Martin Stefan

Spring in Troms

Finally back in the north, and spring is early this year. Slowly but steady the snow is once again yeilding to granite and ferns again. After a long winter in the Rockies it is great to get back to where the sea and dramatic weather are always close by.

Through the clouds

The forecasts said sun and iffy snow and the crew had trouble agreeing on where to go. Iffy snow meant anything steep was a no go, and after long debate we finally drove for an hour, away from the sun and into the clouds in southern Lyngen. It was calm,

Grey day on Gråtinden

Yes, I'm finally back on the board! Still very slow and careful, but as long as I get out I can't complain. I hope to write something more and get some pictures up from this last couple of months of comeback, but for now I just have a couple of

Best of 2016, part 2

It took a while, but here is the second and last part of the series, with the other half of the roll. Even if the second half of the summer offered more pleasant weather than the first half, there were a fair few days of cold and damp. We were

Best of 2016, part 1

As the snow falls the members of the knee club (tm) go into hibernation, intensive rehab or bury themselves in work. After trying out all the above I settled for the moment on resting on old laurels and going through whatever production I managed in 2016. To avoid picture overload

The night is still young

The sun finally set and we have polar night until late January. While summer was about being out and enjoying the mountains as much as possible, now it is all about rehab. Boards are waxed and ready, waiting for the knee to get where it needs to be. It will

Heading for darkness

They say the sun is setting this weekend, and I believe them. It is already dark most of the day, and temperatures are now hovering right above freezing after a surprisingly long stint of cold and dry. Due to work, laziness and incredibly icy conditions there has been precious little

Fantastic fridays and a weekend of celebration

Last Friday was one of those fantastic evenings when the sun is out, leaves are yellow and the air is crisp. To be fair, most people who have seen other parts of the world than Tromsø would probably argue that the air is always (at least) crisp (and mostly even

Moments seized

Between weekend workdays, weekend dinners and all other things normally referred to as "life" we grabbed a quick ride in the fantastic light. Days are cooler now and colours are shifting. The weather is getting more and more moody, I think fall has come to the arctic. I still can

Skibotn Stifestival

A day on Skibotn Stifestival

A trail biking festival seems like a very Norwegian thing to me, probably because I have never seen it anywhere else. The concept is simple: someone who is excited about his or her local trails gathers a bunch of people at some camping ground, hopes for good weather and shows

Sunset? Not on the menu yet.

But for once, we had some sun. And when it's there, it's there full time. None of those "oh, it's getting dark" excuses, we have daylight from 20th of May until 22th of July, which just happens to be tomorrow. So how better to celebrate the arrival of this new

Sleeping soldiers under looming storms

Weather forecasts were gloomy to say the least, right in time for my summer vacation. Never mind, it is par for course in northern Norway anyway, and who cares about weather when there are new toys to be tried? Yes, I accidentally built up a new small bike to replace

All days cannot be sunny

but sometimes a bit of sun would sure be nice in what most people on the northern hemisphere would call "summer". Well, at least we got nice hills and good trails, if a bit wet and slippery. Rundfjellet turned out to be almost in season. Still a few snowy patches

From the ashes

As far as follow up albums go, it's not a bad one. Released in 2003 after Straight Ahead, which I would consider Pennywise's second peak (fist one was 1995-1997 duo About Time and Full Circle, obviously). I have been out on a bike, on trails. I took photos too. And

Tromsø

On the sidelines: Dual Slalom in Charlottenlund

Yesterday evening a bunch of us were hanging out at the little dual slalom track at Charlottenlund, just a short walk from central Tromsø. Still not allowed to ride, I took the opportunity to practice my photography skills on the near endless stream of eager subjects. A few opinions and

recovery

Learning to walk again

Dave Grohl is screaming in my headphones while I spin the pedals. The bike is suspended on a trainer, and I have nothing else to think about than to keep the cranks turning. I'm dripping with sweat and it feels so good to finally be moving those legs again. It's

Half time whistle

It has now been seven weeks since I wrapped my leg around a birch, and I have five more to go until my planned return to normal life, work and stuff like that. Seven weeks is a long time to spend in the couch, especially since it is far from

After 30 days, that's it.

Last Saturday, on what would later upon thorough counting turn out to be my 30th day of the season, we headed out to Gorzelvtind. There were five of us, Andrea, Kjersti, Kenneth and Kajsa. We took turns breaking trail through the not-so-sparse-but-still-rideable birch trees covering the lower slopes, as usual

Three quick shots on Axelkollen

Linnea joined me tonight a quick lap after work, before dinner, in what turned out to be great conditions. Great riding conditions but not shooting conditions, given that it was pitch black. The sun is coming back soon, but it will still be a while until we have daylight in

Tromsø

The new year starting off well.

I'm finally back in the arctic and getting out in the snow to play. The new year started with a short hike up Rödtinden just to get the body going after a long night of not sleeping and indulging in toxins. We (me and Kjersti that is) were a bit

Outdoor Research

Not much is still more than nothing, and Tverrfjellet is at least something

Energy levels are almost as low as the days are short (sun just stopped showing, back in January apparently), and a week of warm temps wrecked havoc with what little snow we had. But, Friday came and gave us a light dusting at sea level, and more of a decent

Winter

Ullstind, finally some snow!

It started snowing yesterday, and just never stopped. This morning we had about 10-15cm of fresh at sea level, and a lot more higher up. Time to poke around and see how it looks up on them hills. After a slow morning, some faffing around with gear and trying to

Am

Throwback: Indian summer and Return of the Bionic Woman

Kjersti is one tough girl. Bouncing back from major knee surgery in almost no time, and just in time for some indian summer goodness. Grønnlibruna is the perfect place for a comeback with smooth, fast trails and awesome views over Malangen from the summit. Keeping it mellow and flowy was

Kvaløja

Wet, low and natural

Uhm, that would be wet trails and low, natural light (i.e. no flashes, since even if I could afford them I am absolutely clueless on how to use them). But since we were so slow to get out yesterday that the light was already fading, I had to make

quickie

Just a quick one for the sick one

I have been quite under the weather lately, but when the rain ceased for the first time in what seems lite more than a week, it was hard to resist. Also, Marius [http://http://tarandro.com/] wanted a little tour of my backyard, so I got my bum off the