Skamtinden - July 2010

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

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

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'

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

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

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

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

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