From 2000 to 2003 inclusive I made a yearly visit to north Norway. In 2003 I took a borrowed video camera with me and last year got the tape digitised but only recently managed to get that to display in a reasonably viewable form on YouTube, albeit the two clips I have are each of thirty minutes' duration. For anyone interested in the clips there are detailed timings of highlights below.
The videos are a mix of not very animated shots from the tops or near the tops of five of the hills I visited and of reconnaisance footage for potential future expeditions. Best viewed on 16:9 aspect ratio which is the tag setting in YouTube that crops the top and bottom from the original so should be ok on a laptop but will show up the top of screen chewed tape effect on a PC monitor if viewed full screen -also get that problem if viewing on Walkhighlands so best to view in YouTube. This report covers the first three hills from the 2003 trip.
Bodo is natural destination for anyone interested in visiting the north and I had previously used it as an embarkation point for visits to the Lofoten Islands. This time though I was interested in first exploring the coast between Bodo and Skutvik before again visiting the Lofotens. That stretch of coastline had captivated me on my three previous trips between Skutvik and Svolvaer what with its many pointed peaks, cliffs and hilly islands.
July 7th 2003
I arrived in Bodo in the late afternoon in decent weather and set off east for the E6. I was able to get glimpses west from there of my main objective, the Steigen peninsula. Without realising what I was looking at I also got good views of two fantastic looking mountains to the north of Bodo, Strandatind and Eidetind. Have a look at http://www.westcoastpeaks.com for details. If I had known then what I know now I would have been alomg there too.
- pointy mountains on the Steigen peninsula
7th July video highlights
00:00-00:14 Borvastinden
00:30-01:05 Strandatind and Eidetind zoom
01:50-02:25 Hamaroyskaftet zooms
03:07-06:02 general footage of Steigen peninsula steep and pointy coastal mountains
July 8th 2003
Next day I was headed for the coastal hill Hatten, that I had climbed the previous year, hoping to find a route from there over to its dramatic neighbour Tilhornet. Hatten itself is a very fine hill with a knife edge ridge at its east end and a scramble up to the summit at the west end. I couldn't see anything I'd consider to be a viable route off Hatten towards Tilthornet so I had to descend and drive along the tricky dirt road to the base of the saddle between the two hills. It was hard going through the undergrowth and woodland and the flies were swarming in the still heat but this helped focus me on the task at hand and I got up to 500m pretty quickly. I found reversing my balaclava so that my face was covered worked a treat for respite from the air traffic. All the hassle was worth it though once I reached the saddle. From there on I got a little breeze and an easy and enjoyable walk/scramble along the easy part of the Tilthornet ridge with fantastic views of the ridge and the Lofoten Islands beyond. I could see though that the weather was going to turn and so then did I. Spent the evening reconoitering Stetind but at that time I didn't know the walking route to Hall's Foretop so I confined myself to admiring the mountain from a distance. I then drove farther north to Narvik.
- east ridge of Hatten -this terminates in a knife edge scramble, Stetinden visible mid left horizon
- retrospective of Hatten west ridge from Tilthornet saddle showing the too difficult for me descent
- another view of the Hatten west ridge
- wow, on the way up Tilthornet's east ridge
- beautiful colours on the sea below
- farther along the Tilthornet east ridge
- a nice grassy section of ridge walking
- a narrower, rocky section of ridge follows
- felt a bit precarious towards the end of this straight section of the ridge at which point I about turned
- the Tilthornet pinnacles
- Stetinden from the main road
- Stetinden from the ferry
8th July video highlights
06:04-07:10 pan from Steigen coastal mountains to Hamaroyskaftet
07:16-09:35 actual footage of Hatten summit ridge and summit with view east to Stetinden and Tysfjord and west to Tilthornet and the Lofoten Islands
09:35-15:00
Actual footage of various points along the easy part of the Tilthornet ridge (includes numerous flies) –starts with retrospectives of Hatten from saddle then various views of the dramatic cliffs and pinnacles of the main rideg backed by the Norwegian Sea and the Lofoten Wall interspersed with a further retrospective to Hatten.
15:43-18:30
Various shots of Stetinden from the roadside followed by zoom from ferry
July 9th 2003
Woke to rain and wind in Narvik so decided on a slow return south and got clearer weather in the afternoon at Hamaroyskaftet, a distinctive needle shaped coastal hill. Had a short low level walk towards the hill but couldn't see any easy looking route up. Took an evening ferry from Skutvik to Svolvaer. The west coast of the mainland looking south from Skutvik is a dramatic sight with many sharp peaks and islands lining the horizon.
- looking west from the foot of Hamaroyskaftet
9th July video highlights
19:39-21:10 low level walk towards Hamaroyskaftet; supposed to be an easy scramble but not obviously so from this distance
22:44-23:50 glimpses of the dramatic coastline between Bodo and Skutvik from the Skutvik-Svolvaer ferry
July 10th 2003
Woke near Higrafstinden to sun and lifting cloud. Drove the short distance to Svolvaer and set off for the ridge adjoining the famous Svolvaergoetta (Svolvaer goat), a twin topped pinnacle that looms over Svolvaer. Followed the ridge west from there to a cairned summit two kilometres farther on. It was a difficult scramble to the top which I should have thought more carefully about because I had a hell of a time getting back down. A very fine viewpoint though.
- Svolvaergoetta
- looking south over Svolvaer suburbs
- looking north east, Hamaroyskaftet just visible top right
- view north
- looking east from the ridge behind Svolvaergoetta
10th July video highlights
23:51-25:15 morning sun and cloud breaking on Higrafstind and neighbours
25:46-28:38 close up of Svolvaergoetta pinnacles followed by various views from along the ridge to the west the high point of which I was stuck on for half an hour trying to work out how to get down
