The freedom of a road trip | Vesterålen and Lofoten

Once it was clear that I would be studying in Sweden for a semester, I quickly realized that I wanted to take a trip to the Lofoten Islands. I was able to convince two friends to join me. Beforehand, we read through a few travel reports to be inspired by the experiences of others. We quickly decided not to plan everything down to the last detail, but to let ourselves be driven by the conditions and our spontaneity on site. It's difficult to assess the snow conditions from afar anyway. Although there is snow depth data, it is not particularly accurate and the weather forecast is not all that reliable in the wild North Sea weather.

We wanted to spend the night in a tent or in self-catering huts. In winter, however, you can usually find accommodation on the Lofoten Islands at short notice without any problems, so we didn't make any reservations, just booked a rental car and took out a membership with the Norwegian Alpine Club (DNT) to be able to use the mountain huts. There is a key that you can borrow in Narvik, for example, to get into the huts. In retrospect, however, it turned out that you have to book in advance for each hut in Lofoten at the nearest tourist information office and then receive an individual key there. For Snytindenhytta in Vesterålen, you don't need a key at all.

If you find out at short notice that the snow conditions on the Lofoten Islands are too bad to go on a tour, there are some attractive alternative options. Firstly, the further you get towards the mainland, the more snow there is. On the other hand, the Lyngen Alps a little further north are usually blessed with more white. Riksgränsen has the best snow conditions. Now, at the end of April, there is still over two meters of snow in the valley.

The next day, due to the snow situation, we decided on the more relaxed Nordtinden (883 m). We first made a descent on the other side, climbed back up and then skied the north slope to the hut. The hut, which we had previously had to ourselves, was now shared with four nurses. We benefited greatly from their passion for cooking, as we had some of their fabulous cod, potato and vegetable stew left over for us. We were also given tips for summits over the next few days.

The next day, we got off the bus and drove to a parking lot at a traffic circle that leads from the E10 to Sortland. E10 is the road that goes from Narvik along the Lofoten Islands to the tip (Å in Lofoten). From here we climbed up to Middagsfjellet (811m). From the top you have a wonderful view of two fjords. We walked down the north-eastern slope through the finest crystals to the deciduous trees. This was certainly one of our best touring days!

Vesterålen is brilliant for ski touring. The advantage over the Lofoten Islands is the greater snow reliability and the fact that there are hardly any other skiers. Instead of other skiers, we saw a few animals: There are quite a few ptarmigans, reindeer and a mink also scampered through the snow.

We quickly abandoned our plan to spend the next night in a tent when we were already freezing at 6pm at -8°C at sea level. So the three of us spent the night in a cabin at Hammerstad Camping for NOK 600. The next day we climbed the Torskmannen (740 m), drove down and added the Breitinden (672 m). This was the first time we met other skinners, and quite a few of them. Both mountains are beautiful, but also very popular. At the top, we admired some eagles circling effortlessly over the mountain slopes.

In the evening, we headed to Nœkksætra from Svolær with enough supplies. The hut is only 4 km uphill and quite quick to reach by Norwegian standards. When we arrived there at dusk, we were initially quite desperate because we couldn't open the doors. Our key didn't fit anywhere. With enough effort, the door to the hut room opened without the key. It was simply frozen shut. Our key finally fitted into a padlock that led to the bedroom. We rounded off the evening with a delicious vegetable, chickpea and coconut bulgur stew and a fine, cool beer. When you consider that the beer you buy in the supermarket costs as much as in a cheap pub in Germany, alcohol in Norway is no longer that expensive. While studying the map in the evening, we chose Rismålstindan (672 m) for the next day.

As Rismålstindan is steep, blown and icy at the top, it's not easy to get to the highest point without an ice axe. We walked down the ridge from the summit a little to the southwest, then turned right onto the slope that drops northwest to Olderfjordbotnen. After descending almost to sea level, we climbed back up to the summit and skied down the other side towards the hut. At the hut we took a siesta in the glorious afternoon sun. In the evening, we went back up to Rismålstindan to watch the sunset. The color gradients as the daylight fades are always breathtaking, especially with scenery like this!

Let's drift and look for a gully

We only had two days left on the Lofoten Islands. We wanted to get as far as the tip of the lynx foot. We set off by car and stopped wherever we liked. The detour to the dead-end road to Henningsvær was well worth it. It's a lovely little village with beautiful mountains in the background. Cod is hung for months on large racks right by the sea. The salty sea air preserves the fish.

As we drove past the rugged mountains in the car, our noses were glued to the windshield as we searched for a steep gully to climb up and then ski down. By the time we had decided, it was already late afternoon. After climbing a few meters in altitude and looking at the snow build-up, we had to abandon our plans. The snow, wind, rain and sleet hadn't created a layering that inspired confidence.