Corda Blogg

Sunny day

2012-02-28T00:17:00.001+01:00

Our suburb, Hamna, baking in the sun after fresh snow falls

Excellent skiing conditions on Tromsøya

It is snowing, finally!

2012-02-12T21:58:00.000+01:00

This year's January has been the driest January ever in Tromsø, according to the local weather bureau. But last night it finally started snowing; 15 cm of fresh snow overnight and another 10 cm or so during the day. Beautiful powder snow for our first ski trip of the season. We only did a short trip up the very popular local hill Rødtinden, but we had great fun skiing through deep powder snow. This is what it should look like in Tromsø in the winter!

Tony on the way up through the forest.

Nice deep powder snow, and still snowing.

Back in Tromsø - snowshoe trip up Kjølen

2012-02-05T19:12:00.001+01:00

There is more ice than snow in Tromsø when we got back. We don't have the extreme cold temperatures as in other parts of Europe (-23C in The Netherlands!), but today the temperature has dropped to -16C, which is quite cold for Tromsø. As we didn't want to start our skiing season on hard icy snow, we decided to go for a snowshoe trip instead - a short trip up the local mountain Kjølen in beautiful winter weather. Hopefully we will get some fresh snow next week.

Tony on the top of Kjølen

Beautiful light and a nearly full moon

Puerto Varas - last day of the trip

2012-02-05T14:20:00.000+01:00

We had no problem selling the bikes, we made some people happy with a good deal on virtually new bikes and we were happy to get some money back. Puerto Varas and the surrounding area, the lake district, have a very strong German history, which is obvious in the old architecture and their interest in German style cakes (they even have a day of the cakes - dia del kuchen!). So the last day in Puerto Varas we walked a tourist trail along a number of old (ca 1880-1935 period) houses and churches and sampled some of the cakes.

Checking our flight details the day before we left we found out that Spanair (which was supposed to fly us from Madrid to Copenhagen) had gone bust and had canceled all flights. Fortunately we found this out in time and managed to buy a near identical flight with Iberia so we had a smooth journey home to Tromsø.

The beach in Puerto Varas, on lake Llanquihue. In the distance, volcanoes Osorno on the left and Calbuco on the right.

Puerto Varas has a populair swimming beach.

German-style Casa Maldonado built in 1890.

The German-style church in Puerto Varas was modeled on the Marien Kirche in the Black Forest in Germany.

The very interesting museum Pablo Fierro, focussing on the architectural history of the region.

Carretera Austral #5: La Junta - Puerto Varas

2012-01-27T17:32:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Puerto Varas, which is 20 km north of Puerto Montt and the end of our trip. We now have 2 days to try to sell the bikes, eat lots of nice food and enjoy the sunshine before flying home to snow and ice in Tromso. Puerto Varas is a bit of a culture shock after 2 months in Patagonia, it is a real tourist town and much wealthier than anywhere else we have been on this trip.

Below are some photos and comments from the last leg of the trip.

The road between La Junta and Chaiten.

A bike repair shop just when we needed it (well, after ca 100 km), to replace a broken axle.

Chaiten got evacuated in 2008 when the volcano Chaiten (still steaming in the background) suddenly erupted, swamping the town with ash and mudflows. Some services have returned, but most of the town is still abandoned.

Also part of national park Pumalin got covered in ash, killing some of the forest.

Enormous Alerce trees in national park Pumalin.

Our ferry from Caleta Gonzalo never came, a replacement ferry arrived after 8 hours waiting. This meant we arrived in Hornopiren at 3 am. The harbour master let us sleep on the deck outside the harbour office with 3 other stranded cyclists and 2 hikers.

Cochamo valley. We had some days left and cycled around the Reloncavi Fjord via Cochamo and Ensenada to Puerto Varas.

Cochamo

Along the road to Ensenada we caught our first view of the volcano Osorno. The mountain is very faint because there was a lot of ash in the air that day from the volcano Puyehue further north.

We had cycled 1500 km just when we reached this cafe so we celebrated with real coffee and German apple strudel.

Carretera Austral #4: Coyhaique - La Junta

2012-01-17T01:05:00.000+01:00

After a day in Coyhaique the weather improved again and we continued our ride northwards. The first 10 km out of Coyhaique were along a very busy and narrow asphalt road, so we were happy to turn off back on a quieter gravel road towards Villa Ortega. After 53 km along a good gravel road through a beautiful valley we got back on a good and now much quieter asphalt road to Villa Mañihuales and Villa Amengual. Northwest of Villa Amengual we entered the beautiful national park Queulat with glaciers, temperate rainforest and fjords, reminding us of New Zealand. The road has now turned back to dirt again, mostly very good, but at times very rough. We camped and spent one day hiking in the national park before cycling on to Puyuhuapi and La Junta, where we arrived tonight.

We expect to get to Chaiten in about 3 days, stopping at some hot springs on the way. The weather forecast says it will stay warm and sunny for at least the next week.

North of Villa Amengual

National park Queulat

Colourful sunset

Hiking in the rain forest: sendero Padre Garcia in Queulat

Ventisquero Colgante (hanging glacier) in Queulat

German style houses in Puyuhuapi

Carretera Austral #3: Rio Tranquillo-Coyhaique

2012-01-12T02:20:00.002+01:00

We arrived in Coyhaique yesterday after 2 days cycling from Cerro Castillo in rain, snow and strong headwinds; we finally experienced what we expected of Patagonian weather. For the last 5 weeks, up to Cerro Castillo, it was dry and hot, 25-30 C.

From Rio Tranquillo we cycled to Villa Cerro Castillo in 2 days. The first 25 km north of Rio Tranquillo were some of the worst road conditions we have had with lots of loose gravel, corrugations and busy traffic, which slowed us down a lot. Also, both Tony´s front and back racks broke, so we spent a few hours along the road side repairing the racks with wire (which you can find anywhere along the road). In Villa Cerro Castillo we took a day off cycling and went for a day walk into the national park. The weather had changed with strong winds and rain so we didn´t quite complete the walk we had in mind, but it was still very scenic.

The weather has now improved again and tomorrow we continue further north towards National Park Queulat.

Road between Rio Tranquillo and Cerro Castillo

20 km west of Villa Cerro Castillo, looking towards the national park Cerro Castillo

Villa Cerro Castillo and the start of the asphalt road to Coyhaique

Rock paintings, hand prints, near Villa Cerro Castillo

White mountain tops after 3 days with rain/snow. View from our accommodation in Coyhaique.

Carretera Austral #2: Cochrane-Rio Tranquillo

2012-01-04T22:29:00.000+01:00

From Cochrane we cycled to Valle Chacabuco, where we spent a day hiking in the mountains. Lots of guanacos here, even in the campsite. We then cycled on to Rio Tranquillo in 2 days, with an overnight stop in the small village Puerto Bertrand on the Rio Baker. Today we took a boat trip to the marble caves and stocked up on supplies. It is still sunny and very warm. Heading back up into the mountains tomorrow towards Villa Cerro Castillo.

Guanacos in the campsite in Valle Chacabuco

Walking around Chacabuco

Approaching the big lakes

Marble caves

Carretera Austral #1: El Chalten-Cochrane

2011-12-30T22:09:00.001+01:00

We arrived in Cochrane last night and spending a day here relaxing, shopping and doing the washing. From El Chalten we cycled to Lago del Desierto, where we took the ferry across to the other side and cleared Argentinian customs. The next day we pushed our bikes 7 km along forest trails, with brilliant views back to Mount Fitz Roy and Mount Cerro Torre, to the Chilean border. Here the road started and we cycled down to the coast at Candelario Mansilla where we cleared Chilean customs. After a relaxing morning, we took the ferry to Villa O´Higgins, together with 2 more cyclists and 4 backpackers. Three days cycling and a short ferry later we arrived in Caleta Tortel, an old fishing village with no roads, but only boardwalks connecting the houses. Two more days cycling got us here to Cochrane. The weather has been very good, a little too hot at times (who said Patagonia was cold and wet?), but the horseflies can be quite annoying.

Tomorrow we will continue northwards towards Coyhaique, some 330 km north from here. We are planning to do some side trips and day walks along this stretch, e.g. to Valle Chacabuco and Villa Cerro Castillo. The next internet access may not be until Coyhaique, in about 10+ days time.

Map of the route El Chaltén - Cochrane

Road from El Chaltén to Lago del Desierto, Argentina

On the ferry across Lago del Desierto

Looking back over Lago del Desierto to Mt Fitz Roy and Mt Cerro Torre

The fishing village Caleta Tortel, no roads, only boardwalks connecting the houses.

The Carretera Austral between Caleta Tortel and Cochrane

El Calafate, El Chalten

2011-12-21T15:09:00.000+01:00

From Puerto Natales we took the bus to El Calafate. The bus driver first refused to take the bikes as the bus was full but with help from a friendly Argentinian couple we managed to convince the bus driver to try to fit the bikes in the luggage compartment which worked fine after some rearrangement of luggage. The landscape along this road is mostly flat. El Calafate is a noisy tourist town, and after a day trip to the main tourist attraction, the enormous glacier Perito Moreno, we were happy to leave to El Chalten, again by bus. El Chalten is the start for our cycle trip along the Carreterra Austral. El Chaltén is also a base for hiking in national park Los Glaciares with the famous granite mountains Mt Fitzroy and Mt Cerro Torre.

Yesterday we made a day hike to Laguna Torre, where on a clear day you get a good view to Mt Cerro Torre. However, all we saw was glacier Grande at the base of the mountains, the steep granite peaks never showed up. In the evening some of the peaks came out of the clouds and we saw them from the town. Tomorrow, Thursday, we will start cycling northwards, crossing the border back to Chile on Friday, and taking the ferry to Villa O´Higgins on Saturday. At least, that is the plan.

A could be a while before we have internet again, so I wish all a good Christmas and all the best for the New Year!

Map of the El Calafate-El Chaltén part of our trip.

View from the bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate

Glacier Perito Moreno

El Chalten

View of glacier Grande, Cerro Torre is in the clouds.

In the evening Cerro Torre finally showed itself from El Chalten

Torres del Paine

2011-12-16T18:06:00.000+01:00

We have just come back to Puerto Natales after an 8-day hike around the Torres del Paine national park. Beautiful nature and mostly very warm and sunny weather (too warm even). Here are some initial impressions of the trek. Tonight we are moving on to El Calafate in Argentina.

We walked the circuit around Torres del Paine and started with the back of the circuit. The first 2 days from Laguna Amarga to Camp Seron, and on to Camp Dickson were fairly easy hiking but the weather was hot, which we were not used to. From Camp Dickson to Camp Perros we walked in sleet and snow, and from Perros over the pass to Rifugio Grey we had mostly clear weather with very strong wonds on the pass but excellent views of the glacier. These first 4 days were nice and quiet with only about 30 people on the trail. From Rifugio Grey you get on the front part of the circuit, which can be walked by itself as a 4-5 day hike and this is extremely popular. So here there were hundreds of people on the trail, and the campsites were very full and dirty (some had no toilets and with a hundred or so inexperienced campers, this can get rather messy). So, although this is the more spectacular part of the trail, I found the back part of the circuit was much more pleasant hiking.

Map of Punta Arenas-Torres del Paine part of our trip.

Start of the walk, view towards de Torres from Laguna Amarga

Guanacos in front of the Torres

At the back of the circuit, Laguna Paine

The one day with rain and sleet

View of glacier Grey from a very windy pass John Gardner

Sunrise on the Torres

Punta Arenas

2011-12-07T03:37:00.001+01:00

After a long flight with a stop-over in Copenhagen we arrived without problems in Punta Arenas. We spent a couple of days in Punta Arenas to get organised; this time we didn`t bring our own bicycles, but relied on buying some here. So it took a bit longer to get started than usual, but we managed to buy bicycles and, hopefully all, the equipment to go with it, and are today heading to Puerto Natales.

Our first day in Punta Arenas was a Sunday, when all the shops are closed, so we hired a car for the day and explored the area around Punta Arenas. We saw condors, flamingos, rheas, penguins and lots of other birds, and lots of sheep and cattle. The countryside here is fairly flat and open with mountains in the distance. We have been lucky with the weather, mostly sunny so far and not too much wind.

Map of the Punta Arenas-Torres del Paine part of our trip

Magellanic penguins in the Otway penguin reserve

Cattle on the road

Southern caracaras

The red building is our bed and breakfast

Town square in Punta Arenas

Approaching mørketid

2011-11-20T13:23:00.001+01:00

Mørketid starts in 2 days time, but with cloudy weather and rain forecasted for the next week, today is probably the last time we see the sun in Tromsø for this year. We have a beautiful weekend with clear skies, a few cm of snow and -7 C temperatures, a welcome break from the rainy weather of the last couple of weeks.

Miscellaneous trips

2011-10-22T21:58:00.000+02:00

Summer has come to an end and winter is approaching; the tops of the mountains are now covered in snow. We have had a lot of rain in the last few weeks, and after night frost last night the roads were very icy today. We will have to change to winter tyres on the car and the bikes this weekend. Not much hiking recently, we started working on the house instead, renovating one of the rooms upstairs. Below are some photo's from shorter trips that we did this autumn, but that didn't get their own blog posts.

First another ti-på-topp trip to Tverrfjellet on the island Kvaløya west of Tromsø. Beautiful autumn weather on the way up, but we got caught out by the rain on the way down.

Tverrfjellet is the top of the ridge to the left of the lake

The top of Tverrfjellet with Middagstinden behind it

Another (mini) ti-på-topp tur on a wet and grey day. This time to Ørnfløya, in the far west of Kvaløya, near Sommarøya. A tiny hill, but with a very nice view from the top.

View from the top of Ørnfløya with the island Senja in the distance

On the top of Ørnfløya

A field trip to west coast of Senja. Here late afternoon light and beautiful clouds over Andfjorden with Andøya in the background.

Dramatic sky (click on the photo to enlarge)

Lofoten in autumn colours

2011-10-22T17:58:00.000+02:00

This was a very short 2-day stop-over in the Lofoten on the way back from Røst, mainly to resample one of the brittle faults for dating purposes. So I spent most of my time at a road cut trying to scrape out fault rock material, not the most exciting of places in this beautiful landscape. On the other hand, I did get to drive through a very colourful Lofoten in mostly good weather and, as I took the Hurtigruten back from Stamsund to Tromsø (which for once was cheaper than flying) had a relaxing time on board watching a, by now, misty and wet landscape float past while reading papers and drinking coffee.

On Vestvågøya, east of Leknes

Autumn colours along the road

On Hinnøya, along the new road Lofast

Austnesfjorden on Austvågøya

Art work; part of Artscape Nordland

More autumn colours

Bridge between Austvågøya and Vestvågøya

Røst

2011-10-17T18:20:00.001+02:00

I am a volunteer in WWF's Ren Kyst (clean coast) project, which is a (growing) group of volunteers trained by WWF to help with oil clean-up in cases of oil spills. I did one of their courses 2 years ago, a course developed in collaboration with Kystverket (the Norwegian Coastal Administration) and Norlense, a manufacturer of oil lenses. A couple of weeks ago, there was a large scale oil clean-up exercise organised by NOFO (the Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies, which (in their own words) 'develops and maintains oil spill preparedness on the Norwegian continental shelf in order to combat oil pollution on behalf of 25 operating oil companies'), and they wanted some WWF volunteers to participate. I volunteered and got sent to the island of Røst together with another WWF volunteer. A large group participated in the exercise with people from NOFO, local fishermen, people from local and regional fire brigades and civil service, Kystverket, a commercial company, the Norwegian civil defence, and us WWF volunteers. Many aspects of the exercise worked very smoothly, but some aspects could be improved, for example the communication between parties. But it was interesting to see how an oil spill clean-up is organised in practice and as a bonus we spent a whole day in a beautiful location in warm and sunny weather. By the way, the spilled oil was simulated by popcorn, which didn't really work for us on land: the popcorn never washed ashore, so there was nothing for us to clean-up :-)

Heading out to the oil spill accident site; the small boats (local fishermen) will help set out oil lenses.

