Into the Mountains

This weekend Minttu and I had the immense pleasure of adventuring in the high mountains.

Along with two of my great ski mates, Simon and Lasse, we were off to explore an area we have never been to before.

For our base we had rented a gorgeous, minimalistic, yet spacious, cabin up on the plateau beneath Høgevarde.

Stepping out of the truck after a very long journey up due to traffic delays I was buffeted by 25 meter per second wind. There was absolutely no doubt that I was now out in a rugged, open landscape.

Above me was the most amazing star filled night sky. As I looked around at my surroundings in the darkness, the ridges and contours of the nearby mountains came into view.

Yet it was not until sunrise on Saturday morning that we would truly experience the majesty of our location.

The sun also exposed quite how little snow there was lower down surrounding us. The warm winds and rains of the last week had played havoc with the snow.

Up towards the top of the peaks around us we could see some snow fields which we would be able to enjoy.

And so off we set into the mountains.

There was a lot of walking, with skis over shoulders, to be had. However it by no means dampened our mood. Minttu could not have cared less as she bounded happily finding sticks and eagerly positioning them in front of us.

The touring skis were put on, taken off, put on, taken off, put on… you get the picture.

About 3.5 hours later we sat down on the peak overlooking a snow field playground. Realistically we would not get more than 20 turns on our skis before we would need to take them off again.

We decided that if the conditions were good we would ski a few laps, climbing back up to the summit to make the most of the limited snow.

These were my first turns of the entire Winter. And it felt so good.

Minttu, on her first ever ski tour with the boys, was unbelievably good and loving every moment.

Eventually it was time to pick our way back down the mountain through gulleys, bushes and trees, before eventually hiking back to the truck.

Whilst the adventure did not turn out as we might have envisioned it in the previous weeks, they rarely go perfectly to plan.

We were simply elated to have a fantastic day out in raw nature and high mountains.

The evening was spent staring into the fireplace, speaking of fatherhood, human psychology, nature and some less serious matters too.

The relative solitude and exposure to nature were the perfect reset for three tired daddies.

A fabulous weekend in the mountains