Last day of 2009

Good morning. 7AM: -12 Celsius, light breeze, clear sky.
We are just getting ready for our last tour of this year.

4PM: What a day! We climbed Dynjefjell from the western ridge and descended on the southern part in powderish snow. Great day to end 2009.

We are getting ready for the last evening.

Another cold and sunny day

Good morning. 7AM: -14.9 Celsius, light breeze, clear sky, dark. Ready for another day to the north.

3PM: Great day spent in Uksan area, climbing Kloppjonnhogda and looking towards Rondane peaks.

We also had a costume ski race and horse sleigh event.

Sunny day-long tour

Good morning. 7AM: -18 Celsius, light breeze, clear sky - feels cold. Most of the trails are prepared.
Today we are heading up North for a full day tour.

17:00: It was a great tour, pretty cold in the morning, but warmed up later on. We skied up to Grahogdbu DNT hut and climbed VesleMuen, where we managed to spot a small herd of reindeer.

Clear sky

Good morning. 7AM: -12 Celsius, gentle breeze from west northwest, clear sky. Expecting nice weather for a few days.

Today we had a great day with stunning views. Also we managed to spot reindeer on Muen and their tracks close to Grahogdbu.

All trails are in good condition.

Calm Sunday

6AM: -13.7 Celsius, light air form south-southeast, overcast and dark. We had more than 12mm of precipitation in the last 36hrs, so according to my calculation we have more than 60cm of snow.

"Boxing Day"

Good Morning. The change has arrived early this morning along with snowy and windy condition which will probably last for another 12hrs or so. 8AM: -10.4 Celsius, fresh breeze from northeast (pretty windy condition).

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas Eve and enjoying Christmas Day with your loved ones.
We had some snow in the last 24hrs (3mm precipitation - equals about 3cm snow).
Weather update at 8AM: -7.6 Celsius, light breeze east-southeast. Light snowfalls are expected and temperature around -6 and -10 Celsius.
Enjoy your day, whereever you are in the world.

More snow coming for Christmas days

Good morning! 7AM: -9.2 Celsius, light breeze from East, overcast, light snowfall. Last 24 hours we had about 3-4 cm of snow again and there is more on the way.

...and here comes the change again

Good morning. 8AM: -13.2 Celsius, light snowfall, light air from S and SE, limited visibility. Do not look at the forecast, according to that it should be -22 Celsius now. I personally believe the temperature would stay closer to -10 or even warmer and with some extra snow. We will see, but I am sure it will be a white Christmas. First time at Myafallet this year, it was already frozen and stunning.

Colder again

Good morning. 8AM: -23.7 Celsius, light air, clear sky and still dark. Waiting for a beautiful sunrise and a great day out. It was!

Grey morning, wonderful sunset

Light snowfall and grey horizon started our day and gradually cleared out and delivered a beautiful sunset before it took its dark coat again. Around -14 Celsius and almost no wind surrounded us today on Trimloypa.

More snow

Weather update at 5PM: -14.9 Celsius, light air, dark. We had about 5cm of snow in the last 24hrs, but very lightweight version (about 2.1 mm precipitation, almost like feather with perfectly shaped crystals)
It was partly cloudy today with some sunny moments. Forecast remains similar.
Most of the trails have been cut today (Trabelia, Uksan, Svartfjellet).

Weather update-change

What a change today. 1PM: -17.3 Celsius, light snowfall, limited visibility. Uksan trails and Svartfjellet round have been cut recently.

Yesterday we had some weather here in Norway, some places recorded below - 40Celsius, fortunately we had milder temperature here, but still between -28 and -32 Celsius.

Weather forecast: similar pattern for a few days as today.

Winter update

Good morning. Bring an extra jacket it is getting colder here and also make sure if you drive up here your car is ready for the challenge (antifreezer, chain, etc)! 9AM: -27.8 Celsius, light air, clear sky. I guess today is cold almost all around Europe with some extreme temperatures.
I added a new feature on the right sidebar from youtube and throughout the season we show some new clips of areas, technique, preparation and useful information (sometimes just trying to be funny). I hope you all like it. Please let us know what you think.
First clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF66gEg1z_c&feature=youtube_gdata

Real winter

9:50PM: It is good to be inside now since it turned out to be a cold night: -24.1 Celsius now. I had a nice sunset tour, but it was challenging to keep myself warm while I took some photos.

Cold and sunny days

Good morning. Still waiting for sunrise, but as it looks we are going to have a beautiful sunny day. Time to check out the northern trails and conditions. Few facts: sunrise 9:36, sunset 14:55, 9AM temperature: -17.9 Celsius, light breeze from north, no precipitation in last 24hrs.
Checked Trabeliafjellet Rundt yesterday afternoon and found some streams still running (Langbakken, Holtesetervegen, Lundes-Freska and also between Granhaugen and Lundtjonn) which represent small obstacles in those trails. Looking forward to this cold period, so all water sources will freeze to their base.