The oil spill site is marked out and the oil lenses are being put in place.

A commercial company demonstrating new equipment to facilitate oil clean-up on the coast.

I had never been in Røst before and stayed an extra day to walk around and have a look at the local geology. Røst is a group of islands at the far end of the Lofoten, far out in the Norwegian Sea. Most of the Lofoten is very rugged, but the main island of Røst, Røstlandet, is very flat, with a highest point of 12 m. The islands south of Røstlandet are more rugged and are known for their bird cliffs with large colonies of puffins and other seabirds. Røstlandet is not very big and in a day you can walk around the whole island and walk all the nature trails. Particularly the trail out to the very west-northwest of the island, across moraines and tidal flats are very scenic and probably rich in bird life in the right season. I saw a couple of sea eagles but not much more.

Map of the main island of Røst. I walked pretty much around the whole island including all the nature trails.

Typical Røst landscape

Looking north to Værøy.

The original stone church, built in 1839.

One of the highest points on the island, 10 m high.

De Geer moraines with steep island to the south

De Geer moraines

Flat landscape of Røst with steep island to the east

Sunset

Kåfjorddalen - Gorsa canyon

2011-09-27T23:48:00.001+02:00

On Sunday we drove to the end of the gravel road in Kåfjorddalen that goes high up in the mountains. We walked down from Sabetjohka to the new and already very popular bridge over the spectacular Gorsa canyon (see also my previous post on Kåfjorddalen) and we explored one of the old mine sites along the gravel road. Next time we will have to come back with our mountainbikes, there are lots of old roads and tracks to explore all over the mountains, leading to many of the old mines high up from the valley. Kåfjorddalen is a spectacular area!

goats!

Sorbmejohka, one of the deepest canyons in northern Europe

The spectacular new bridge over the Gorsa canyon.

From the bridge: the river Guolasjohka enters the Gorsa canyon with a 140 m high waterfall.

From the bridge: the narrow Gorsa canyon

Mining relics: the remains of a power station for the mining village Ankerlia.

Mining relics: supports for a water pipe, presumably leading to the power station.

In summer the gravel road leads high up into the mountains.

More mining relics: one can see the old mine entrances in the reddish layer in the cliff.

Mine relics

Kåfjorddalen - Oksfjellet

2011-09-27T23:20:00.000+02:00

Another weekend in the beautiful Kåfjord valley. On Saturday we hiked up Oksfjellet, a mountain straight up from the campsite in Birrtavarre. The landscape in this area south of Kåfjorden is characterised by deep steep glacial valleys and extensive top plateaus (flat-topped mountains). The area is known to be at higher risk for rockslides and one of the most active regions, Nordnes-fjellet west of Kåfjord, is monitored by a GPS station. That the area is active is obvious from the many large cracks, not only along the steep valley walls, but also in the middle of the top plateaus as can be seen on some of the photos below. These flat-topped mountains are quite different from those in Lyngen (Daltinden): the rocktype in Lyngen is hard and massive gabbro, while this area in Kåfjorden consists of well-layered metasedimentary rocks which fractures and breaks apart easier than the gabbro.

our route

Looking back towards Kåfjorden, from underneath a glacier scoured cliff.

Nice waterfalls as usual

Remember this one? Lemmings were running all around us when we sat down for lunch.

Climbing up the block covered slope

Tony managed to split a rock ;-)

These mountains are full of major cracks and faults and don't look very stable

Another deep crack

Heading down into the valley

Tony negotiating a "recent", post-glacial, landslide blocking the valley

It is really autumn now

Steep track down through a colourful forest

Autumn

2011-09-17T00:20:00.003+02:00

Autumn is the berry and mushroom season, and our freezer is now full with blueberries and cantarelles. Our raspberry bush survived last winter and, although it is not very big yet, we got a good harvest of juicy tasty berries from it. We also have a red gooseberry plant, but they take a bit longer to ripen. It is a good berry year, we have picked both cloudberries, raspberries, blueberries and stone bramble; the mushrooms had a late start, probably because of the dry summer, but during our last cantarelle trip a few weeks ago we did find quite a few mushrooms so it could become a reasonable mushroom year as well.

homegrown raspberries

result from a cantarelle trip

Hamperokken

2011-09-05T11:59:00.000+02:00

Hamperokken is a very distinct mountain that you can see from far and it has long been on my wishlist of mountains to climb. So when Tony and some of his colleagues planned to hike up there one Sunday afternoon I tagged along. From a distance it looks impossible to get up there without climbing, but there is actually quite a good track along and underneath the ridge and only the last part to the top requires some light scrambling. A beautiful ridge walk, but best done in good weather.

our route

Hamperokken seen from the SW, from Ramfjordbotn. It looks impossible to get up without climbing......

Hamperokken from the start of the ridge at ca 1000 m

Looking down towards Litleskarvatnet

Top of valley between Hamperokken and Stortinden

The only bit of scrambling, the last ca 20m to the top

Looking back along the ridge from the top

View towards Breivikeidet to the NE

View to the S

View to the NW, with Tromsdalstinden in the top right; Tromsø is right behind Tromsdalstinden.

Back down along the ridge

The end of the ridge

Tony studying interesting geological structures

Daltinden - Lyngen

2011-09-02T18:12:00.000+02:00

Our route; we camped down in Dalbotn.

Dalbotn with 2 of the 3 glaciers that drain into Lyngsdals river: on the left Bálggesváhjiehkki, on the right Sydbreen.

Nice view from our campsite, looking at the third glacier Vestbreen.

Start of the hike up to Daltinden

Daltinden

Typical blockfield most of the way up

Daltinden's top plateau with cairn

Flat-topped mountains; looking west towards Bálggesvárri with plateau glacier on top

Tony standing in a young sorted frost circle on top of Daltinden

Quick descent along a long snow field

Hattavarra

2011-08-22T16:14:00.000+02:00

After walking back to the car from Rostahytte, we did some shopping in Øverbygd and had an extended and lazy late lunch on the beach at Fjellfroskvatnet on what must have been one of this year's hottest days. We started walking towards Hattavarra around 16:00 h and the first couple of kilometers up the valley were still very warm, but fortunately the track followed a river that provided us with regular and much appreciated refreshment. Higher up a flock of reindeer was trying to cool down by standing in a snow field. But we got to the top in good time and the views were excellent in all directions. A beautiful walk.

our route

A well used track leads up the valley.

View to the west from halfway up.

Reindeer cooling down in the snow.

A solid block field with good trail markings.

View to the NE from the top.

View to the west from the top.

A good snow field made the descent a little faster.

From Kilpis to Rostadalen #2

2011-08-20T00:48:00.000+02:00

Day 3, from Gappohytte to Rostahytte, was probably the highlight of the trip with the most variety in landscapes, and many flowers and birds.

Finnish fisherman showing off a freshly caught trout.

rock hopping across a river

Alpine catchfly, Lychnis alpina

Cottongrass, Eriophorum

broad glacial valleys

Swedish-Norwegian border: back in Norway after a short section through Sweden.

lunch break

Very rocky the last few hundred meters to the pass at around 1000 m altitude.

Beautiful green valley, which reminded me of Mongolia, just without the gers, horses and yaks.

Rosta hyttene

Moor-king, Pedicularis sceptrum-carolinum

Rosta hyttene: we slept in the 'new' hut on the right. The large hut on the left is the Jubileum hut, built only a few years ago, and the hut furthest away is the old hut; the fourth building is the woodshed/toilet.

On day 4, our friends headed towards Pältsa hytte in Sweden while we walked through Rostadalen back to our car that we had left there 4 days earlier. We had a look at the river on our way down, but there is a lot of white water, more difficult than we are able to packraft at the moment.

Rostadalen

Tony walking through a field of Alpine sow-thistle, Cicerbita alpina.

