Far North winter trip report

Posted by: TomD

Far North winter trip report - 05/04/08 11:15 PM

This link is to a really interesting trip report on a ski and sled trip a poster on another site I belong to did recently in Sweden and Norway. Follow the links in his post to his pictures.

Otto's trip
Posted by: alanwenker

Re: Far North winter trip report - 05/05/08 09:32 AM

Thanks Tom. The hut system they have looks wonderful. That would certainly take the edge off a winter trip. Someday.
Posted by: TomD

Re: Far North winter trip report - 05/05/08 06:38 PM

Otto is a fairly new poster on Trailspace, but obviously a very experienced skier. 48Km in one day is almost 30 miles. In pretty cold weather, that has to take some real effort. Note that the trip was by both Otto and his wife, so the two of them must be incredibly fit.

His dog is a big border collie-that's who pulls his sled.

The huts look really nice. I've stayed in huts in NZ, but they are pretty rustic compared to the ones in Sweden and Norway.
Posted by: alanwenker

Re: Far North winter trip report - 05/06/08 08:19 AM

I've talked to a couple who run a trekking/kayaking outfit called Crossing Latitudes. She is from Sweden and I believe her husband is from the US. They run various summer and winter trips in Sweden as well as other locations. Their trips look fabulous and the scenery is spectacular. The area is definately on my list of places I'd love to visit. A hut system, even if the huts are somewhat rustic, would really take the edge out of a long day in the cold. You could get by with a lighter bag, no tent, less clothing than if you were camping in the snow.
Posted by: OttoStover

Re: Far North winter trip report - 09/04/08 06:06 AM

Quote:
Otto is a fairly new poster on Trailspace, but obviously a very experienced skier. 48Km in one day is almost 30 miles. In pretty cold weather, that has to take some real effort. Note that the trip was by both Otto and his wife, so the two of them must be incredibly fit.

His dog is a big border collie-that's who pulls his sled.

The huts look really nice. I've stayed in huts in NZ, but they are pretty rustic compared to the ones in Sweden and Norway.


Thank you so much for the kind words TomD, but as I have friends that compete in the Wasaloppet in Sweden, (90 km in about 5 hours!) I am only in the middle of the group. Had to show the text to my wife also. She is jogging with some friends, and she complains always of beeing the slowest in the group.

But the hut system in Norway is really unique. DNT has about 450 huts all over the country. http://www.turistforeningen.no/english/ They have tree types of huts. Staffed, unstaffed with self-service and unstaffed with no-service. The self-service huts are the most astonishing for foreigners. These huts have a complete food supply free to use. No staff or electronic registration checks that you pay, the system is based on trust. Selfservice huts are only in the south of Norway.

In addition to DNT we have the huts belongin to the JFF (hunting and fishing organisation) It is probably as many as DNT, but there is not a standard key for all these huts as DNT have. You have to obtain the key from the local JFF. One advantage to this is that you have the hut solely to yourself. In the DNT-huts you may get company with some other hikers.

But this is not all. In addition to JFF and DNT we have a number of open huts, most of these are owned by Statskog (state forest administation). Not so many in south Norway, but here where I live there is several.

Also I must show you that we have a good site for planning trips in my district using http://www.friluftskart.salten.no/ Zoom into the map, and you may point to huts or tracks and get additional information. Sorry that it is only in norwegian. If you have a friend from Sweden or Denmark they will also understand norwegian.

Prices are not so bad either. Here I pay 100 NOK (18USD) for one person per night in DNT and JFF huts. The open huts of Statskog is free of charge. Some are big and some are small, but very cosy. Pictures of a small open cabin here http://www.friluftskart.salten.no//pdf/hytter/Staupadalen.pdf

/Otto
Posted by: TomD

Re: Far North winter trip report - 09/04/08 06:45 PM

Hey Otto, Great to see you here!

Thanks for the report. The huts look great. It is nice to see how oriented towards the outdoors people are in your country. In the US, we don't have a similar hut system. There are some, but they tend to be private ones owned by clubs or private organizations such as the Sierra Club.

A hut system like you describe would be great in the Sierra or the Rocky Mountains, but I doubt the self-service idea would work here. I just don't have that much faith in people here. For example, my apartment complex has a really nice gym and someone stole some of the free weights and the remote controls for the televisions.
Posted by: finallyME

Re: Far North winter trip report - 09/16/08 12:31 PM

My two favorite pictures were the ones showing the swedish ski trip, and the Norwegian ski trip. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Makes me proud of my heritage. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />