Norwegian Delights

Somewhere above Chamonix

North Alps from the Plane

 So I am headed North-West, and it is getting dark around 4.30pm at about 60 degrees North Latitude. After a beautiful flight, I got to Oslo at lunch time in heavy rain - it looked like it has been really wet there recently. My beautiful wooden hand made Idris skis made it to Norway too! They didn't get misplaced on the way like happened to my skis a few years ago arriving in Japan...

Approaching Norway

It is amazing how this Northern land reminds me of British Columbia in Canada, and especially of Vancouver Island. I came past lots of pine and spruce forest and a bit of farmland on the way from the airport, some of it saturated.

It was a cool rain, about 4 or 5 degrees celsius, so hopefully it would translate into snow higher up and further inland. I took the bus from Oslo to Hemsedal to find out. Its a small mountain town with a famous ski hill in the middle of Southern Norway, so it seemed like a good place to start the snow search.

Farms and forest near Oslo

It looked today like the current weather had a high freezing line, so I decided to start off with somewhere a bit higher and inland, but if the snowline comes down to sea level again like it did last week, I'll head into the fjords on the West coast. Theres certainly some low pressure around right now, though, which is great, and as the bus headed away from Oslo I could see some patches of older snowbanks from the other days snowfall - a hint of what is to come...

Oslo

The first hills

Oslo city

The first snowbank, an hour West of Oslo

 

  Speeding up the valley and its snowing!

Flying due North from Chamonix like this, I get a new perspective on the scale of the world. Already I am as far North as I have ever been, but theres still so much more to go. It feels a long way from Chamonix, but its not really very far on a global scale, and pretty close in terms of culture and comfort, too. 

I'm also learning about the limitations of this trip, as far as distance and budget are concerned. It sure is expensive here! I might make it an aim to head to Narvik if I get the chance, though, a coastal mountain town above the Arctic Circle. 
There are some other places that I have in mind to explore if money and time allow, but they are closer to the South.

As the bus left the Oslo region, we headed up a valley, and the terrain started getting more vertical. The rain continued, and the temperature dropped slightly as we climbed steadily higher.

There began to emerge some more extensive snow on the surrounding fields, and eventually the trees alongside the road.

Finally we went up a steeper highway and the snowbanks got bigger, and the rain ceased. There were still a few flurries, and I arrived in Hemsedal to find a winter world. The snow is a little soggy in town, but higher up stayed cold today apparently. It looks beautiful, and its very refreshing.

Arrival at Hemsedal (Snowflake, not full moon!)

I didn't realise when I chose this destination randomly this morning, but it is their opening weekend, and the lifts have been running since Friday! It may be a case of "Should have been here yesterday", but I don't think its been really busy, so its time to see what goods it has in store tomorrow...