Windy Tuesday and grey Wednesday

Just a picture form yesterday morning looking towards Rondane National Park. It was clear for most of the day, but fairly windy leaving no trails left. Temperatures were between -4 and -11 Celsius in the last 48 hours and we had about 5cm extra snow.
Current condition at 10AM: -10.1 Celsius, gentle breeze from northeast, still cloudy, but slowly clearing, snow depth: 48-50cm. Expecting colder days ahead (maybe as low as -20 Celsius, thanks to a high pressure system bringing cold air from polar regions), no siginificant precipitation until the weekend.
Most of the ski trails have been cut this season including Trabelliafjellet, Kyrkjegardsfjellet, Veslefjellet, Svartfjellet, Uksan area (Forbundsfjellet has not been cut) which gives us a very good base for the upcoming months (normally we do not have enough depth to cut all the trails this early). At the moment "Trabeliafjellet Rundt" is being prepared.

Light snowfall

Last week before the season kicks in. Quick weather update: light snowfall, -6.5 Celsius, light air from south-southeast, limited visibility. All these light snowfalls added about 3 cms of snow in the last 24hrs and we might get a little more tonight.

Ski orienteering weekend

Another year has passed since I saw the ski orienteering group here. Almost 100 athletes gathered here to train and compete and get further preparation for the Ski-O season. They represtented many age groups and fought hard on this "2day- 3race" event.

Today was a bit "white" compare to yesterday's colourful scene as the clouds moved in, but it was still ideal: 8Am : -3.8 Celsius, light wind, cloudy-all white.

Few light snowfalls are expected, but nothing significant... and maybe a cold front?

Trails in the forests are better than in open areas, since we had windy condition yesterday further north. I did night skiing around Veslefjellet (night means 6PM) and it was windy, but really peaceful with clear sky (windblown tracks though).

One more week to get ready for the Christmas invasion.

It is good to be back

Finally I am back at Venabu and I can give you a day to day update. As you all know we have plenty of snow and we could have started our season much earlier as locals and skiers did. I went out this morning to check snow depth and it was between 46-50cm and around -3 Celsius. Good condition for skating and classic, but only in tracks, since it is very loose off piste. The snow froze through several times and consolidated it, so now it is almost sugar type snow with a few distinctive layers reminding us about the different snowfalls we had in the past weeks. I will be out for more and check different areas and give you an overall update.

Took a few pictures, so you can all see how it looks now before Christmas. Driving up from Ringebu you will be surprised of the sudden change you see in snow depth, there is almost nothing in Ringebu and the snow/subzero line start just around Venabygd and above.

I looked at the forecast and pressure maps and it looked very dramatic a few days ago with that massive low pressure approaching from the Atlantic, but it has changed, so instead of -18 Celsius we are on a more bareable temperature range with -3 to -9 Celsius. Svartfjellet and Trabeliafjellet Loops are prepared today and Veslefjellet and Trimloypa are also from yesterday.

Half a meter of snow :)

The last days it's been snowing so now it is 52 cm. snow.

Temperatures around zero, and quite good conditions to ski.
The trails around Trabelifjell, Kyrkjegardsfjell, Svartfjell, and Uksan is prepared regular.

Veslefjell will be marked as soon as the weather permit.

Last ski weekend before season starts

Good morning.

This weekend we've had 100 persons from Ottestad, close to Hamar. 50 kids and 50 adults.
They've had the oppotunity with skating possibilities in the Mya area and diagonal possibilities around Trabeli fjell and flaksjølivegen.

-3 this morning and cloudy. 45 cm snow after a few good snow falls the last few days.

Icy week, snowy sunday

The last few days have been icy. So this weekend started with + 4 degrees and klister.

This is in fact the first time we use klister in November. But early sunday morning it started snowing again, and now we have a 4 cm fresh powder layer on top of the ice again.

Totally there is 35 cm snow.

First ski group arrived

Now the first out of three ski groups has arrived. It is Roterud ski group, based close to Lillehammer. Totally they are 90 persons, 20 adults and 70 kids within the age range of 10-16.

The snow conditions are quite good, 35 cm's powder and we have 25 kms well prepared groomed trails around Trabelifjell, and some small connections between Venabu and Lundes.

At Myvegen we have made some skating tracks, so there is a chance to do whatever you prefer.

Warm weekend

Good afternoon.

This weekend has been quite warm, with degrees between -5 and +1, at the moment it's 0 and the snow is slowly dripping away from the roofs. And skiing contitions is not so good, which is quite normal when it comes to temperatures around zero.

There was another 3 cm snow this morning and so there is a total of 40 cm right now.

Track update 4 november

At the moment we are making the base of the trails, so it is possible to ski but there is no tracks.
And we haven't marked any trails yet.

What has been base groomed yesterday and today is Venabu-Kiwi Lundes-Frisketjønn-Granhaugen-Trabelifjell-Høgåsen-Sleivhaugen-Holtesetervegen.

Temperature is -5 degrees.

Snow update

The last 2 days it has been snowing more or less continously.

That tells us that the amount of snow has increased from 7 cm snow till 28 cm in 50 hours.

So within the next days we will start grooming some few kilometers of trails, and I will come back to more regular morning updates.

weather update 1 nov

Good morning everyone.
I hope you had a good halloween.

