Max out on the edge of the summit of Storurdtinden (1221m) in the Northern Lyngen Alps.
Our last stop on our Norway trip was to the Lyngen Alps, a peninsula packed with peaks a short distance north of Tromso. We had long heard of these mountains, the Lyngen Alps are one of the more well-known locations in Northern Norway for climbing and skiing.
The summits are higher than other areas in the region, many well above 1000 meters. Because it isn’t as close to the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream, like the Lofoten Islands or Senja, it can be a little colder, and that can translate to more snow. At least that’s what we were told. The greater elevations and snowpack result in some areas of the Lyngen Alps that are glaciated.
It was recommended that we stay at the Magic Mountain Lodge, a skiers lodge centrally located on the peninsula in the small town of Lyngseidet. That was our base for the next few days and it couldn’t have worked out better. The lodge is ideal for this type of trip, it’s affordable, meals are included, and it’s full of other skiers from around the world who are happy to discuss tour options and share ideas.
Our good fortune with the weather continued through this stretch of the trip, on the first day Christy and I split from the group and headed to ski a peak called Kavringtinden that stood above town.
A good intro to the Lyngseidet area, Kavringtinden (1289m) overlooked town and had skiing on all aspects.
After Kavringtinden we headed to a neighboring peak and the stopped to check out an unoccupied DNT hut where Christy affirmed her fondness for the area.
The following day was our favorite of the time in the region though, we headed to the northern part of the peninsula and made a huge loop/tour of four summits, and found quite a bit of good snow along the way. If there was a destination to recommend to friends, we though this loop around the peaks of Storgalten was really cool.
Max and Jesse scouting the options from the saddle between Litle Galten (853m) and Storgalten (1219m), behind.
Kir skis Litle Galten, the first descent of the loop.
Christy on Litle Galten, from here we ascended a neighboring peak, Kalddalsintden.
Anda making it look easy as usual.
Penn on the summit ridge of Kalddalstinden takes in the view of Store Peppartinden.
Christy and a full sundog on Kalddalstinden, which the guidebook says is exactly 1000m tall.
Keeping with the plan, we continued our way along the loop.
Max and Jessie took a different route off the peak, and it put them way down on the glacier below Store Peppartinden. See them down there?
Anda and Christy catch a view below the summit of Storurdtinden. It was a beautiful day.
Ahh, Norway. Skiing towards Storgalten, the final summit and ski of the loop.
Max skiing Storgalten in the late afternoon light. We got back to the cars at 5:30 and had to hustle back to Magic Mountain Lodge so as not to miss dinner.
And on the third day, after nine days in a row of great weather and skiing, the clouds and weather rolled in, conditions we had repeatedly been told were more typical for the area. It wasn’t so bad that we couldn’t ski though, so we headed up onto the glacier towards Tafeltinden (1395m) and managed to nab one more peak before calling it a trip and heading to Oslo for a couple of days.
The next day we headed to Tafeltinden. We were the only people at the trailhead, that is until the boat of Europeans arrived.
While getting ready at the trailhead we found ourselves witnessing yet another mass mobbing by a huge pack of visiting European ski-tourers. At first we looked at the large approaching ship as something related to fishing until we could see skiers milling about on deck. Soon enough a large crane was extended, offloading a smaller boat to the ferry the skiers to shore. One more reminder, as if we needed it, that we weren’t in Colorado anymore.
The first claggy day of the trip, we still pulled off the objective but it wasn’t with the spectacular scenery we had become so accustomed to seeing.
This trip to Norway delivered in so many ways. The skiing, the weather— the total experience was one that has us already thinking about how and when to get back to this incredible place and see and ski some more.
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