From Kilpis to Rostadalen #1

2011-08-19T00:29:00.001+02:00

It is nice to get visitors, and even better if the weather is good so we can show off the beautiful country we live in. And this summer the weather has been excellent, a nice change after the very wet and cold summer in 2010. At the end of July we joined our visitors for a 3.5 day walk from the Finnish border near Kilpisjärvi to Rostadalen, staying in the Troms Turlag huts Goldahytte, Gappohytte and Rostahytte along the way. It wasn't particularly busy and at both Golda and Rosta we had one of the huts for ourselves. During the day we didn't see anyone else. It was easy walking in nice warm and sunny weather, sometimes even hot!, and the mosquitos were only really annoying around Goldahytte. I can't believe how many lemmings we have seen, they were everywhere, dead or alive, it really is a lemming year! But there was also quite some birdlife in the mountains: above the tree line mostly water and wading birds, golden plovers, ringed plovers, arctic skuas, ruffs, but also golden eagles; lots of small birds in the forests, of which the bluethroat was one of the less common ones.

We have mostly been in these areas in winter as summers are often occupied with fieldwork in the coastal areas. In the winter it is magic here, a quiet snow covered landscape and cosy huts. But it is also stunningly beautiful in summer and this trip was a good reminder that we really should spend more time exploring these areas in summer too.

our route

Start of the trail from the road near Kilpisjärvi.

an old (dog)sled

the first day's highest point

Mining relics; I have not yet managed to find out what they were trying to mine out here or when.

beautiful weather

Lots of golden plovers on the mountains.

Goldahytte is very close (3 km) from the triple country point where Finland, Sweden and Norway meet and we had never been there. So at the end of day one, after having our dinner in the hut, Tony and I made a little side trip and walked along the lake to the triplepoint and visited both Sweden and Finland.

The triplepoint: we are standing in Sweden, Finland is straight ahead, and Norway to the left.

A stoat was living in the wood shed at Goldahytte.

The second day, walking to Gappohytte.

Major river valleys cutting through the side of the mountain.

Lemming!

Gappohytte is right next to the border with Sweden. Note the red crosses marking the winter route in Sweden, it is impossible to get lost there. Fortunately there are no such markings in Norway.

The Gappo huts, the old hut to the left, new hut in the middle, and woodshed/toilet to the right.

BBQ in Ersfjorden

2011-08-11T00:17:00.000+02:00

An afternoon in Ersfjorden with kayak and packrafts and a slightly chilly BBQ with freshly picked cloudberries. It is clearly a lemming year and the lemmings were running around our feet when we were eating our dinner, we have never seen anything like it.

Heading out from Ersfjordbotn

BBQ in lemming territory

Impressive mountains around Ersfjorden

Happy visitors

Blåtinden

2011-07-26T00:34:00.000+02:00

Another ti-på-topp tur on a warm Sunday, this time we chose a proper mountain, 1180 m high. Blåtinden, or better known as the 'sovende soldat', the sleeping soldier, at the southern end of Lavangsdalen about 30 km SE of Tromsø. There were very few people here and most of them were going down when we went up, so we had the top for ourselves. Blåtinden is one of the mountains with a nearly flat top plateau, a relatively common but not well understood landscape feature that I am interested in. This particular plateau is virtually parallel to the bedding/layering in the quartzitic rocks, there is little evidence of glacial erosion, and the stones appear to be more or less in situ.

A common 'bad' habit many geologists have is to pick up interesting rocks. On the way up we saw some very rounded out of place looking rocks that I picked up and the top plateau is littered with flat quartzite rocks that would be perfect as stepping stones in the garden. So we both filled up our backpacks with quite a few kilo's of rocks and the walk down the mountain took therefore nearly as long as the walk up. Good exercise I guess ;-)

Blåtinden looks like a sleeping soldier when approached from the south

Looking W over Balsjorden

Halfway

Stony top plateau

View W: low hanging clouds over Lyngen

Large cairn on the top

Looking NE

Gjømmerdalen

Late night trip to Movikhammeren

2011-07-21T23:30:00.000+02:00

It was such a beautiful warm evening that we decided to do another ti-på-topp walk. We started around 21 h from Kroken on the mainland and got back to the car around midnight. A beautiful short walk, very quiet, beautiful colours; we spent nearly an hour on the 'top' having a late dinner and enjoying the view and midnight sun. On the way back we watched a dipper in one of the lakes on the plateau, I don't think we have seen one here before.

Looking back to Tromsø; it is nice to be able to get into the mountains so close to town

Rundfjellet

Nearly a sunset, in a few days the sun will go down again

Skjelnanvatnet, the lake where we saw the dipper

Another warm weekend on Divielva

2011-07-14T23:33:00.002+02:00

Five beginners gathered for a weekend of river paddling on Divielva. It turned out to be one of the warmest weekends this summer, with 29 degrees C on Saturday and 24 C on Sunday.

weather forecast!

We were of course all dressed up in drysuits, which were way too warm, so every now and again we just had to go swimming to cool down and combined this with some rope and rescue practise. We tried both the river kayaks borrowed from the club and our packrafts. A very relaxed and fun weekend.

our campsite

swimming and rope throwing

Tony having fun in his packraft

going down some small rapids one by one

Grønnlibruna by bike

2011-07-06T01:12:00.001+02:00

In Norway there are a number of incentives to help encourage people to be more active and get outside. In Tromsø we have the cycle to work, ti-på-topp (ten mountain tops), ti-på-skjæret (ten islands, for those that prefer seakayaking), orienteering and probably several other incentives. I guess these are the Norwegian variations of the 'wandelvierdaagse' (4 days walking), 'fietsvierdaagse' (4 days cycling), 'zwemvierdaagse' (4 days swimming) that are popular in The Netherlands. A couple of weeks ago we stumbled on a ti-på-topp box on top of Nordtinden and, as we stay in Tromsø this summer, we decided to buy the pack with maps and descriptions and see how far we get this year. There are actually 15 tops, 5 easy walks, 5 medium and 5 proper mountains. Saturday we decided to try to cycle one of the easy ti-på-topp walks, Grønnlibruna, to make it a nice roundtrip. We first cycled to Straumsbukta, found some good tracks to cycle up Grønnlibruna (with some pushing on the steeper parts for me), down to Håkøybotn and back home. First mountain bike trip here, we should do this more often.

Tisnes

Halfway, nice track for cycling

Top of Grønnlibruna

River kayaking and packrafting

2011-06-20T22:20:00.001+02:00

We have been paddling on rivers for 2 weekends in the last 2 weeks: first a river kayaking course, the same we took last year but now on local rivers. We didn't do any river kayaking after the course last year so wanted to refresh our technique and get some confidence back. We paddled on the rivers Målselva and Divielva. The second weekend was a river paddling gathering, a gathering to try to get local river enthusiasts together; a very good way for us beginners to get more experience. Unfortunately I don't have a waterproof camera (yet), so I don't have any photos from the paddling itself, but only from the (lunch) breaks and evenings. But a good account of the river kayaking course, in Norwegian, but with some action photos, can be found on the blog of one of the other participants at http://oddsvend.blogspot.com/2011/06/urs-i-elvekajakk-pa-malselva-og.html.

River kayaking theory lesson in camp

Theory lesson

At camp after the first course day

Tipped kayaker helped ashore

Last weekend there was a 'padlesamling', a river paddling gathering, in Målselv. Eighteen people turned up, while another 8 were doing a river kayaking course and joined us the second day on Divielva. There was a good mixture with 5-6 canoes, 5-6 river kayaks, 3 Alpacka packrafts and 1 swimmer with a riverboard. The first day we paddled a relatively quiet stretch of the upper Divielva and stopped for lunch and rescue training at a gravel bar. The second day we did a shorter section on the lower Divielva, but with some more interesting and challenging white water for us beginners. Great to try out our packrafts on these rivers and nice to know that there is at least one other packrafter in Troms! A very pleasant and instructive weekend in beautiful summer weather. One of the participants made a great movie summary of the weekend for the local newspaper the Nordlys: http://www.nordlys.no/web-tv/article5646476.ece

A colourful collection of canoes, river kayaks and packrafts

lunch

rescue training

playing with rapids

lunch on the second day

Nordtinden on Kvaløya in midnight sun

2011-06-20T21:08:00.001+02:00

We have had beautiful summer weather for the last 2 weeks. One evening last week we decided to go for an evening walk and have a late night dinner on the top of Nordtinden, on northwestern Kvaløya. A few other hikers came down when we were heading up, but we had the top for ourselves, with beautiful views and midnight sun.

