Yesterday we went on a big mission on Forholttinden west of Lyngseidet in Lyngen. We drove semi-early from Tromsö in the morning and then approached Forholttinden from the east to be able to film it easily from the other side of the fjord. The target for the day was a beautiful couloir on the looker’s right side of the big mountain face. Morgan and myself was going for the adventure while Bjarne and Ale were filming from the road. We understood that the six kilometer approach along the water where to be though, but not that though; it took 2,5 hours on the way in and 3,5 hours on the way out and consisted of gravel with a few centimeters of snow on it. It’s the hardest approach I have had in Scandinavia and definitely the hardest I have done since South America.

At around two o’clock we arrived at the start of the couloir and from there everything was pretty straightforward. First we climbed a couple of hundred meters in the couloir, then we climbed a thirty meter grade four ice pitch, another pitch of low angle ice and then continued another maybe four hundred meters of cruising terrain before we arrived at the very steep exit couloir. The end was only about two meter wide and really steep.

At the top we took a few minutes to rest and warm up in the sun and then we started the descent. Morgan gave me rope support for the first three meters so I would get a feel for the snow and then I took of down the beautiful couloir. About forty meters further down I ended up on a slab so I quickly took of my skis, down climbed two meters and then kept on skiing to a safe spot. Then Morgan followed me down and when he was safe over the slab I continued down in big turns all the way to the icefall half way down. The snow was totally awesome, easily the best I have skied for the whole season.

We managed to get over the ice with some down climbing and only one rappel and then we skied the second part in one go. The lower part had even better light snow and coming back to our traverse track it felt like the long approach was well worth the hard work. We finally arrived at Magic Mountain Lodge in Lyngseidet at midnight totally exhausted after a great day out.

We don’t know if this couloir is skied before, but it was however a great adventure with awesome skiing, a big feel to it and a couloir of high class wherever one would be in the world.

If you haven’t been there already, visit Bjarne’s video blog at endlessflow.posterous.com

As well as wonderful Magic Mountain Lodge on Facebook at here…

(Photo: Bjarne Sahlén)

Morgan getting ready and Bjarne and Ale are enjoying the sun, knowing they don’t have to walk for hours on a rocky beach!

Morgan

Finally gaining some altitude

Happy Morgan

Morgan skiing from the top of the couloir

Morgan skiing from after the rappel

Morgan happy after a great ski, now its just the hard part left: walking back

Yesterday we went down to Nordkjosbotn to ski a favorite, Russetind, as a warm up for the trip. It has a 1000m plus east face that is a beautiful ski that I skied a couple of years ago. I have always thought it would look awesome on film and as its fairly straightforward we chose it as a good mountain to get a feeling for the conditions in the area.

We arrived in perfect weather and Morgan and myself walked up on the west side while Bjarne climbed a mountain facing the east face to get a good filming position. Everything went smooth, but unfortunately, when we got close to the top bad weather came in. We still tried to drop in on the face, but poor visibility together with lots of snow made us turn around after fifty meters. With no visibility it was really hard to judge the conditions further down and to choose a good line down. We really didn’t get much film material and we didn’t get to ski the line we wanted, but we got some really good turns and we got to test our shape. Best of all was that I got to be out with Morgan again, he’s a great guy, excellent skier and one of the persons I trust most in the mountains.

We are having a rest day today and tomorrow we are of to the Lyngen alps for some, hopefully, awesome couloir skiing. Its lots of snow in the mountain and its been snowing today as well, so I bet we will get some good turns in. The question is just if its possible to do the bigger lines at the moment. Time will tell though… 

The awesome east face of Russetind! A great ski… Unfortunately we didn’t get to ski it this time, but who knows, we might come back! 

The Sahlén brothers

Morgan walking

And climbing

The summit ridge

Morgan and myself on the top

Morgan is WILD!

Good turns in the west couloir

Last Thursday I packed the car and made the long drive further north from Luleå to Tromsö together with Ale! I’m really feeling at home in these parts of Scandinavia and it feels great to be here!! Well in Tromsö we met up with the Sahlén brothers and now we are looking forward for a couple of weeks of filming in the north! 

Going north!

Reindeers… We also saw 6 mooses!

The straight roads in the north of Finland!

The team, Ale and myself!

Aproaching Kilpisjärvi! Last time as here was 2004 with Wille Lindberg! We where competing in the Finnish championships… Good memories!

The fjords in Norway

Tromsö!

Johanna Stålnacke, our awesome hostess, Bjarne, Morgan and Ale! American style!

Adventure planning! 

Today I went to the Swedish Radio to make an interview on winning the Adventurer of the Year award. Listen to the interview here (Swedish only)… 

After a week in France with Salomon I’m now back home in Luleå after a long drive from Stockholm. The next stop is the mountains in the north! 

Read about Reine’s and Charlotte’s feat as well as about the Freeride World Tour at: www.freerideworldtour.com… 

Check Reine and Christine’s winning runs bellow:

During Wednesday and Thursday the Mountain Collective moved out from the office in Annecy out to the slopes of La Clusaz. We had two great ski days testing our own and competitor’s equipment. The skiing was really good, the first day tracked powder and the second day warm spring conditions. It was really inspiring to ski with the team and there where plenty of positive vibes. Looking forward to the next gathering for sure! 

The swedes… 

Josh Dueck, Chris Rubens, Jesse Malman, Bruno Bertrand and Mike Douglas

French breakfast

The boot testing team

Rick Armstrong and Enak Givaggio

Kaj and Chris

Kaj Zackrisson ripping

Rick doing the same.. 

Henke, Romain, Christoffer, Tony and Tristan hanging out in the sun 

AJ and Thomas

Chris

Tony

Kaj

Hendrik, Rick and AJ touring up the piste for a dinner at the slopes

Kaj and Henke on the way down..

Bruno and Tristan

Myself tired in the morning

Binding testing with Mike, Tristan and myself

The alps from my Geneva-Zurich flight, a perfect flight to check out lines…