UKC

I'm planning a ski trip to the Lyngen Alps, Norway in April. We'll fly to Tromso and stay for just over 1 week. Looking for tips on the following:

• What is the best guidebook to buy?
• Same for maps
• Should we hire a 4x4 car?
• Any recomendations for places to stay - 2 people, prefer self-catering, happy to pay a bit extra for quality.
• I expect weather forecasting to be tricky/unreliable, but is there an obvious website I should look at?
• Any recomendations for don't miss ski tours/great descents/summits. (we have plenty of skiing/ski touring and mountaineering experience, happy on steep-ish terrain, climbing exposed ridges etc, upto 2000m ascent per day).
• Any recommendations for bad weather days

Thanks in advance,
Chris

In reply to chris_B:

Hi Chris, its a great area

Ski Touring in Troms & (I think)  The Lyngen Alps - Skiing/Climbing/Trekking

 

Downloaded them for free from the norwegian government website. Printed and laminated. Also loaded them up on the phone with memory map.

We've never bothered. They'll come with studded tyres until the end of winter.

yr.no

Never had one!

In reply to chris_B:

I think there is only one.

You can or at least could get a 1:50000 map that covered the whole peninsular.

No. 2WD with winter tyres works fine.

You need to get this sorted soon I think. It is really popular now, so at least a lot of houses will have been booked up by now. There are ever more options though, the old hotel in Lyngseidet that is now the cool ski lodge place would be an obvious place to try if it is just two of you.

Yr.no

 > Any recomendations for don't miss ski tours/great descents/summits. (we have plenty of skiing/ski touring and mountaineering experience, happy on steep-ish terrain, climbing exposed ridges etc, upto 2000m ascent per day).

Jiehkkevárri is a pretty epic day out. Store Jægervasstindane is another of one of my most full on days in the mountain too. But I haven't done a poor peak in Lyngen. The mountains on the northern end of the peninsular are great with views of the sea and the islands to the north.

Ice climbing as long as the avvy conditions aren't too bad.

 

In reply to chris_B:

yr.no also has avalanche forecasts: https://www.yr.no/sn%C3%B8skred/?region=Lyngen

If you do fancy paper maps, Stanfords has them: http://www.stanfords.co.uk/Norway-Turkart-50K-Topographic-Hiking-Maps_SI000...

There are some less serious / lower altitude options on the Troms mainland and Kvaloya/Ringvassoya (see the guidebook for details).  

There are a few touristy things to do in Tromsø: Polar Museum, Tromsø Museum, Arctic Cathedral, a decent bookshop and (expensive) cafes/bars. Otherwise, you will probably need to amuse yourselves! 

Hope you have a great trip! 

 

The lyngen alps is probably the best one right now. Ski touring in Troms is the one I've used and is excellent.

Apps are:

Norgeskart, it's about 5 pounds for all the features. It has a steepness overlay which is very useful, although not always perfect in couloirs.

Ut.no app also website, this is a map with cabins and tours marked

Regobs this is a map with in the field avalanche observations from people who've been out skiing. It also does the steepness overlay, but it doesn't always work on my phone

Varsom.no this is the avalanche forecast app. The English version is pretty good now.

Varsom, regobs, the steepness map, and the weather forecast are an essential part of planning before each tour.

Car hire is expensive, the roads are full of potholes so drive carefully, but you don't need 4wd. Most tours start from the side of the road

Use airbnb or search feriehus lyngen on Google and finn.no. Near lyngseidet is the most central.

Yr.no, storm.no. Weather forecasting is difficult in Norway, and they've had some epic fails, but it's all there is.

The jiehkkevarri traverse is the classic, it's a big day, about 30km, and 2500m, it took us 13hrs, although we had a long walk out as the snow didn't go all the way.

If you like couloirs, lyngen is paradise. Lots in the book, however the "godmother of all couloirs" on forholttinden/rødbergtinden isn't I think, search on the web.

Finally, if you're there April 14, there is the skittentind rando race open to all.