View from the top of Nordtinden

Late night (ca 22:30) dinner on the top

On our way down just before midnight

Last kilometer back to the car in the early morning (ca 01:00)

Partial midnight sun eclipse

2011-06-07T01:41:00.001+02:00

On June 1st a partial midnight sun eclipse was visible in northern Norway. The initial weather forecast wasn't very promising, rain and overcast, but about an hour before the start of the eclipse it started to clear up and it stayed clear the whole period. The eclipse lasted from 22:43 h to 00:24 h, and at the maximum of the eclipse, at 23:33 h, about 58% of the sun was covered.

Start of the eclipse projected on our kitchen wall

We could probably have watched much of the eclipse from our house, but we decided to drive up to the pass in Finnvikdalen to get a nicer view with the sun over the outer islands. The parking lot at the pass was full, quite a few people had decided that this was a good spot to watch the eclipse.

Second half of the eclipse (click on photo to enlarge)

Other eclipse watchers basking in midnight sun light

Projection of the eclipse maximum

Looking back towards Tromsø, still a lot of snow around

Midnight paragliders that had watched the eclipse from a nearby top

Bergen #3 - Løvstakken, Blåmanen, Rundemanen

2011-05-17T12:01:00.001+02:00

Photos from 2 more walks around Bergen. The first walk was to Løvstakken on a warm but cloudy evening, the last of the warm days for a little while. Lots of people enjoying the mountain and the nice warm weather. The second walk was a couple of days later, up Fløyfjellet, Blåmanen and Rundemanen and down the steep steps of Stoltzekleiven. It was considerably colder that day - I even wished I had my woolen hat with me - and there were therefore very few people around once I got up on the mountain ridge; I did see a ring ouzel (Turdus torquatus, beflijster) which I haven't seen for years. I was just a bit too slow to get back and got surprised by a thunderstorm and heavy rain in the last half hour through town. Nice to see and hear lightning and thunder though, we hardly ever get any in Tromsø.

Routes to Løvstakken (south of Bergen) and to Blåmanen and Rundemanen (northeast of Bergen)

Top of Løvstakken

Track down from Løvstakken

View from Blåmanen

Looking from Blåmanen towards Ulriken

Rundemanen

Ankerhytte

Bergen #2 - Nordnes

2011-05-11T21:22:00.000+02:00

Short evening walk around Nordnes, the older part of town with some very pretty streets. It was a warm evening and lots of people were out BBQ-ing in the park. A very summery atmosphere, but unfortunately also stacks and stacks of discarded engangsgriller (throw-away BBQ) next to overflowing rubbish bins.

Bergen #1 - Ulriken

2011-05-09T22:02:00.001+02:00

Although I do miss the nice spring skiing in Tromsø, it is also very nice to be in Bergen, where it is already fully green; there are lots of flowers and it is quite a bit warmer than Tromsø where our garden is still partially covered in snow. The last 3 days it has been particularly warm in Bergen, 20-23 degrees C, so on the weekend I just had to go for a longer walk and decided to head up Ulriken. Lots of people had the same idea and there was a steady flow of people on most of the trails on the mountain. I expect that Fløyen (the closest mountain to the centre of Bergen) probably resembled an ant hill this weekend. But it is good to see that so many people are enjoying themselves with non-motorised activities outside.

Route up Ulriken

Looking towards Ulriken

Spring flowers in the forest

A steady flow of people walking up Ulriken; it is good to see so many people walking rather than taking the cable car

View from the cable car station down towards the centre of Bergen

View to the southwest; I am surprised to see so many huts and ruins all over this mountain

And a different route down a beautiful steep valley, not many people here

Last skiing of the season?

2011-05-07T00:20:00.001+02:00

This was probably the last ski trip of the season, a beautiful trip up Glimfjellet on Ringvassøya. Warm spring weather, and nice spring snow.

Jukkasjärvi and dogsledding

2011-04-10T15:41:00.001+02:00

Freek and Ellen came up to Tromsø for a week of Arctic experience: ice, snow, northern lights, sleddogs, Sami culture, and to celebrate my birthday in the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi. We first drove through Finland to Kautokeino to stay in an old hut at the Sami Čunouvuohppi fjellstue near Kautokeino with traditional Sami food. Fortunately for our guests, it was a cold and clear night with good displays of northern lights. The next day we drove to Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden to stay a night in the ice hotel and enjoy a good birthday dinner. Everything around the ice hotel is very touristic and expensive so we booked a dogsledding trip from a small husky kennel in Holmajärvi (http://www.huskysafari.com) southwest of Kiruna. This turned out to be an excellent choice; we got a private trip, we all got to help with harnessing the dogs and preparing the sleds, we drove our own dogteams and guide Niclas cooked us a nice lunch and coffee. We had already noticed the road signs saying that the road to Norway was closed after Björkliden because of snowstorms. We had, however, already booked a hut at Björkliden, and as the road was open up to there we tried to get there. We got into a blizzard with visibility less than 50 m for the last 40 km or so, so the drive took a bit longer than expected, but we got there safely. The last 2 days were supposed to be high up in the mountains in the beautiful mountain lodge Låktatjåkko with great views towards Abisko, Lapporten, Torneträsk and towards Narvik. The lodge was indeed very nice and the food excellent, but although the weather in Björkliden had cleared up, there was still a blizzard up in the mountains. So instead of skiing/snowshoeing up the local hills and enjoying the views, we had a lazy time inside reading, playing memory and eating waffles. Freek en Ellen then took the train back to Stockholm and we still had half a day skiing at Björkliden before driving back to Tromsø. Here are some photos:

the 'bubble' room

guarded by polar bears

watch out for the fish hook

sleeping in a refrigerator

arty ice room

ice church

ice bar

our snow room

dogsledding with Freek driving the sled in front of us

coffee and lunch break

we saw quite a few moose along the road to Nikkaluokta

lots of new snow in the 5 days we were away

Walking to work

2011-02-23T00:40:00.001+01:00

It has been a very good winter so far with continuous cold temperatures and snow since October. The official snow depth is currently 91 cm. It is a very nice walk from our new house in Hamna to the university. The walk goes through quiet streets, along the skiløype and walking tracks through the forest, and it takes me around 40 minutes. On the way home I walk straight north and the dark walking tracks are great for watching northern lights. Last week I brought a camera along to document my daily walk.

The snow around the house is up to the windows

I have to go over the island, so first I walk up through Hamna to the start of the skiløype, this is the view to the west from the top of Hamna

A few hundred meters along the skiløype

Then a well used walking track

Around Langvannet

Past the Arctic animal research farm and a kindergarten on the edge of the campus

And, finally, over the bridge to the natural science building with a good view towards Tromsdalstinden

Skamtinden - July 2010

2011-01-15T03:21:00.000+01:00

We are still in the middle of the winter and the sun won't come up for another week, but sorting through my photos from last year I came across these ones from a beautiful trip up Skamtinden on one of the few warm sunny days we had last summer. So a brief green break from all the snow and ice photos....

Skamtinden is ca 1 hour drive west of Tromsø on Kvaløya. Start of the hike.

The view from Skamtinden is just stunning. Here looking east along Ersforden with Tromsø in the far distance.

Looking west towards Håja and the open ocean.

And looking north.

Mørketid

2011-01-09T21:22:00.000+01:00

During the mørketid we basically have 3-4 hour long 'sunsets' and we can therefore get some very colourful skies during mørketid. Here some photos from a very cold day when strong winds at high altitudes resulted in lenticular cloud patterns.

