Lyngen Alps Day 1

Steve the squirrel decided to hitch a ride on the back of houghty’s sack.

We began the week with a skin up behind the lodge to the summit of Sorbmegaiser. Not great weather and although good snow visibility was poor higher up. This was a great first day kit tester and no failures to report.

Enroute we crossed some animal tracks, possible from a lynx

With the cold weather I had trouble getting my body temperature right. Started with 4 layers, then 3, then up to 5 at lunch and back to 3 for the descent.

Its interesting how fabric technology makes it a lot easier to regulate temperature but of course everyone heats and cools in different ways. Trial and error is the only way.

I tour in a SKINS base layer followed by a Marmot mid layer, a fleece gilet and a RAB Extreme shell. It works out well and i usually carry my RAB summit jacket and a softshell in my pack. As you can see in the photo below Durks chooses to skin in short sleeves whilst Houghty is fully kitted up in his shell!

The ski down was in very good snow but limited viz, making it challenging, but as a first descent in the Lyngen Alps, a real pleasure, with fun to be had in the trees.

We returned to the lodge a very happy bunch after a great introduction to Lyngen alps ski touring. And to top it all off I spotted several whales swimming about 500m off the beach when drinking a cold beer before supper.

The day finished with a test of the hot tub and a fantastic king crab meal.