Go fishing.

 

In reply to JuneBob:

 

Yes, 'cause it ain't in Lyngen... but Tamok.


Some useful tidbits. Quite often a small change in location can make a lot of difference. So if you're based around Lyngsaidet (most housing options are already fully booked, the Magic Mountain Lodge might still have some options... more like a hostel than the other uver posh Lyngen Lodge), driving to Tamok or to the northern tip of the peninsula will most likely offer better weather. Some deal by going accross the fjord.

In reply to HeMa:

Maybe there's another "godmother of all couloirs" but the one I'm thinking of is at the north end of the south island.

http://alpinepassion.com/2014/05/05/skiing-the-godmother-of-all-couloirs/

 

In reply to JuneBob:

Well...

I beleive it's the 'Raddest Couloir in Norway'...
 

Norges råeste renne!

https://www.friflyt.no/Ski/Norges-raaeste-renne

 

And the winner was Øksehogget in Tamok, if I recall corretly...

vimeo.com/123341591

vimeo.com/42538539 

 

In reply to chris_B:

Thanks for all the replies (I didn't get a chance to check back here yesterday). I'm now concered about finding accomodation that isn't booked up... time to get on Air bnb.

What would be the best town to stay in? Somewhere central sounds best so far so that we could drive in different directions depending on where the weather looks best. Would you say Lyngseidet is central? It looks it on the map, but not being sure of how ferries work/how good the roads are, maybe somewhere else would be more obvious?

All the map/weather/avalance info sounds good. I wasn't expecting to be able to get maps off the internet.

 

In reply to chris_B:

Lyngseidet is quite central. Laksevlbukt being another "classic" location. Both have lots of "local" options, and some driving well get you to other goods.

Roads are pretty OK, but driving takes time. So Lyngeidet is better, if you wish to access stuff from the east or the north. Lakselvbukt is better for southern parts, and southwestern portion (naturally) plus Tamok and everything towards Troms.

Lyngseidet is easier for Kafjord (towards Skibotn, so east accross the fjord) with the ferry, but it wasn't all that cheap.

Welcome to Skandiland... if you don't get 4G, you really are somewhere rather far far away from civilization...

In reply to chris_B:

I haven't much to add in terms of guidebook recommendations, Ski Touring in Troms by Espen Nordahl is pretty much the bible for ski touring up here nd there's now a newer edition out which also covers other areas like Senja and Kågen. 

Definitely sort out accommodation now because April is high season for tourists and locals who like to spend weekends away in Lyngen!

Varsom.no (avalanche forecasting service) now includes a text weather forecast for mountain areas but yr.no is also OK most of the time. Recommend reading the text instead of just looking at the symbols, they can sometimes be very misleading especially if it's showery weather.

There's no end of ski touring/ ski mountaineering options to go at in Lyngen (pretty much everything in the guidebook I would recommend), although if you do want to do the Jiehkkevarri traverse I might recommend taking a rope for glacier travel. Snow cover is currently at 50% of the normal for the time of year and unless there is some serious dumping of snow in March you might find some of the crevasses on the glaciers are not covered as well as for example last year.....

Lyngen/Kåfjord is also very popular at that time of year and there are loads of nice ski tours on the mainland that get overlooked. Bad weather options are also better on the mainland/Kvaløya in my opinion (I often do laps of Fagerfjellet or Steinskartinden in poor weather) - so definitely worth checking out non-Lyngen peaks too

Have a good trip!

A lot of good info here!

I would say that weather is actually quite stable around here. For example it has been dry since Christmas, so atm I would recommend bringing ski crampons, and even more to bring real crampons and a bunch of axes and abandon the entire ski plan. It seems as if it's the best ice climbing season they've had in a while.

No need for 4WD or even spike tyres, just winter tyres get you everywhere. There's no need to go off road.

 

In reply to ThunderBeest:

I agree entirely. Abandon skiing until we get more snow!

And make sure crampons are super sharp