Lenticular clouds formed by strong winds at high altitude

You can see the snow blowing of the tops of the mountains

Altocumulus lenticularis

Christmas in Heiahytte

2011-01-09T20:07:00.002+01:00

The geology department and the former biology department own a hut together. This hut, Heiahytte, is located next to Takvatnet, a large lake about 1.5 hours drive south from Tromsø. We had a short 3-day Christmas break here, a break from moving house, cleaning, and painting. We spent Christmas here a few years ago as well, that time with rain and little snow. This year it was beautiful, nice cold weather, some 40 cm snow, and clear enough to watch the northern lights one evening.

Heiahytte

We brought only snowshoes this year. I find snowshoes easier for trips in the dark and in this time of the year you inevitably end up being outside in the dark, watching northern lights for example.

Tony snowshoeing up the hill across the lake from the hut

One evening we walked out on the lake to watch for northern lights and we noticed all these fantastic ice formations along the rocky coast. The next day we went for a walk along the coast in daylight to have a better look at the ice structures. There must have been strong winds blowing up water from the lake before it got frozen, or maybe rain on already frozen ground/rocks.

Takvatnet, with mountains in Inner Troms in the distance

Tony inspecting some of the ice formations

Colourful lichen on frozen rock

Massive icicles, about 2 m tall, underneath an overhanging cliff

Close up of the frozen roof from the overhanging cliff above

skiing in 'mørketid'

2010-11-28T15:52:00.000+01:00

Although the sun is now officially below the horizon, it doesn't mean that it is dark day and night. The days are very short, but we do get about 4-5 hours of daylight, often with beautiful diffuse light and colours. And with the cold temperatures and good snow, rather unusual for November, it is nice skiing at the moment as long as you time it well. Here some photos of a short ski trip up Lille Blåmann, close to Tromsø.

the sun is only just below the horizon

looking SSE over Balsfjorden

Kaldfjorden with Vengsøya in the distance

beautiful 'sunsets'

fieldwork September-October

2010-11-21T15:51:00.000+01:00

A selection of photos from a number of day and overnight trips doing fieldwork in Troms and Lofoten-Vesterålen.

2 beautiful and warm days on Senja

sampling trip up Gammelgårdsfjellet on Ringvassøya

alterations in a brittle fault zone on Tussøya

nicely exposed fault plane on Vannøya

Vannøya

looking from Vannøya towards Helgøya

fault zone in Vesterålen

fault zone with faultgouge in Vesterålen

fault zone on Grytøya, north of Harstad

weekend in Kåfjord

2010-11-21T15:33:00.000+01:00

The 'mørketid' (the dark period when the sun stays below the horizon) is about to start, so this is a good time to catch up with some blogging. The official mørketid in Tromsø lasts from 25. November to 17. January, but as the mountains in the south block the true horizon, we don't actually see the sun from 22. November to 20 January unless you climb a mountain. It is now proper winter here in Tromsø, with about 15 cm of snow, and we have been out skiing a few times (catching the last sun!) in the last 2 weeks.

Here are some photos from a weekend back in July, one of the few sunny weekends we had this summer. The photos are from a hike to the end of the glacier Noammerjiehkki in the mountains around Kåfjord, about 80 km east of Tromsø.

the valley up from Trollvik

following the ridge to the end of the glacier

Tony showing his sheep-building skills

we reached the glacier Noammerjiehkki

flowers high up in between the rocks

glacier scratches

Bergen

2010-11-20T20:45:00.014+01:00

I spend 4 weeks in Bergen in October/November, using the laboratory facilities at the University of Bergen to prepare my samples for fission track dating. First crushing the rock samples, then mineral separation, followed by embedding the separated apatite in epoxy, and finally polishing, cutting and etching the mounts. Four weeks with long days in the lab. But, halfway, I had a half day off and went for a beautiful hike up Fløyen and Blåmanen, one of the mountains overlooking Bergen. Sunshine, fresh snow, this was Bergen at its best.

shaking table

separating the heavy minerals

Bergen from the top of Fløibanen

A beautiful walk in fresh snow up on Fløyen

Looking from Blåmanen to Ulriken

Moving house

2010-11-20T20:37:00.001+01:00

We have bought a house and will be moving at the end of this year. So far we have always rented a house or apartment, but unfortunately, the last and current rental property has been an uncomfortable experience. The house owners conveniently 'forgot' to tell us that the property was for sale when we signed the rental contract, but asked us if they could show the property to some prospective buyers 3 weeks after we moved in. Luckily for us the house market in this area has been pretty slow this year. I am looking forward moving in to our own house and not having to deal with landlords, at least not while we live in Tromsø.

Our new house is the white one

Fieldtrip Mull - Thermo 2010 conference #2

2010-08-25T07:36:00.002+02:00

Pepperite

Belemnites

'wild' goats on the beach

Tobermory

magmatic 'crossbedding' in gabbro

the rock nerd maze

Fieldtrip Mull - Thermo 2010 conference

2010-08-12T00:35:00.002+02:00

Iona

Iona abbey

Staffa

adder

crossbedding in sandstone

kyanite replaced by andalusite

sediment lenses within the lower part of the Ross of Mull granite

River kayaking

2010-07-13T20:28:00.001+02:00

After the rafting expedition on the Franklin river we were keen to learn more about rivers and river kayaking techniques, and based on recommendation of our rafting guides on the Franklin we decided to do a 2-days beginner's course with the kajakksenter in Heidal, in Jotunheimen. Our excellent teachers Annette and Simon managed to teach a group of 7 beginners some of the basic river kayaking techniques in a very fun atmosphere. And on the day after the course, the rafting guides from the Franklin took us on a great trip on the Sjoa river with rubber duckies, more stable inflatable kayaks which we still managed to flip once or twice. They also taught us a bit about how to read a river and plan your course, and got us to swim through a hole and self rescue so we are a bit more confident about what we can do and shouldn't do on a river. Thanks guys!

Kayaking course (photo Annett Sjursheim)

Sjoa river

Kvitskriuprestene. Eroding moraine material where large rocks, temporarily, protect the material below from erosion.

Stave church in Heidal

Since we were now so close to the highest mountain in Norway, Galdhøpiggen, we had an extra day to climb this mountain before travelling back to Trondheim and on to Tromsø. We camped at Spiterstulen and started the walk around 3 pm so we were the last ones on the top and only got back to camp late at night. Nice these long and light summer nights! Beautiful views from the top.

Start of the walk to Galdhøpiggen at Spiterstulen

Good views

The café (!) at the top

View from the top

Fieldwork

2010-06-20T23:17:00.000+02:00

The fieldwork season starts as soon as the snow melts in May or June. Most of the fieldwork I do is around the coast, where there is generally good exposure.

Student excursion on Vannøya

Looking at Håja, which has a gentle slope to the east and steep cliffs on the west

Crossbedding in metamorphosed sandstone

A steep gully in the mountain outlining a fault zone

Geologist in action

Tromsdalstinden

2010-06-20T21:23:00.000+02:00

At the end of May, the summer route up Tromsdalstinden looked snow free and Saturday 29 May was forecasted to be the last warm and sunny day for a while, so we decided to head up there. We cycled up Tromsdalen until the turn off for the summer route and started walking from there. Quite a few others had the same idea and we met about 20 people coming down when we were walking up, but we had the top mostly for ourselves. A great day to be out here, and the view from the top was excellent as always.

The weather forecast was right for a change, 3 days later it snowed down to 300 m.

Morning tea break with Tromsdalstinden in the background

Half way up, view back to Tromsø

Still lots of snow on the winter route

On the top

On the way down

Last skiing in May

2010-06-20T01:29:00.000+02:00

A bit late, but here are some photos from the last skiing trips in the first half of May. A day trip from our house up Kjølen, the mountain behind our house, on a beautiful spring day.

Great view towards Ersfjorden

Store Blåmann

Looking south of Tromsø

And a long weekend in Abisko, Sweden, in the middle of May. Here we skied in the ski area at Riksgränsen for 2 days, practising our Telemark turns. It was also the weekend of the ice break-up on most of the major rivers, a very impressive sight with large blocks of ice being pushed up on the banks (and on the roads) by some very wild rivers. The sudden break-up did cause flooding and road closures throughout Troms.

This river near Abisko just broke up

Shattered river ice

Landscape around Abisko

Riksgränsen

Australia #5 - Adelaide: McLaren Vale

2010-05-23T14:15:00.004+02:00

McLaren Vale is one of Australia's well known wine regions and it is right next to Aldinga Beach where we were staying. A nice way of exploring this region is by bicycle, the distances are not too great, many vineyards have wine tastings and there is an abundance of good cafés and restaurants.

Looking out over Onkaparinga river national park from Samuels Gorge vineyard

Chapel Hill Wines vineyard

Wine tasting at Samuels Gorge vineyard

Wine making

Australia #4 - Melbourne/Adelaide

2010-05-23T12:08:00.042+02:00

After the rafting expedition we had a relaxing 2 weeks in mostly warm and sunny weather: a few days with good food and art galleries in Melbourne and about 10 days at Tony's parents south of Adelaide. Long walks along the beach and cliffs and cycle rides through the local McLaren Vale wine region with wine tasting.

Smoke in the air gives a pink sunset on a Melbourne beach

Melbourne centre

Nice to see Australian wildlife again: rainbow lorikeets in Glenelg (Adelaide)

Glenelg

St Francis Xavier cathedral in Adelaide centre

Pelican

Looking south from Port Willunga

Caves dug out by fishermen to store their boats

Remnants of the old jetty, from the time that Port Willunga was still a fishing village

Aldinga reef aquatic reserve: at low tides it is possible to walk out on the intertidal limestone platform to the edge of the reef, a protected area rich in marine wildlife.

Coral

Black-faced cormorant

Coloured cliffs above Maslin Beach

Australia #3 - Franklin river expedition - day 8-10

2010-04-17T01:21:00.010+02:00

After a few days with rain and rather wet campsites, the campsite on day 7 was a very welcome change, a rock ledge under an overhanging cliff. Lots of dry space to sleep, hang out our wet gear, walk around and eat. The river kept rising and the guides suggested that we take a rest day here on day 8. Normally it would take a good 2 days of mostly paddling to get from here to the jetty, but as the river was so high they thought it would be no problem doing it in one day. And as the river was so high, all the nice campsites along the lower Franklin would be under water and the only campsites left were likely to be infested with leeches. So day 8 was a slow day with lots of food, practising safety rope throwing, and half of the group brought the rafts down some exciting rapids. On day 9 we had the last rapids and thanks to the high water we even rafted the Big Fall, which normally needs to be portaged. After Big Fall the river calmed down and the landscape changed with some beautiful limestone cliffs. We stopped at the Kuti Kina cave, a cave well used by aboriginals during the last ice age as shown by a large number of animal bones. The Franklin river joined the Gordon river, and a couple of kilometers paddling brought us to the jetty, the end of the rafting trip. A last camp under the tarp on the beach next to the jetty, deflating the rafts, sorting and packing the gear and a food feast to try to finish all the food. Later that evening the sailing boat the Stormbreaker arrived at the jetty with a couple of tourists onboard who were all warned that we would be very smelly. Day 10 had an early start with opera music from the Stormbreaker as our wake up call. Breakfast and later lunch onboard the Stormbreaker as it was quietly motoring down the misty Gordon river and across Macquarie Harbour towards Strahan. From Strahan a long 6 hour or so bus trip along winding but scenic roads back to Hobart, where we could enjoy a good hot shower and change into clean clothes that we had stored in the friendly Astor Hotel. A great trip!

The river rose about half a meter in the 2 hours it took us to portage these rapids.

Our luxurious campsite under the overhanging cliffs.

Plenty of dry space for eating and drinking.

Lower Franklin river.

Kuti Kina cave.

The jetty, the end of the rafting trip.

Beach camp.

The hut at lower Gordon camp, the remains of the Hydro Electricity Commission camp from when they had started the development of the Franklin river dams.

Onboard the Stormbreaker.

Strahan

Australia #2 - Franklin river expedition - day 4-7

2010-04-17T01:14:00.005+02:00

The Franklin river, (in)famously described as 'a brown ditch, leech-ridden and unattractive to the majority of people’ by Robin Gray, the premier of Tasmania in the early 1980's, is one of the last truly wild rivers in Australia thanks to one of the largest conservation battles in Australia. In 1979, the Hydro Electric Commission (HEC), supported by the Tasmania state government, proposed to dam the Franklin river and inundate parts of the Gordon and Franklin rivers in order to increase power production and employment for the west coast area. However, economists and academics were concerned that the economic benefits were limited and conservationists, who were outraged with the potential loss of important wilderness areas and one of the last wild rivers, organised large campaigns to make the issue known to all Australians and the international public. In 1981, the Tasmanian government held a referendum where Tasmanians could indicate their choice of 2 different locations for dams, but the option for no dams was not available. The result was that 44% of the voters wrote 'no dams' across their ballot. In 1982, although the federal (Australian) government nominated the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers national park together with 2 neighbouring national parks for UNESCO World Heritage listing, the state (Tasmania) government withdrew parts of the Wild Rivers national park to allow construction of the dams. The Franklin River Blockade in the summer 1982-1983, both on the Franklin and Gordon rivers as well as at HEC's headquarters, started on the same day that the West Tasmania Wilderness National Parks World Heritage Area was listed and resulted in the arrest of almost 1300 people (causing an overflow of local prisons). The state government challenged new federal legislation forbidding dam construction in world heritage areas by the new federal government in 1983 and it wasn't until the High Court later in 1983 ruled that the federal legislation was valid that all dam construction was stopped.

Days 4-7 were great rafting with some good rapids, but there were also several major portages; at some we carried all baggage and the rafts over the rocks. On day 4 the rain started and it rained on and off for the next couple of days. We, and particularly the guides, were happy with the rain as it raised the water levels in the river making some obstacles easier to negotiate. However, if the water levels are too high or are rising rapidly it is not possible to raft through the Great Ravine and the night of day 5 to day 6, before the main part of the Great Ravine, one of the guides was up all night to monitor the water levels. It was perfect timing though, the water level was high but not too high; if we had been one day later we would probably have got stuck before the Ravine. On day 7, half of the group (the 4 in the other raft who were on a 7-day trip) left us and 4 new people joined us for the last 4 days. It was a cold day so we all decided to climb up to the forest road to say goodbye to the 4 guys leaving us and welcome the new people and the fresh food rather than waiting near the rafts.

Packing up camp.

Stretches with rapids are separated by quiet pools.

Ready to throw rescue lines. One guide and one customer take the raft down one of the wilder rapids (next photo).

One of the rapids we had to portage (see also next photo).

We climbed up to the end of the Mt McCall track for people exchange and fresh food delivery.

Australia #1 - Franklin river expedition - day 1-3

2010-04-17T01:03:00.017+02:00

Finally back in Australia after more than 7 years! The first 2 weeks were in Tasmania of which 10 days a fully organised rafting expedition along the Franklin river. I have guided organised tours in the past, but have never been a participant myself, so that was a new but quite pleasant experience. It would have been nice to do this trip ourselves with the packrafts, but we just don't have any experience with proper rivers yet so that would have been foolish. But with this trip we had 2 experienced river guides, who turned out to be very good cooks as well (one of the advantages of travelling by raft is that you can take lots of food), and who guided us safely down the Franklin. The group itself was an interesting mixture of people with a range of backgrounds, but with a common interest in the environment and the history of the Franklin as well as the outdoors itself, leading to interesting discussions in the evenings.

The trip started on the Collingwood river with warm sunny weather but also very low water and the first day was more dragging and heaving the boat rather than rafting. The second day, now on the Franklin river, was a bit better, but we still got stuck on the bottom every now and then and there were some portages over log jams and tight rapids. We camped at the end of the beautiful and serene gorge Irenabyss.