Last night there came 2 cm snow, so all together we have 14 cm now.
Temperature at 7 was -3 and last nights minimum was -5.

Yesterday we started making a base for our tracks, but there are no tracks groomed yet.

Midnight update

-2 Celsius, light air, overcast and dark. Today was again sunny with a few more clouds around and no sign of precipitation. We had some interesting clouds around and a beautiful sunset which I almost missed. I stayed up for some meteor showers, but I need to settle with my one here in the room since it is overcast.
I will be out for a few weeks on different missions (sport, work, travel), but back soon. While I am gone there will be some updates too by Karl Thomas, so you will not miss out on news.

Nice weather

10AM: -0.1 Celsius, light breeze, sunny few clouds around valley sides . Weather is still keeping far from the forecast as being very nice and sunny in the last 3 days. The future looks pretty similar at the moment. Colours are changing , now we see more dark since top temperatures were in the positive zone.

Sunny day

After a couple of windy days we just had another great day, it was around +2-3 Celsius, sunny with light to moderate breeze. Now at 6PM is -1,4 Celsius, light breeze. Despite of the warmer day it is still good enough to play around the hills, even with skis on (no tracks have been cut).

Successful seminar

We had a great 3 days on our tour leader study and I think it was very promising to see so many students so interested learning about this study and becoming more educated tour leaders.
The weather was very kind to us and we had a nice time on our practice tour walking down to Ringebu in the vistas of Gudbrandsdalen.
Today we have a some change in the weather: windy with strong gusts, light snowfalls and around +2 Celsius.

Nice winter days

Yesterday we just had a wonderful "winter day", -13.6 Celsius as minimum temperature, sunny and even warm later on. The snow was melting a bit away, but still holding it status around Venabygdfjellet. This morning is milder -2 Celsius, light air and still sunny, cirrus clouds appearing in the distance. Weather forecast: closing to zero, milder and windy for tomorrow, but no major change expected.

Nice day

Midday update: -1.6 Celsius, sunny, moderate breeze (feels cold) and the snow cover is around 12-20cm. We start our "Tour leader study" this afternoon with a 3-day seminar. Students will learn about nature based tourism in both theoretical and practical aspects.

Looking around

Just a few pictures from around us. The temperature was around zero today, but the sun was working hard to melt some snow. Roads are in good condition during daytime, but get icy for the evenings and mornings. The snow line is around 600-650m and as the weather forecast looks it will start crawling back up.

Wind, sun and a few clouds

11AM: Pretty windy out there and we have some strong gusts (fresh breeze), -0.5 Celsius, sunny, few clouds gathering around the higher areas. Since it has been blowing hard we might end up with some bigger snowdrifts.

More winter...

Afternoon update: Still snowing! I went out for a run around Veslefjell and I have to say the snow seemed to be consolidated, because it was firm enough (not for running, but for skiing). I guess if you are interested coming up skiing I think it would be good enough for touring around and exploring the hills.

Looking out of my window it seems like the weather is still on arctic mode: -3 Celsius, light air, limited visibility and snowing! Weather map shows some precipitation shifting through, but nothing significant, then in a few days we get a bit milder temperatures.

New blog - Out there...

I am setting up a new blog which will be based on my personal perspective of outdoor pursuits. This sounds fun :) Mainly there will be a lot of nice pictures from all around the world, details on outdoor activities such as running, guiding, trekking, training, etc. Please feel free to check it out anytime.

Winter feeling

It feels like I have just returned at the right moment. It looks great having both the autumn colours and the snowy winter elements in our surroundings. Unfortunately it is not enough snow to prepare our tracks, but if you are a real enthusiastic skier I am sure you could find some very good areas above the vegetation line where you could ski freely (watch out for streams and rivers).

It was minus 10 Celsius this morning and our day was just beautiful: sunny and crisp. Not much precipitation is forecasted for the next few days, but temperatures should stay close to zero.

As you know our hotel is running on a low season mode now until December, but we have 3-day seminar coming up next week, which is part of a 1 year long -part time tour leader- study run by HIL, Lillehammer. Our hotel is hosting all 4 seminars from Oct 2009 until Aug 2010 and the study is in nature based tourism and tour leading. We really hope that we can educate more people about the environment we live in, so we can all pass that knowledge on to others. I feel honoured to be included in this study as a lecturer. I keep you updated with new reports and pictures.

Weather update

Winter is now here to stay.
Last 24 hours we got 9 cm snow, and temperatures between -5 and -1, so it is quite clear that the grass will not be seen until beginning of May 2010.

Robert is also back from his stay in the US so now we are both able to update when when something is happening.

End of summer season.

Today we closed the hotel for some weeks. But as you can see, we also got some snow.

The last 24 hours we got 13 cm soft powder snow, and it will continue to snow next week.

There will be some weekends where we will have some different arrangements, but in the weekdays it will be closed. The winter season starts 20Dec.

First snowfall this winter season

Today it came a few centimeters of soft snow. First it started as hail and turned later into soft snow. It's not often that we get snow in september, and this won't stay very long. It is still quite warm weather, with temperatures up till +8 degrees during daytime. So the real huge amounts of snow will not come for another few weeks.