3/30 - 4/5; Romsdalfjord, Norway (+Iceland)

Last summer Andy, Mica, Anastasia and I had dinner with Martin and Gina Volken to talk about
Mica heading home on the slopes of Trolltinden

Fast forward nine months, my last two quarters of nursing school, graduation and licensure exams, and the four of us were on the plane to Oslo, land of Oyvind and his beautiful people. We landed hungry and wandered out to find food.  After eating at the Oslo equivalent of the 74th Street Alehouse and paying 1000 kroner ($170), we decided our remaining time in Oslo was diet and dry-out vacation.  Anastasia and I have never shared so many meals.

Oslo is a gorgeous, walking-friendly city, so we spent our days sleeping late, catching the last 15 minutes of the free breakfast and wandering around the town.  The Vigeland sculpture park, the Akershus fortress, the Vikingskiphuset - we connected them all with our feet, the bus network and frequent caffeination. 


The Angry Boy


Vigeland Park in the Frognerparken just north of downtown Oslo


Andy walking the walls of the Akershus Fortress


The view from Akershus and an unearthed Viking longboat


Posing with Oyvind's carved kin; learning Norwegian from the locals

On Saturday we left Oslo Central station for the airport where we met the other two clients, Brooke and Will.  Martin and Mike Hattrup were on the same flight, so the whole party arrived in Molde together.  Our skipper, Svein, picked us up at the airport in a rented van that would serve as our shuttle between the boat and the trailheads on ski days.  We drove to the docks and met the
The Framstig at dock in Andalsnes

She was built in 1914 in Risor and was eventually beached and left to rot, which is where she was when Svein and four of his friends found her in the mid-1970s.  They hoped to step masts and have themselves a quick sailboat, but it wasn't until five years later that the restoration was complete.  They put to sea and sailed around the world for the next two and a half years.  The stories from those adventures, along with the rest of Svein's 59 years on the planet, were the best and most abundant entertainment throughout the trip.


Up on deck - a gaff-rigged ketch with a single inboard engine


The salon with berths behind the bench; Custom gear drying station


Evening cruise

We cruised, wine and beer in hand, to a dock in Vestnes where we tied up for the evening.  With that, we settled into the rhythm of the trip:  Breakfast at seven for an eight o'clock departure, ski all day, lounge around the boat with a beverage of choice, eat dinner, sleep, repeat.  We spent a day in Vestnes, then sailed into Romsdalfjorden and tied up in Andalsnes for three nights.  Kirketaket (the Church Roof), Blaunebba (Blue Peak), Kaltinden (Cold Mountain), Grontinden (Green Mountain) and Trolltinden (Troll Mountain) provided a week's worth of fantastic touring.  Norway's snowpack was at a 180 year low, but that just meant we drove up the roads a little farther, or shouldered the skis for a few hundred more feet.  With fantastic weather the entire time, we harvested crusty corn, breakable corn, creamed corn and corn soup. 



Climbing to Kirketaket, the Church Roof


Guiding is serious business; Serious boot repair atop Blaunebba


The Troll Walls




Good times with good folks


Anastasia shredding the slopes of Trolltinden

The time spent not skiing was spent fishing, or napping, or eating cod and potatoes.  Or potatoes and cod.  Or whale.  But mostly potatoes and cod.  Turns out there are many ways to cook potatoes and cod and make it delicious.

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Appropriate weather layers; Anastasia exercising on the shrouds, then stretching the bionic shoulder




We were sad to leave at the end of the week, but you can't have the next adventure without finishing the one you're in the middle of, so we flew back to Oslo.  A strategic decision to slow the adjustment back to non-vacation life had us in Iceland for two nights.  We mourned the loss of our floating hotel with amazing geology, natural hot springs and a final donning of our (very stinky) ski boots to nab the first descent of a sweet Icelandic line, before the long flight home.  Awesome, awesome trip.