Norweigen Skiiers and Mount Ingsted

A group of six Norwegian Skiers made it here from Weisman on Tuesday. They skied through wilderness for 14 days over 130 miles in sub zero temperatures. They are part of a school program in Norway. Most of them are taking a year between high school and college, or as they say between college and University and this adventure is part of that year. A group from the school comes here every year. This was a friendly group. I hosted them for dinner one night and they invited me out on a hike up Mount Ingsted with them.

Stefan with frosty whiskers.

waxing Skis. I am glad I have waxless skis. Seems to be less hassle and better traction.

We met at 10 am and skied over across the tundra. It was one of the nicest days all year, it was only -15 and there was no wind. I took off several layers of clothing and left behind my beaver hat. We skied across the Tundra to the base of the mountain where we entered a narrow valley.

Zoey was staring at something upslope from us. I looked and saw two Dall Sheep on the rocky hillside ablove us.

We climbed on our skis for a bit until it got too steep. The skis came off and I put on my micro spikes and started climbing. A few of the guys bolted a head, but one was afraid of the steepness of the slope and turned back. He was coming down as I was headed up. I watched him make some nice telemark turns as he made his way down the narrow valley. At one point zoey sat down and started sliding down the hill. She was attached to my skijour harness and she pulled me down about 100 feet until I was able to dig my heals in a stop us. At that point I decided to unhook her and climb back up. I slowly made my way of the steep slope. I do not think I have ever climbed anything so steep in my life. Zoey followed faithfully in my tracks.

As I neared the top of the ridge the snow was deeper and I punched through more, banging my shin and knees on a thick layer of crusty, icy snow. I made it to the top where Pernille was having a snack and waiting. I shared my hot coco and she gave me some of her energy "bombs." I needed the boost of energy after making such a steep ascent. I looked at my GPS we had traveled only 3.25 miles from my house, but had climbed about 3000 ft! The ridge was about 5000 ft and my home is around 1800. Wow what a day.

Pernille at the top of the ridge with the peak of Ingsted in the back.

From the ridge there were spectacular views of the valleys in all directions. I had seen many from the plane flying over but to be able to get a panoramic view was awesome. The Valley where the headwaters of the Anaktuvk river was especially stunning with the blue ice that braided its way through the valley.

This was the skiers first view of Anaktuvuk pass, as they came in from Ernie pass. The encountered some overflow on the river, but they were so close to civilization it was not life threatening, they were able to dry out a bit before camping out for the 14th night.

We made our decent down the steep slope slowly. I worried that Zoey would either bolt a head and start sliding down or that she may cause us to tumble down. She was good though, staying mostly behind me and patiently following in my tracks. (most of the time)

We took a rest on the slope for a photos opp. It is hard to tell how steep the slope is from the photos.

Where the slope was less steep, we were able to slide down on our bottoms, easier than making every careful step. I made it back down to my skis and made some sweeping turns down the narrow valley.

Unfortunately Zoey got in the way on one of those tuns causing me to fall on her and I sprained my knee. This made the rest of the ski back a little more uncomfortable and difficult. But we made it back home with out incident.

Later I headed over to Colby's where Alex had cooked up the ptarmagin he had shot the day before. It was cooked very well and tasted great, better than the first time I had tasted Ptarmagine. Thank you Alex!

The skiiers are to fly out today. It was nice to have the comapny of such adventurous folks. I look forward to the visit from the school group next year. Perhaps I will make it over to Norway someday to visit some of them. That would be an adventure!