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
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
Istinden Bridging seasons It's way too early in the morning, pretty much pitch black, and I'm parked at a shady gas station waiting for Marius [http://mariuslund.com]. Thank all things holy (mostly my own good planning in this case) for the coffee I'm sipping. Snowline has
Hunddalen When the objective is just an excuse I started thinking the other day about objectives. I have always thought that the objective is the goal and motivation of any endeavor, and reaching it is the difference between success and failure. However, since my job these days give time for plenty of introspection, I have come to reevaluate
Vinter Northbound! First trip up north is just about to happen, and I am getting well excited. Hopefully there will be good weather, a stable snowpack and a bunch of messing about pretending to be a real alpinist. [https://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/dsc02410.jpg] Pretending to be a real
Vinter To everyone's amazement, he actually went skiing I have been feeling like winter came and went without me. I was just standing on the platform, passively looking on as the season passed by. From my all time low in January recovery has been so slow that it was almost unnoticeable. But it was there. It turns out
Sommar An ode to climbing. I know, as a mountain biker or snowboarder I am probably supposed to hate climbing, but hard as I might try, I just don't. You know how it goes, as the road start heading upwards everyone goes on at a good clip, talk cheerfully to each other and
Sommar Pants down, guts out Not me, but my trusty old Bos. [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/dsc_0302.jpg] Just a pair of empty stanchions hanging there I am in kind of a middle period right now. Last week I was in northern Norway and stood on snow for the first time
Sommar The third step, a leap in the air The engine is humming no more than a couple of meters to my left, and far below me lies Germany. In less than three hours I will be in Nice, in the sun and in the warmth. The bike is prepped, helmets packed and on my feet are a brand
Vinter Kittelfjäll 16th of February, through my eyes On the 16th of February, I, Andrea and Maria got caught in an avalanche in Kittelfjäll. An avalanche that had all potential to be lethal to all of us, and we made it by luck or coincidence. This is my recollection of the events that day. I guess writing my
Vinter A few words in the light of recent events This post would have been a long "This is not a gear blog" installment about my venture into hardboot splitboarding. In light of recent events, I will keep it short and sweet: That toe edge power is addictive! [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/p1010019.jpg] Nice
Vinter 10 days of skiing, and it's not ever New year's yet Yay! Today was my tenth day skiing this season, not bad for a weekend warrior with a (sort of) full time job. The first five you have already read about, on Centennial ridge and Cameron pass. Decent skiing, but it was really on day six it picked up. A blower
Vinter A day in Hunddalen [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/p1210247.jpg] Katterat train station, where the rails end and the skin track start Right, so the idea is simple. Take the train almost until you run out of tracks, get off and skin for a few hours until you reach the Hunddalen
Vinter Tribute to Matt [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/p1200743.jpg] The man himself, looking out over his backyard [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/p1200745.jpg] Parts of the backyard in question [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/p1200751.jpg] Getting close to the summit [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.
Vinter Some stuff found in the mountains around Telluride [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/p1200625.jpg] Old mining thing [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_3070.jpg] Wide streets filled with nothing and no one in Silverton. The tumbleweeds had probably frozen to death [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/img_1303.jpg] The
Vinter A few pics from Rainbow Peak The weather did not look as fantastic as previous days, and the sun had been out potentially frying a lot of snow. Me and David decided to go poke around Rainbow Peak, and see what we could find. We got a glance of the area a few days earlier [http:
Vinter Avi course, not all doom and gloom Me and Andrea [http://hungryhen.wordpress.com/] took our first avi course this weekend. 3 days, lots of stuff I already knew and some new and very interesting things learned. Nice course, nice instructors at Jackson Hole Mountain Guides [www.jhmg.com/], thanks Pat and JD. Some really great people
Vinter Same mountain, new aspect and more company After a day in bed yesterday coughing rats and green blobs of death we were again back on the horse. Around 20-30cm of fresh had fallen on the already soft base, so conditions looked good. We opted for 25 short again, since we are by now familiar with that terrain
Vinter Dawn patrol, sketchy snow and the prairie Centennial, WY, 630am. The sun is just on the rise, and we were already on our way out. [http://smaertin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/p1190814.jpg] Just huge plains and a rising sun in the east Seems like I have a nac for hitting all time high temperatures, just
Vinter Some recent riding, Västerbotten is not too bad after all The current drought in the mountains around here is terrible, not a flake of snow for around two weeks now. Hopefully it ended today, spars rumours of snowfall have emerged, but nothing is confirmed yet and the forecasts don't look too promising either. I spend my days in
Vinter Blown away, literally In my previous post [http://smaertin.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/seasons/] I was speculating wildly about skinning up a quiet mountain in the moonlight. This sounds really good, and is up to some almost insignificant details exactly what happened. One of the insignificant details was that the mountain was
Sommar Seasons Snow is falling, and it looks like it is here to stay this time. Memories of a distant summer are slowly fading, and this weekend will probably be the first on snowboard for the winter. I look forward to quietly skinning fresh snow in the pale light of an almost
Rat Vinterns kit, Burton SL-X, Venture Storm + ANNAT Det här är ju som bekant inte tänkt att vara en prylblogg, men dels är jag förkyld, dels finns det fantastiskt lite att läsa om vissa av prylarna, så jag tänkte att jag ändå kan bidra lite till kunskapsdatabasen. Bräda: Venture storm 162/25 [http://www.venturesnowboards.com/index.php?
Vinter Ski faster, I hear banjo music, eller den första färden till Beiarn Elaka tungor gör gällande att Beiarn är så nära Deliverence man kommer i Norge, och sånt måste så klart provas. Fem modiga packade in sig i en bil och förberedde sig på att hänga i en stuga, gå på topptur och kanske skrika lite som grisar. Beiarn är den dalgång