My rafting outfit

Loading the rafts. The barrels and eskies are for the food.

For some of the rapids you have to either line the boat or even carry the boat and gear.

Irenabyss

Camping is under a tarp

The trip description mentions that on the third day there is the opportunity to climb to the summit of Frenchman's Cap and many in the group, including us, were very keen on this. The guides did their best to discourage us (the weather forecast was for rain on day 3, none of the previous trips that season had been able to get to the summit (our trip was the last of the season), we would have to paddle long days to make up for the lost day), but we were very lucky with the weather and on day 3 we hiked with 4 other participants and one of the guides to the summit of Frenchman's Cap. First a steep climb through forest to get out of the river valley, then along the ridge with great views and the final climb to the summit. Ten years ago we walked in from the road, a 2-3 day walk, but that time we turned back just below the summit because of poor visibility, so it was great to reach the top this time.

Hiking up Frenchman's Cap on day 3

Frenchman's Cap is the white quartzite mountain to the right

The top

Top of Frenchman's Cap

Winter in The Netherlands

2010-01-07T12:35:00.010+01:00

It doesn't happen every year that The Netherlands gets some proper winter weather, but this winter there are both long periods with below zero temperatures and significant amounts of snow. Very nice and scenic! Unfortunately the snow gives horrible unreliable ice, so there is not as much ice skating yet as there could have been. And it does cause major problems for transport in general: no trains, no busses, no planes, and long long traffic jams on the roads. Yesterday again, it snowed 15 cm in a couple of hours and the trains stopped, the airport was mostly closed and there were some 200 km of traffic jams just in the northwestern part of The Netherlands. But we went for a beautiful walk in the dunes. As so much snow and ice is unusual in The Netherlands, many local governments are now nearly through their pile of salt they use for the roads, so the road traffic problems could get worse.

Beach between Ijmuiden and Zandvoort.

Windmill park in the sea.

Horses and Scottish cows walk freely through the dunes to keep the vegetation down.

Walking in the Utrecht hills (Utrechtse heuvelrug). We came past the Pyramid of Auterlitz (http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramide_van_Austerlitz (in Dutch)), originally built in the time of Napoleon, in 1804, and recently restored to its full glory.

One of the buildings in Beeckesteijn, one of the large old estates near Driehuis, now open for the public.

Fresh snow!

And a rare photo of myself.

Even prettier with some winter sunshine.

Aren't these cows beautiful?

Stockholm

2009-12-15T19:25:00.006+01:00

We needed to use up some Eurobonus points that were about to expire and decided to spent a long weekend in Stockholm. A nice way to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed some sightseeing in the old town, visited a Dali exhibition in the modern art museum, had a look around the butterfly house and walked around the open air museum Skansen. And, of course, we enjoyed some good food. The selection of restaurants is somewhat bigger and better in Stockholm than in Tromsø. And then there were the Christmas markets with a good selection of foreign and local Swedish food, and we were very happy to find some excellent Dutch cheese and liquorice, Italian sausages, Scottish fudge and local sausage. Alltogether a very pleasant weekend.

Changing of the guards

Beautiful narrow streets in Gamlestan, the old town

Modern art outside the modern art museum

Palace

Butterfly garden

Open air museum Skansen

Great grey owl, Swedish wildlife in the open air museum

The aquarium inside Skansen has quite a few reptiles too

Skating on Prestvannet

2009-12-15T19:09:00.002+01:00

It had been cold for some time now, but no snow, so ideal conditions for skating. The day these photos were taken, Sunday 29 November, we did just have a few cm of snow, but cold dry snow on cold ice is not a problem for skating, the snow doesn't freeze on the ice. Prestvannet is right in Tromsø, on the top of the island Tromsøya, and a popular spot for families. So we skated around families and kids playing ice hockey, it was fun! Most people use ice hockey skates here, but there were a few others on 'proper' long distance skates.

Tromsdalstinden in the background.

Kjølen

2009-12-15T00:26:00.002+01:00

One of the last weekends before ´mørketid´ (the period without sun), in the middle of November, we went for a hike up Kjølen. There was very little snow for the time of the year, but lots of ice, which made hiking tricky in places. It was nice, though, lots of reindeer, and no other people.

Kåfjorddalen

2009-11-10T23:15:00.007+01:00

We went to Kåfjorddalen last weekend, some 150 km east of Tromsø, and it turned out to be a fascinating place. There are 2 deep canyons, one of them apparently the deepest of northern Europe, and there are old copper mines up in the mountains with ruins of the smelter, cablecar and various buildings for the workers and the director down in the valley, Ankerlia. The mines closed in 1918, but you can still clearly see the damage of the sulphuric smoke from the smelter to the surroundings. There is very little snow yet for the time of the year, but it has been cold and there were some excellent icy waterfalls and other ice formations.

Ruins of the smelter buildings.

Waste from the smelter.

The damage around the smelter is still clearly visible, after nearly a century.

Into the deepest canyon in northern Europe, Sorbmejohka.

Nice ice formations underneath a waterfall.

On our way to Storfossen, the main waterfall, we suddenly came across this icy wonderland.

It turned out that there was a spring just above a waterfall. It had been very windy blowing the water up and back over the edge, coating everything in ice. We met some locals who told us that they had never seen it this spectacular. We were lucky!

Icy teeth around the waterfall.

Everything covered in ice.

The main canyon, which had a major waterfall at the end.

Fieldwork

2009-11-01T23:28:00.006+01:00

I have been out doing fieldwork for quite a few days in October this year. Much of it was sampling for fission track dating and involved collecting samples from road cuts, quarries and coastal outcrops. But often in beautiful areas.

Small scale en-echelon fractures.

Rock art.

Fieldwork on Senja, after the first frost and snow.

Senja west coast.

Exposed fault plane along a bicycle/foot path near Finnsnes.

Flatlying shear zone underneath massive wall of granite. Store Blåmann.

Ersfjorden

Stortinden

2009-11-01T22:57:00.006+01:00

The weather forecast was excellent so we decided to head up a mountain, Stortinden on Ringvassøya. We didn't quite get to the top as we started late and the days are short, but it was a beautiful trip in the sun, with great views and several encounters with ptarmigan and elk. It was quite misty when we left in the morning and when we climbed up we could see the clouds hanging over the fjords.

Patterns in the ice on small ponds.

View towards Tromsø, with both the island Tromsøya and the fjord still partially covered by fog.

We brought a little sled and had fun sliding down. Not enough snow yet to slide down the whole mountain.

And a full moon helped us on the way down.

Sampling Store Blåmann

2009-10-02T13:01:00.003+02:00

Just before the snow arrived I managed to get a sampling trip done, with great help from Chiara, to sample a vertical profile of Store Blåmann, a beautiful steep and rocky mountain near Tromsø. We hiked to the top and sampled every 200 m (in elevation) on the way down, carrying a few kilograms of granite each down the mountain. Excellent views from Store Blåmann that day.

Autumn fruit and colours

2009-09-27T19:48:00.008+02:00

We have been back in Tromsø for nearly 2 months. I am mostly finished with the Alaska blogs (I may still try to add a map here and there), so it is now time to show some photos from the beautiful autumn landscape around Tromsø before the winter darkness starts. This year turns out to be an exceptionally good mushroom and berry year and we have already frozen several liters with raspberries, blueberries, stone bramble and cantarelles and have a large jar full of dried cantarelles. Today, in between some heavy rain and sleet, we were out for a few hours and picked a large amount of hedgehog mushrooms (hydnum repandum), which are currently spread out on the kitchen bench waiting to be boiled and frozen, and a few king bolete or porcini, which we have just eaten.

The hedgehog mushrooms are particularly large and plentiful this year.

With it's spikes it is an easy to identify mushroom.

Here follow a few images from a long weekend berry and mushroom trip in inner Troms where we rented the cosy little hut Langvasstua from Statskog.

Kirkesdalen and Kirkestinden.

Fields full of blueberries.

View from Langvasstua.

Little frog.

Tony picking cantarelles.

Cantarelle, my favourite mushroom.