Kjell's Trip to Friisvegen 2017

This was the tenth trip to Friisvegen, which I have made every year since 2006 with the exception of 2007.

It also was the most strenuous, for several reasons.

I woke up at 5 AM 18 March, was in my car at 6.00, arrived at 10. 30. After a meal and having packed the sled and my backpack I started the tough climb along the Friisvegen road and up on the mountain. It was cold and windy.

I used the Madshus Intelligrip Skin under my skis for traction, but they kept falling off, so I had to use the fishbone technique more than usual, which is tiresome. Also I noticed that my muscle strength had been reduced since last year. Skiing conditions were quite good, so I am convinced that if there had been deep, wet and heavy snow as in previous years, I would not have made it at all. When I arrived at the camp side, the wind stopped and it was easy to erect the tent, finished at 6 PM. Then I was so exhausted that I just ate a ready made dinner and crept into my sleeping bag.

Before going to sleep, I wanted to check my mobile phone. I could not find it, so I started a frantic search for it both inside and outside the tent. Unsuccessfully, so I thought it must have fallen out of the breast pocket of my backpack during my trip from the parking place.

The temperature during the night was between 15 and 20 centigrades. I was seized by cramps both in my thighs and legs, which was quite painful. When I got out of the tent in the morning, I found it partially covered by snow. After breakfast I wondered if I was too tired to return to the car to pick up the rest of the food and equipment, but I decided to try. When I arrived at the parking space, I was really lucky, because there was Thore Lie, my contact who prepares the ski tracks using his snow scooter, along with his wife Berit. He let me use his mobile phone to call my sister Aud to report that everything was fine, except for the fact that I had lost my phone. While I was talking with Thore I suddenly discovered the phone on the outside of the windshield of my car. I was quite relieved, because the phone is quite important, both in order to stay in touch with the external world, but also to be able to check the weather forecast.

When I told Thore about my efforts to pull the sled to the camp site, he offered to do it with the help of his wife’s two dogs. An offer too good to decline. It was incredible luxury to be able to return with just a small backpack. But even without the sled I found it quite hard to return to the campsite. I hereby solemnly declare my eternal gratitude to Thore and his wife for doing me this favor.

It was quite windy in during the following days. Not so pleasant to go for trips in ten centigrades below with heavy wind, even when it was sunny. The whole excursion became somewhat amputated because the strong wind prevented me from climbing to the summits. Nevertheless I made trips every day in lower terrain.

I was quite comfortable in my tent, with a lot of good food and drink (I.a. beer and cognac.) Tenderloin with béarnaise sauce on Saturday evening. I listened a lot to radio and to audiobooks on my iPad. The most recent one was the endless “Commander-in-Chief” by Tom Clancy.

During the night between Saturday and Sunday there was a rough storm. It had been announced by the forecast, and I had tried to prepare by heightening the protective wall of snow blocks. At 4 AM. I heard a bang, and the tent collapsed over me. The wind was so strong that the tent pressed me hard against the ground. I slowly managed to haul myself into the awning with the mat under me and the sleeping bag around me. There I managed to relax until daylight arrived. When I got out of the tent in the morning I found a broken rod outside the tent and that the protective wall had collapsed because of the strong wind and the sudden change to mild weather, which had melted the snow. I managed to repair the rod because I had an extra rod section. But the center rod had also been deformed, so that the tent had become lower. The rods were heavy duty 10 mm diameter, so this says something about the strength of the wind. This excellent tent, Hilleberg Nammatj GT, I had used for many years and it was quite worn. I had worried that it was the fabric that would tear. If that had happened, things would have been more problematic.

The forecast was for more strong wind. This and the problem with the tent motivated me to return home the same Sunday. The packing was quite laborious and time consuming, so I could not start the return until 3 PM. White I was packing the weather got mild, calm and sunny, so this was fortunate. But when I got a big backpack on with the sled, the wind returned with a vengeance. I had the wind from the west in my back, but I struggled to remain upright. Luckily the wet snow slowed down the sled so that I could retain control during the steep downhill.

It looks that this trip was the swan song of my trips to Friisvegen. It is not so easy to accept that age takes its toll and I say to myself that it cannot be right that a 76-old man should struggle so much. The thought that this probably was the last one is a bit sad, for I have enjoyed every one, despite the hardships.