Galdhopiggen Out-takes

The summit cafe on Galdhopiggen

Northern Europe's highest barrista; makes a mean cup of instant

Interior of the cafe

A table with a view, please

This is the guided-tour, crossing the glacier back to their tour bus;
"remember, if anyone falls into the crevasse, cut the rope!"

Ascent of Galdhopiggen

Spiterstulen is an unpretentious but very nice lodge/cabins/hostel/campground place 20km up from Lom, set between Norway's two big mountains, Glitterlind and Galdhopiggen. It is a jumping off point for a variety of hikes, treks and climbs. And it is alpine country, 1100 meters, but already above tree-line at this latitude, and surrounded by snowy peaks and glaciers and torrential creeks and rivers of glacier-milky water. It is a terrain more akin to Denali than anything else I can remember.

There are two standard routes up the big mountain, Galdhopiggen. The more popular is via Juvasshytta, at 1800 meters, where, in a group, you rope-up, and a guide leads you across the glacier, like a tour bus, and then up a ridge to the summit. Being cheap, independent, anti-social, slow, etc., I elected the second route, longer and steeper, but no group and no guide, from Spiterstulen. We don't need no stinking guides.

From Spiterstulen, Galdhopiggen is described as a day-hike, and indeed it is, but a very long one, at least early in the season with so much snow. I left the camper at 8AM, reached the summit at 4, very late, and got back down only by 10PM. It was about a 4,500 foot climb, by my reckoning, one of the longest I have ever done, both up and back, in a day. The first thousand feet or so was trail and then talus, and then, talus and boulder-hopping. After that, most of the way, it was mixed snow and boulder-hopping, mostly snow. The snow was deep and slower-going, but the consequences of slipping, as I did many times (my boots are environment-friendly, with not very aggressive lugs), were far less than on rock, particularly where the boulders formed a knife-edge over the glaciers below. There were several high points, but the true summit came into view only about 2PM. (I had begun to wonder why all the parties that had passed me on the way up were not passing me now on the way back down). I slugged on, sending word back to Vicki at the camper that I would be late returning.

What I thought was a summit refuge turned out to be a summit cafe. See pix. What is this, France? I bought a souvenir, had a cup of coffee, signed the register, closed the place, then took pix all around, and felt very good about making yet another significant summit. Persistence, determination, calculation, etc. The alpine surroundings were incredible, more like Alaska than anything else I can remember. It was glorious, in every direction.

Then I remembered I had to get back down. Another six hours of trudging, light failing, wind picking up, getting cooler....

At length, I made it back down, slipping and sliding more than I would have liked, but nothing serious except a bit of sun-burn. On the way I helped a Norwegian family find its daughter's sunglasses in a boulder-field. Who can resist making a ten-year-old happy? I hope she will think well of Americans.

Vicki was properly unhappy with me when I got back. 14 hour stress tests are not what a 62 year old should be doing. She is right, of course. As always. But I'd do it again. Day after tomorrow.

Upper reaches of the route from Spiterstulen; I
have no pix of the mountain proper--it's pretty isolated

Final push to the summit

Summit view

Bergschrund on a glacier below

Distant view from summit

From Lillehammer to Spiterstulen

Wednesday we drove from Lillehammer north to Ott, then west to Lom, the gateway to Oppland and the Jotunheimen national park. The high point of the day was outside Ott, where we happened upon an LPG/propane gas place. Being self-contained and all is neat, but every so often you need to worry about such fundamentals as water, propane, diesel, emptying the grey and black tanks, etc. We had been using propane very deliberately since Germany, knowing that it is hard to come by in some parts of Scandinavia. We needn't have worried. The fill-up took 26 liters, which means we burned only 21 in the past 5 weeks. The full tank, which we use for cooking, heating, refrigerator sometimes, and very occasional generator (to run the microwave), will last us to the UK, certainly, in August. From Lom, we took the toll road up to Spiterstulen, which is the main hopping off point for hikes and climbs in the national park. Galdhopigen, at 2470 meters, is Norway's (and indeed Scandinavia's) highest mountain, and I have determined to try it.

