France, it’s got its own set of guidebooks, consistently edited by the FFRP (Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre which approximately stands for French Hiking Federation). These books are in French and due to the popularity of this route among English speaking (or, in general, non-French speaking) people, UK publisher Cicerone released a guidebook that covers just the Alpine Traverse.

Gear Review

Most of the stuff is just as usual. I’ll comment on those new or somehow relevant items.

Shoes

Inov8 Terroc 330

Maybe the most comfortable shoes I’ve worn on the trail, surely the lightest and probably the less durable. The Terrocs performed well and were very gentle on my feet but barely made it to trip end. The shoe body was still ok but the soles suffered; one of them got a crack under the ball of the foot that turned into an alpine glacier crevasse exposing the midsole which eventually also cracked.

Villages

Going through villages is something that happens almost everyday on the GR 5; usually, more than once a day so it’s a key part of the experience. With recreation being such a big part of the scene in the Alps, it’s taken over a lot of the rural environment and some locations have more lodges and restaurants than farms and sheds. I tried to not spend much time in the urban but still feel a quick overview of what can be expected might be of interest. North to south:

Information

Is there anything I can write about the Alps that’s not already been said? Probably not except my own take at one of the most spectacular, long distance traverses along the western arm of one the most spectacular mountain ranges. A bit of blah, blah, blah too…

Preparations

The word alpine comes obviously from the Alps even though it’s evolved into a kind of generic term for everything alpine. But strictly speaking an alpine something should take place in some alps. There are actually a few mountain groups in the world named alps but it all began where the European plains rise several thousand meters to become a world of rocky, ice-covered big walls that define the line between north and south; east and west, too.

Nordkalottleden

Baugevatnet, arctic Norway

WhereLapland
WhenAugust/September
Distance800 km / 500 miles
Length24 days

Hiking beyond the arctic circle may sound like a very extreme thing to do. I’d had pictured a world of summer under freezing temps and windswept barrens.

There’s such conditions north of the circle but Lapland has a weather of its own thanks to the Gulf Stream. There’s human activity up there. There’s even hiking trails.

Planning for this route wasn’t easy. At the time, there was little information, either on the net or in print, and only little bits could be found in English or any other language I could understand. In the following pages, I’ll try to fill that gap from the (necessarily limited) perspective of a one time hiker. Don’t expect a deep knowledge from the area here but I’ll try to stick to the facts as I perceived them and not make assumptions. Or say so when I do.

Slide Show

Telling stories with words is easy. Without them it’s a different language. This is about Nordkalottleden.

Ultralight in the arctic

Handy scale in Alesjaure

At nearly max weight for the trip with 11 days worth of food

One of the issues with ultralight or lightweight hiking is overcoming the fear of being unprepared for the conditions. It’s something you learn with practice but that fear comes back when you face a new set of conditions. This is particularly true when you’re about to travel to an isolated place with potentially severe weather.

Gear Performance Analysis

Shelter / Pack / Sleep system / Clothing / Shoes

Nordkalottleden was a bit off the typical 3 season conditions of a temperate climate and I had to make a few adjustments to my gear list to reflect that. There was also quite a bit of uncertainty as I was not so sure about what to expect so it was a bit of a challenge to gather a gear list I could trust and was still reasonably lightweight.

As usual, gear and technique are one in this discussion. It’s not possible to understand one without the other so this will not be a fancy presentation of cool looking equipment but a hands-on essay on how my gear and me got together in the arctic fells.

Logistics

Access / Ressuply / Huts / Maps / Transport

Planning for this route wasn’t easy. There’s little information, either on the net or in print, and only little bits can be found in english. In the following lines, I’ll try to fill that gap from the (necessaryly limited) perspective of a one time hiker. Don’t expect a deep knowledge from the area. I’ll just try to provide all that info I couldn’t find easily, if at all, and I know now.

Information

Terrain / Hiking / Trails / Signalling / Infrastructures / Weather / Obstacles / Season

The Lapland highlands

Terrain

Tundra

The northernmost tip of the route goes through the arctic tundra. Actually, I think it is not yet technically tundra as the terrain Nordkalottleden goes through is still forested and as far as I know the tundra is tree-less by definition but on this rolling hill landscape trees are small and the route often takes the high areas on the hills where trees are absent.

Afterthoughts

Expectations vs. Reality / About hiking in Lapland / People / Pace / Would I do it again?

Beyond the gear, the terrain or resupply logistics, there are memories not so straightforward to talk about which are yet a good part of the experience.

Tornetrask with a low “roof”

First Impressions

The blurred letters say “Nordkalottleden”

“What the hell am I doing here?… I want to go home…”

It eventually happens in most trips. There comes a moment when your morale weakens and you start wondering if it’s worth it. Usually, you soon decide it is, after all.

Idea

I started planning for this trail back in 2005 to eventually put the idea back. In part, due to the lack of information in a language I could understand, oddly enough in this information era where everything is supposed to be available on the internet.

Description

The Pyrenees stretch between Atlantic and Mediterranean. While the mountains create quite a weather of their own, the influence of the two seas clearly shows. The western Pyrenees are wetter and greener and since the atlantic weather systems usually approach from the northwest, the northern side is also damper than the south.

Pyrenean High Route

Camp below the Gran Astazu walls

WherePyrenees
WhenJuly/August
Distance800 km / 500 miles
Length29 days

The Pyrenees are a magnificent range and it’s been amazing to cover their length through all the varied landscapes and environments within. I could see the range develop and fade away, it was like traversing its life story more than its length.

The High Route is as wild as it gets. 29 days, a good ratio of glory vs. misery and a great feeling about the long distance hiking coming home

Background

If you don’t know about the Pyrenees but you do about the Alps, I can use that for an intro into the former. Compared to the Alps, the Pyrenees are not as high, not as wide, not that much in the middle of urban Europe but still high, rugged and, in a way, still wild. The Pyrenees are usually the destination of choice for those visitors who want to try something different from the Alps, who are tired of the overcrowded, overurbanised world of the Alps or who simply want to backpack without having to worry about crossing glaciers.

Plan

After four years in a row visiting North America, this summer the hiking’s coming home. It’ll be not a little bit less exciting while I’ll be tackling a solo traverse of the Pyrenees, sea to sea over the Haute Randonnée Pyrenéenne, the wildest and most rugged of the three routes that cover the distance from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. 4 weeks and a strong will to finish but above all a stronger will to have a good time so no marathons here… I’ll try my best but the goal is in the trip itself, not on the finish line.

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