Summer bike and ski Skipadalsnuten

Message from Aleksi on Thursday: 

 - Dude, this is starting to be a bit desperate, but how about some July powder on Saturday?

I can't hold a burst of laughter. Is this guy joking? It was 30ºC just last Saturday! I opened the weather forecast and indeed, 30-50cm of new snow above 1000m expected for Thursday night. Jeeeezzz!! PUDDERALAAAARM in July! I have not skied for two months even if there was a shitload of snow in Hordaland. 

The reasons:

      i) Not a fan of spring shitty slush. 

      ii) Not a fan of crowds in the mountains. 

      iii) I hate warm skiing days. I relate skiing with cold days and not with ridiculously warm days when you have to walk around in swimming trunks and sweat like a pig. 

I am not motivated at all for skiing but I start reflecting on it. Maybe it is not shitty old spring snow this time. There is probably no one on the mountain on the 4th of July. It is not gonna be warm and it is actually freezing overnight. 

 -  Okay. I am in (can't believe you convinced me for this). 

 - Awesome! This is going to be epic (possibly an epic failure). 

So Saturday morning, still a bit hangover from yesterday's party, I pack all the gear inside Max: skis, bikes and surfboards (just in case the river wave is on). 

Alek walking up the ridge towards Skipadalsnuten (1497moh).  

2 hours later we are in Raundalen, parked at Skiple, looking at Horndalsnuten and Skipadalsnuten in the distance. There is still quite snow but from here we can see a big cornice in Skipadalsnuten, some glide cracks and some snow chutes at the highest and steepest part of the face. From here the gully that we are planning to ski looks narrow, steep and intimidating but we decide to go and have a look. It is a nice sunny day for a hike anyways. 

We start biking from the car at noon in swimming trunks (didn't I hate this?) carrying heavy backpacks with all the skiing gear. After only 10min cycling up the gravel road, we are already sweating like pigs. I feel I am sweating all the beers from yesterday in no time. The gravel road becomes even steeper and we have to walk the bikes in some sections. Then the path becomes narrower and more challenging, muddy sections, loose rocks and small stream crossings. This is not easy with a gravel bike but is quite fun! After 30min we leave the bikes at the end of the gravel road to continue on foot. We probably saved at least 30min with the bikes.

The last snow slope below the summit.     

Once in Horndalen valley, we cross the river using a quite sketchy bridge. There is no clear path from here and we go straight up walking between high bushes and moss. We saw that there is snow at around 800m in Fribotnen valley, just behind the ridge that goes up to Skipadalsnuten, but we decide to continue hiking and directly aim for the ridge instead. There is not so much snow on the ridge just some snowfields so we continue on foot. Aleksi wants to walk with the skis on the backpack all the way up but I decide to put on the skis at around 1100moh. The snow is quite firm and has a thin upper layer of soft snow. It is really easy to skin. Maybe the snow is good after all! The end of the ridge is quite rocky and I have to walk it. I meet Aleksi right below the summit to check the gully that we want to ski. It is completely formed and looks quite doable. It is also quite wide so not sure I would call it a gully. Nice! There might be some downhill skiing today after all. Quite glad to not have to walk down the ridge. 

We walk the last meters to the summit up the final steep and exposed snow slope. The view is so nice from up here! We can see the entire chain of Raundalsryggen to the east and a big cornice and the impressive face of Horndalsnuten to the west. It is not called like that by chance. It seems ridiculous that the face is sometimes "skiable". We are completely alone up here. There is no one else on the mountain. It is such a gift to have all this for us. 

View from the access point to the gully.

We don't spend much time in the summit, just enough for the transition and a few pictures. The weather might deteriorate in the next few hours and it would be nice to be down in the valley by then. I volunteer to go first and stop to take some pictures of Aleksi. After a few turns at the summit narrow slope, I quickly realize how good the snow is. Ouh yeah! Maybe not an epic failure this time. I am so excited that I miss the turn to the gully and I end up in another gully that ends in a barrier of rocks. Uppssiii! Back up to meet Aleksi and the entrance of our gully.

I start to ski down the gully. The snow is quite good. There is a firm base layer and a thin layer of loose snow on top. Of course is not winter pow, but we cannot ask for better conditions at this time of the year. Skiing down in between these walls I cannot look at my own skis but I keep looking at all the nature surrounding me: the big cornice and the face of Horndalsnuten to my left, Horndalen valley flushing green in front of me and the large walls that tower up to the ridge that we just walked minutes ago to my left. Such amazing surroundings! I take a break halfway down the slope where it is already more flat to take the camera out. 

- Aleeeekk!! Ready! 

Aleksi starts skiing down with his impeccable style and my camera following him. Am I ever gonna be able to ski like that? Quite sure not. We didn't have skiing in school in Baskerland as I guess might be the case in Finland. Who cares as long as I manage to get down and have fun?

Aleksi gliding down the top section.

Lander showing his "unique" barsk skiing style.

Lander stoked after the ski down.

We continue skiing all the way down to where the snow ends crossing snow bridges that cover the river and avoiding rocks. This section is already quite flat and the snow is older and bumpy; not the best quality but is quite fun to find the way between the last patches of snow. 

Aleksi comes behind with a big smile on his face. He didn't get to ski so much this season. 

 - The best snow of the season for me man! - Alek says.

 - That was sick yes! And surprisingly easy to ski.

Our running shoes are quite wet and we decide to keep our skiing boots to walk down this valley and keep the feet nice and warm. There is a huge contrast in the landscape down here. Minutes ago we were surrounded by snow, big boulders and rock faces but down in the valley there is so much vegetation and everything looks so green. We meet some sheep and goats on the way down. It seems that they are communicating between them. They are probably discussing if we are tasty or not. Apparently, they decide that we are not fat enough and we go on without any problem. We reach our bikes and start biking straightaway with the skiing boots on. The cycling down is fun but quite intense with my gravel bike. Some sections are quite steep and rocky and my whole upper body is fighting to absorb all these vibrations. Alek is doing better than me with a mountain bike. 15 minutes later we are back at the van. Tired but very happy after this amazing day.

Big thanks to Aleksi for convincing me that this was a bad idea. I couldn't have lower expectations and just agreed because I found it hilarious to ski in July near Voss after a number of weeks of very warm weather. And now yes. The skiing season is finally over for me. Looking forward to more adventures like this next skiing season but now is time for summer activities.

Biking down to Skiple.

Extra material from the sports camera:

Skiing down the summit slope.

Entering the gully.

Instagram: @landbarsk