The alpine scenery increases from Lom And the waterfalls And the mountains and glaciers Spiterstulen lodge Wednesday we drove from Lillehammer north to Ott, then west to Lom, the gateway to Oppland and the Jotunheimen national park. The high point of the day was outside Ott, where we happened upon an LPG/propane gas place. Being self-contained and all is neat, but every so often you need to worry about such fundamentals as water, propane, diesel, emptying the grey and black tanks, etc. We had been using propane very deliberately since Germany, knowing that it is hard to come by in some parts of Scandinavia. We needn't have worried. The fill-up took 26 liters, which means we burned only 21 in the past 5 weeks. The full tank, which we use for cooking, heating, refrigerator sometimes, and very occasional generator (to run the microwave), will last us to the UK, certainly, in August. From Lom, we took the toll road up to Spiterstulen, which is the main hopping off point for hikes and climbs in the national park. Galdhopigen, at 2470 meters, is Norway's (and indeed Scandinavia's) highest mountain, and I have determined to try it.

Lillehammer

Tuesday, lazily, we got no farther than Lillehammer, at the head of the lake. We are parked presently near Hakon's Hall, site of the 1994 Olympic hockey and other competitions. See pix of other Olympic sites. That Lillehammer, a town of 22,000, could have organized and accommodated the winter Olympics in 1994, is indeed some sort of municipal miracle. It is the smallest town ever to have hosted an Olympics. Here in the Olympic parking lot, I am feeling very international, having downed the last of my German beer (Berliner Kindl) and eaten a nice bowl of Tom Ka and rice, the prawns from Norway, the kaffir lime and pepper and coconut milk, maybe not; the rice from Uncle Ben. Travel carries with it many heavy responsibilities: you have to do this, have to see that, have to try this, etc. At least in the Scandinavian countries, the food/drink burden is somewhat lessened. It's mostly hunter/gatherer fare, mostly seafood, mostly cold, mostly bland. I had some reindeer sausage today: heavily spiced gamey meat. We shopped at a Norwegian supermarket: very limited selection, very high prices. Worse yet, it is a nation of tee-totalers. Saturday afternoon, after 6 PM, you can't buy a can of beer at the local supermarket. A 500ml can of beer, BTW, will cost you 31 crowns, nearly $5. One can. And low alcohol content, too, not like my Carlsberg Elephant or beloved Duvel. Forget wine and spiritual experience; they are only available from the state liquor stores, at presumably exorbitant prices. Come to think of it, we have been in Norway now a week and have yet to see one of these state liquor stores. Curiosity I failed to photograph department: the mini-golf course in Lillehammer is called “Lilliputthammer.”

The ski jumps above Lillehammer Hakon's Hall, where hockey was played The gold medals awarded in Hakon's Hall, 1994 Sculpture outside the Hall 

Oslo 4: For The Record

Other than Munch's Scream, perhaps the most photographed
item in Oslo is Vigeland's little boy en tantrum; one sees it
everywhere, like the Little Mermaid in Copehhagen or the
Manneqin Pis in Brussels; just for the record, there are three
others in the series...

The unhappy little girl

The good little girl

And the good little boy

Vicki adds:
Oslo, Norway—June 28, 2009-07-05

Munch Country, yes, Oslo was his home, and it is home to two of the four Scream paintings. We bought another 1 day card so we had another marathon 24 hours. However, the highlight was first the Munch Museum and then the National Gallery of Art. The Munch Museum has hundreds of paintings but it is especially famous because it is the Museum from which the Scream was stolen in the 90s. They have since super increased security and we had to go through the only metal detectors we have been through in all of Scandinavia. The Scream in the Munch had too much blue/green on the face—it is not my favorite. However, the gift shop was tremendous. I restrained myself to only a key chain—which will make a fine Christmas tree ornament and a bookmark. I actually had several of the items there. I was very interested in the book on Scream parodies if anyone is looking for a Christmas gift idea. The National Gallery had my Scream so I fought through the Japanese tour bus group and got up close and personal—it was tremendous. Mark had to take my picture with the inferior Scream as the National Gallery didn’t allow photos.

