Sunday 31 January 2010

Cold Sunday

Good morning! 7AM: -18 Celsius, light air from SE, overcast. We had a few mm of snow in last 24hrs.

Saturday 30 January 2010

Partly cloudy

7AM: -15 Celsius, light breeze from SE. About 0.5mm of precipitation overnight. Most of the trails are prepared and in good condition.

Friday 29 January 2010

Cold, full moon morning

7Am: -17.4 Celsius, light air from N-NW, clear sky, full moon.
Late update: Great tour out in mixed condition. While people were sharing good visibility around the central part of Venabygdfjellet we had a tour up to the northern areas, including Fremre Uksan, Grahogda, Dora Canyon and Myafallet. Later on the weather closed in, so it was great to test our navigational skills in "whiteout" condition. We were planning to make a snowshoe decent to Dora canyon, but after I had tested the snow and seen a nice avalanche, we retreated and went for Myafallet instead.

Thursday 28 January 2010

Clear sky and wind

7AM: -9 Celsius, gentle breeze from W - NW, clear. Expecting clouds, wind and maybe more snow later on. Few trails were prepared yesterday Trimloypa, Veslefjellet and Trabeliafjellet rounds, but it has been blowing hard, so might not be good enough.
7PM update: partly cloudy day with a few snow showers, windy some places, but trails were holding well. Trails prepared today: Trabeliafjellet, Kyrkjegardsfjellet, Trimloypa, Hogasen and tracks between Venabu and Spidsbergseter.

Wednesday 27 January 2010

Snowfall overnight, nice day

Good morning. 7AM: -11 Celsius, overcast, light breeze from N -NW. About 2cm of fresh snow came last night, it is calm at the moment and not snowing, expecting a little bit more snow and wind in next few days.
6PM update: Turned out to be a great day with some amazing light conditions. It was snowing, sunny, partly cloudy and ended up windy too. Temperature increased to -2 Celsius some places. Now it is -4.6 Celsius, fresh breeze from N, mixed visibility. I went out on Trimløypa for training and it was more like dumping buckets of snow on me, it was so windy that most of the tress were shaking their white jackets exactly over me. Some places I could not see anything at all for +50m. Plus it was difficult to get grip even with -2 Celsius wax on. Overall enjoyment 1-10 scale: 8.58
More snow and wind coming.

Tuesday 26 January 2010

Beautiful morning, nice tour

Good morning. 7AM: -11.9 Celsius, light air from N, clear sky with a few clouds, amazing colours of sunrise. Expecting some change later this afternoon bringing some snow, but until then we enjoy our vista.


Monday 25 January 2010

Clear morning

7AM: -11.9 Celsius, light air from N-NW, clear sky. According to the weather forecast it will be cloudy later on, but I am not sure about that. We are in a middle of a high pressure system, so it seems calm and stable for a day at least. Most of the trails are prepared and we had no extra snow in last 24hrs.
10PM: What a great day! Not much sign of cloudy weather, more like sunny all day. Great views on our "northern area tour". We even spot reindeer again and some other winter creatures.

Sunday 24 January 2010

Sunday

7AM: -10.5 Celsius, light breeze from S -SE, overcast. Trails are in good order, but fairly soft so trail profiles do not last long.

Saturday 23 January 2010

Calm Saturday morning

6AM: -10.9 Celsius, light air from SE, light snowfall, dark. About 4-5cm of extra snow in last 48hrs (not much last night).

Friday 22 January 2010

Light snowfall continues

7AM: -10.3 Celsius, overcast, light breeze from S-SE. Trails are being prepared, Trabeliafjellet, Veslefjellet, Trimløypa have been cut. Light snowfall all day.

Thursday 21 January 2010

Snowing

Good morning. 7AM: -10.1 Celsius, light air from SE, light snowfall. Expecting a little more snow today, so far we have had about 2 cm in last 24hrs.
Nice tour in Kyrkjegardsfjellet area. Managed to spot a palmtree and a mouse with a backpack on. What a world?

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Nice grey day

7AM: -9.3 Celsius, light air from N-NE, overcast, good visibility. No snow in the last 24hrs. Trails are in good order. Might be more clouds later on.

10PM: Clouds came later and brought light snowfall.

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Almost clear sky

7AM: -15 Celsius, almost no wind, only a few clouds around, great visibility. We had about 1mm of precipitation in last 24hrs.
10PM: Nice day, became overcast but still good visibility. Good conditions, good snow and temperature around -9 Celsius.

Monday 18 January 2010

Light snowfall continues

7AM: -9.7 Celsius, light snowfall, light breeze from S - SE, limited visibility. Last 24hrs we had about 2.5mm of precipitation. Trails prepared yesterdays are Trimloypa, Forestadseter, Svartfjellet Rundt, Trabeliafjellet Rundt and up to Inndre Uksan towards Dorhogda.
Maybe a little weather window coming up on Tuesday. Sorry for not having photos uploaded in the last few days, but I thought I give it a rest, so you will be delighted once I start again.
8PM: Nice white and grey day with some very picturesque memories.

