Troll-loypa, Norway

Dates: Saturday 17 to Sunday 25 February 2001

Destination: Rondane National Park, north of Lillehammer, Norway

Team: Paul Brooks (noxious substances), Alison Adams (trip photographer & reporter), James Brooks (food supplies), Teresa Brooks (first aid research), Geoff Kensett (wipe-out survival)

Aims: Look for Trolls, suffer the scenery, eat lots of Norwegian food, have fun in the snow, (do some skiing).

Day 1: Teesside - Hovringen.

Our first objective - to change from travel clothes into skiing clothes and leave the former in airport storage. This was somewhat blighted by the fact that my rucksack had gone astray at Amsterdam. Undeterred I wore a selection of Paul's and Terry's clothes and continued the mission. Approach to base-camp 1 was made by mini bus and trailer from airport. A sense of foreboding descended when the driver was overheard mentioning 'storms in the mountains'. Part way up the series of steep hairpin bends from the valley to Hovringen the minibus lost traction and came to a halt in the snow. We were rescued by a beast of a 4 wheel drive from our hut/hotel - passing 2 buses in ditches, 2 stranded buses and getting stuck in a ditch ourselves. On top was a bitter blizzard but Haukliseter Fjellstue provided sanctuary (and food).

Day 2: Hovringen - Hovringen.

Lack of equipment, due to missing rucksack led to an alteration of plans. The morning was spent on gear familiarisation, waxing skills, techniques for movement on uphill, downhill and flat surfaces and laughing at each other. The afternoon involved a round tour of 10k - a taster of what was to come. Paul tried out his newly acquired pulk.

Day 3: Hovringen - Mysuseter.

A bright day dawned, a reunited rucksack allowed planned progress on the Troll-loypa (Troll trail) to begin - a gentle ascent in good conditions, followed by a steep descent, which was impossible to ski as an intense in-your-face blizzard suddenly descended on the iced slope. After surviving this the 'shower' blew over and we could thaw out and enjoy scenery outside Peer Gynt-hytta (unfortunately closed, but providing shelter from the wind). A fairly long traverse made for slow going as Terry's borrowed boots hurt her feet and a considerable amount of edging skis was needed. A lovely descent to Mysuseter followed.

Day 4: Mysuseter - Rondablikk.

Fuelled on vast amounts of amazing soup, wickedly horrid small fish with raw onions, salad, reindeer heart stew, mixed root mash and apple cake with ice cream; we made the next day a short one and skied a low level route through pretty scenery to Rondblikk. Here accommodation was more hotel like and provided a bit of afternoon convalescence - swimming pool, sauna, cake, coffee…

Paul and I repeatedly waxed up and flew down the steep hill outside the hotel, having fun and improving (!) our downhill techniques on cross-country skis.

Note: it was at the start of this day that James first displayed his amazing high speed downhill survival skill. James' tips are 1 point straight downhill. 2. shout "Out of the way" 3. Turn no corners 4. Worry about stopping later.

Day 5: Rondablikk - Eldabu.

The highlight of our tour - an uphill trek through the forest and long traverse to our highest destination, the self-service hut Eldabu.

A beautiful start with sun and shadows. The forest was denser than birch woodland previously encountered and had no cut tracks to follow. We ploughed our way through the deep snow, which provided challenging conditions for skiing and getting up again. Above the tree line our elation at having emerged was short-lived as we became exposed to temperatures of -10, poor visibility and a wind speed estimated at 40mph! The long traverse into whiteness went on and on in bitter cold conditions - the suffering made worse by the route offering a glimpse of our destination in the trees, before turning away to the head of the valley, then down towards the hut.

The relief of finding a hut nestling in the shelter of trees was also short lived - it was a private one! Fortunately the DNT hut wasn't far away and once located by Paul, was made home for the night - a fantastic retreat all to ourselves. We looked out at the bitter cold night from the comfort of our log fire warmed haven.

Day 6: Eldabu - Venabu.

The day dawned in a pretty pink light - but it was still -10 outside. We made rounds of pancakes with a mix from the hut's provisions store, cleaned up, filled in required paper work, re-stocked with snow in the water buckets and left with fond memories. In contrast to the previous day, the sunshine, lack of wind and stunning views back to the Rondane Mountains and beyond made this day a highlight of a different sort. We could relax, enjoy the gentle terrain and fill our heads with the mind-blowing panorama. The route re-joined cut tracks, making the going easier and we encountered more people as we dropped down to Venabu Fjellhotel.

Days 7 & 8: Around Venabu.

After discussion we terminated our pursuit of the Troll-loypa at Venabu. It provided a good base for round tours, with marked ski trails in all directions, over varied terrain, from the door, transport back down to the valley and a cat to stroke. We had an excellent 7th day skiing up Svartfjellet (1158m) giving splendid views of the surrounding mountains and memorable steep descents providing lots of entertainment, especially Geoff's amazing wipe-outs (sorry I couldn't get the camera out for laughing!).

Day 8 saw us doing a route around Svarthammern (1182m) with more good views. Paul and James opted to go to the top and got more than they bargained for with a short red run equivalent section of descent. I was glad the rest of us declined.

Summary: Didn't see any Trolls (not live ones in any case). Suffered lots of superb scenery. Ate stacks of good food. Had immense fun and great skiing. Thanks Paul for arranging it all and to the rest of the team for achieving our aims!

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