Photography varies with every place—very few allow flash but many allow regular photos. It is always a disappointment when no photos are allowed as there is no way to remember all the marvelous things that you are seeing. We couldn’t possibly buy a guidebook for every palace and museum even if we were wealthy, at least not without a book trailer. That brings up possibly the major flaw in our trip—sensory overload. Travel is highly intensive living even at our slow pace. At this point I can’t remember the German palaces vs the Denmark vs the Swedish—we skipped the Norwegians and the Finns have never had their own royalty thank heavens! But Mark is taking lots of pictures and hopefully his blog will help us remember most of it. I figure just organizing the pictures will take up the first five years of the nursing home. Pity our captive slide show audience.

Oslo 3

Monday, after watching various boats being lifted from the marina lot into the water, we decamped and drove northeast of town, to an RV dealer who, last Friday, had said they'd look at our troubled macerator/sewage system. It's been a vexing problem for a week. Anyhow, they declined, upon examining it-—no way to lift a vehicle this size—-but they did find us a Mercedes dealer nearby which, incredibly, put the Grey Wanderer up on a big truck lift and let me work under it, in their truck garage, for more than an hour. I am pleased to say I fixed the problem; it was a very ugly chore. A US dealer doing this-—insurance, liability, risk, greed, etc.--is unthinkable. No charge, they said, glad to be of service.

We drove back into Oslo in the afternoon to see the the Vigelandsparken. It is a large public park in Oslo that the city commissioned sculptor Gustav Vigeland to design and populate with his work, which he did from 1923 until his death in 1944. The hundreds of sculptures are all super-sized, Romantic, I guess, all contributing to the theme of humanity and human destiny. The number, extent, and scale are all fairly staggering.

Afterwards, we headed north from Oslo toward Lillehammer, and are camped for the night, with other RVs, at a roadside rest right on Lake Mjosa, Norway's largest.

Boat lift at the marina campground; sorry, no pix of the macerator, me after working 
on it, etc.

One of the dozens of bridge sculptures at the Vigeland

Another

Central fountain

One of the four iron gates opening to the main terrace

The main terrace and tower

Vigelund himself

Oslo opera

Oslo 2

Our Oslo card did not expire until 3PM, so we were up and at it early Sunday, taking the subway and ferry to the Fram museum and the Kon-Tiki museum, both on Bygdoy, a peninsula sort of thing that hangs down into the fiord. Norwegians, I gather, are not always into doing easy things. The Fram is the specially-designed polar expedition ship that took Nansen to the Arctic and Roald Amundsen, famously, to the Antarctic. It was Amundsen who beat Robert Falcon Scott to the Pole by only a few days, back in the early 20th. Scott and his party died, infamously, on the return trip. (Vaughn-Williams' Antartica Symphony, from the sound-track to the 1946 feature film, is another favorite). And the Pole was only among Amundsen's adventures. He, too, died tragically, but trying to rescue other explorers. Anyhow, the Fram is there, in the Fram buildng, a really well-done exhibition, ship and all, covering all aspects of polar expeditions of the era, and giving due attention to those that failed as well as the considerable Norwegian triumphs. The Fram itself once spent three years locked in polar ice. I hope they had plenty of DVDs. Anyhow, the museum gewts three stars, according to me. (And, FWIW, the spectacularly successful Fram is only about half the size of the spectacularly unsuccessful Vasa. FWIW).
Adjacent is the Kon-Tiki museum. As I said, Norwegians don't always go in for easy things. Along with Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki voyage, attempting to show that Polynesian culture could have come from South America, via balsa raft, there is also the Ra II, his 1970 attempt to show that South American culture (well, the Incas) might have come from Egypt, via reed raft. The balsa and reed ships are interesting, and the adventures impressive, aptly documented. It is a shame Heyerdahl did not live to show that European culture might have come from Mars or Andromeda IV. Oh well. I give the guy massive credit for being an academic who knew how to deal with mass media and get massive attention. Not to mention the fund-raising. And now a big museum, too. See below for further conjectures.
We missed the National Gallery and its Munch rooms the day before, so we hastened back across the fiord/harbor via ferry and took in more despair and angst at the Gallery. We are becoming experts on the different versions of The Scream. I grow more impressed and interested in Munch, too. You can really see the stylistic/philosophical/personal changes the guy went through. He read Nietszche and therefore has to be basically OK.
While Vicki digested lunch (our usual ham and cheese with mustard on whatever local bread intrigues us, with diet coke or local beer, respectively), I walked the main streets downtown, saw some more interesting buildings, including the Dom (lots of scaffolding and tarp, unfortunately).
Then we were back on the ferry, across the fiord, to the Viking Ship Museum and the Norse Folk Museet. You'd think we'd seen enough Viking ships and Viking paraphrenalia, and also enough Scandinavian folk stuff. But these museums were interesting and interestingly different from others we have seen. The Viking ships are the real thing, found in burial mounds with basic grave goods, obviously restored a bit but still impressive. The exhibits on Viking culture generally and on the contents of the graves were interesting too.
The Folk Museum was very similar to Skansen, in concept at least—an open air historical museum—but not as extensive and with fewer live presentations. We saw the obligatory folk music and dance performance and toured lots of historic buildings. The Folk Museet's real prize, however, is the 1280 Stave Church brought intact from the village of Gol more than a century ago. The church is all timber, very tall, no windows, but a sort of porch that wraps around, more, we thought, for buttressing the high walls than anything else. Its interior was sparse, except for some carving, and the 17th century painting behind the altar.
We bussed back to the Marina, amid crowds of Osloians who had been to the beach, on the water, etc. I was a sunny but pretty warm day, not what we expected of Oslo.