Sunday 17 January 2010

Extra snow

Good morning. 7AM: -9.3 Celsius, light breeze from S - SE, overcast.
Yesterday we had clouds/fog around all day and continouos light snowfall, which resulted about 4mm of precipitation in last 24 hrs (equals about 3-4cm of snow). It was time to get an extra layer, but also means that all those freshly cut trails are disappearing now. Expecting similar weather in next 48hrs.

Saturday 16 January 2010

Overcast

8AM: -11.1 Celsius, light breeze from S - SE, cloudy. Last night fog closed in and I think it might stay here for a while.

Friday 15 January 2010

Friday

Good morning at 8AM: -14 Celsius, clear sky, light breeze from N. Today is the first day for more than a week when it could be warmer here than in the Valley below. According to weather forecast we might have some precipitation coming in this weekend (clouds, light snowfall). Most of the trails are covered with "hoar frost", but in good condition (Kyrkjegardsfjellet was cut again yesterday).
10PM update: Most of the trails have been cut again (Uksan, Svartfjellet, Veslefjellet and Trabeliafjellet). A little bit windy now and the temperature increased to -10 Celsius from -18 C in a few hours, there might be a change... but not much.
I spent a day out marking and checking conditions all around, collected about 6 norwegian miles and found some interesting shots.

Thursday 14 January 2010

"Tourday"

Good morning. 7 AM: -10 Celsius, light air from N-NW, clear sky. No sign of forecasted clouds and -20 Celsius. No complaint at all. Weather seems stable to me for at least a few more days, according to other sources it might change even getting a bit of snowfall for Sunday.

Great tour in Muen area, spotted 2 groups of reindeer, one on Veslemuen, other one across Road 27 at Ramstinden. Amazing morning with a lot of fog and lights around, coming back in sunset.

Wednesday 13 January 2010

Ice world in fog

Good morning. 7AM: -13.2 Celsius, light breeze from N-NE, clear sky. There is still a lot of moisture over our area which seems to settle slowly leaving leaf like ice formations all around on buildings, trees, bushes and surface. It could reduce speed and remove wax quicker on our skis.
9PM: Nice sunny day again. Finally we managed to prepare the trail between Kyrkjegardsfjell South and Lykkjebekken. Feel free to take that path. What a morning was there! Twighlight zone!

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Clear sky

7AM: -13.9 Celsius, light air from N -NW, clear sky. Most of the trails are in good condition. Snow depth: around 70cm, no significant snowfall in last 2 weeks.
Great trip to the northern parts of Venabygdfjellet: Kvandalen, Uksan areas. Small herd of reindeer up on Muen, great lights, ice formations and almost no wind - completed our day.

Monday 11 January 2010

Warmer day

7AM: -9.4 Celsius, light breeze, clear sky. Still pretty cold down in the valley.
Later update: It warmed up close to -7 Celsius and dropped back down to -14 Celsius in a few hours. We had a trip to the South and climbed Forbundsfjellet for an amazing vista and another fox track discovery (found eggshells, tracks next to a massive whole). Also an interesting picture with a tree and Sun, looking at the tree and the frozen bottom half and a distinctive line (neutral plane).

Sunday 10 January 2010

Ideal weather

Good morning. Seems like we are back on inversion, colder valleys, warmer mountain tops. We do not mind at the moment, since it is still cold enough up here, at 7AM: -15.8 Celsius, light breeze from NW. I looked at maximum temperatures on Kvitfjell (around -7 C) and in the valley below (Favang -25C) it looked pretty interesting, how different it could be only a few kms apart. Svartfjellet had been cut yesterday, so most of the trails are ready for use. I think people are scared off a bit by this cold weather, because I have not seen many skiers around in the last few days (or just enjoyed watching sports on TV). Tour de Ski final climb today, just for the sake of it I go for Lukas Bauer, I hope you do not mind!

10PM: We had an amazing day out in very good conditions and with some interesting sites too (like a dead fox on Langbakken trail). Seems like animals are desperate on food sources in this extreme cold . This poor little thing possibily died by natural cause and found by others.
Sorry about my vote on Lukas Bauer, but honestly the others had no chance :), but it was another impressive winter sport weekend for Norway.
Look forward to see the Olympic Games, since I could not make the team... I mean the winter chess team :)

Saturday 9 January 2010

Less cold and sunny

Good morning! 8AM: -21 Celsius, light air, clear sky. Some of the more open trails "snowblown" partly, but trails to the south and central are in good condition. Fremre Uksan - Dorhogda loop was prepared this morning. We are still on green and polar wax, but honestly we could have gone out on no wax, since the snow was like skiing through ice splinters. (not much speed at all, but safe!) Conditions in the higher areas are better (off piste), harder surface, but watch out for windslabs, I saw some avalanche debris close to Svartfjell, fortunately far from any trails.

Friday 8 January 2010

Sunny days

Good morning! 8AM: -27.7 Celsius, light air from N, clear sky. Most of the trails are prepared (Forbundsfjellet is not). Third time that a small group of reindeer appeared on Muen, you can see the tracks on the left shoulder.