The Good Ship Fram

Avast

Vicki at the Kon-Tiki

The National Gallery; alas, no pix within

Building near Karl Johan Gate

Another pretty building

Viking ship at the Viking Ship Museet

Bow carving

Bow sculpture; Detail from Viking ship grave find: note the posture of the figure:
I conjecture that this came from India, down the Ganges, across the Bay of Bengal,
Indian Ocean, up the South Atlantic, then the North Sea, etc., in a bamboo boat,
and the Viking culture is actually Hindu in origin

Folk dancers at the Norse Folk Museum; no hurdy-gurdy

The Gol Sytave Church, very different, very impressive

Altar background

Oslo

Saturday we utilized our Oslo Card and, from the marina campground, subway-ed into the central city. It was Gay Pride Day in Oslo, so we took in the festivities and then proceeded to the Norwegian Resistance Museum, in the Akershus Fortress. It was impressive. Norwegian resistance was aided largely by the Brits, whose moving in, in the spring of 1940, had occasioned the German occupation. Germany got most of its iron ore from “neutral” Sweden, which Churchill had hoped to stop; it was another Gallipoli, but with a whole civilian populace to suffer for five years. There is no reference to any of this in the museum. But the rest of the exhibition was indeed impressive, despite traffic flow problems. Norwegian resistance, sabotage, refusal to support Quisling's government, etc., was real, throughout the war, with real costs. Unlike some other occupied lands.
Next we subway-ed to the Munch Museet, to indulge Vicki's icon of the last decade or more, “The Scream.” There is of course far more to Munch. I had never grasped the connection, stylistically, with Gaugin. Think of Munch as a Gaugin who never quite left town, but who stayed to interpret late 19th /early 20th Europe, at least through his own troubled lens. The museum has security equal to Fort Knox, or a US airport—something we have not seen in several months—all due to the 2004 thefts. But it is impressive in its scope and depth. There is a 52 minute interpretive film that any art historian would be proud to claim, integrating his life, artistic development, association with other European contemporaries, etc. “The Scream” is one of the world's 10 most popular artistic images, and here one can see it in proper individual and societal contexts.
We subway-ed back to the CBD, but found the National Gallery (more Munch) closed. So we walked more of the downtown area and then took the ferry around to see the sights from the harbor. It was a long day.

Marina camping in Oslo, near Bygdoy

Oslo city hall is bigger than Stockholm's, but not as well known

The Nobel Peace Prize is given annually in Oslo, December 10th

It was Gay Pride Day in Oslo

In the Norwegian Resistance Museum

German poster: "Let's us Waffen SS and you Norse/Viking
guys team up to defeat Bolshevism"

Ibsen statue outside the National Theater

Vicki at The Scream, at the Munch Museet

More Munch; I like

Munch also did a Starry Sky

No harbor cruise is complete without the local aircraft carrier