 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
Not exactly mainstream snowhead topic I know, but I wondered if the backcountry forum might possible know....
We are off to the Rondane national park in Norway next week for some "nice" hut to hut touring. Has anyone any experience of using the DNT huts? Apparently sometimes the huts are self service and you get a key to let yourself in.
This slightly worried me - found frozen like a baby mammoth in several weeks time outside hut still clutching wrong key etc.
But does anyone know how you get the key? Do you have to join the DNT? Would Mr Badpanda have to join too or could I sneak him in?
Any info very gratefully received. Many many thanks in advance.
Cheers
Badpanda
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Never done it but would LOVE to so please post a trip report when you get back and let us know how you got on.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I vaguely recall this sort of question being asked on ukclimbing in the not too distant past... might be worth asking there.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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offpisteskiing may have an idea: he'd arranging a week of touring in the Lofotens in April. We're not staying in huts but it's worth a shot asking him...
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Many thanks all.
At your suggestion, went back to DNT site and found much more info (I'd like to think they had updated but I probably just looked in the wrong place). Importantly - the hut we have in mind has a guardian!
Also tried UKC - lots of useful info there.
Will post a TR upon return - if I don't fall off Crib Goch this weekend first....
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TR as promised, I fear of, how shall I say, select interest... But hope it's useful for Suzieski.
Trip - 1 to 8.3.13
Where - Rondane national park, Norway
Us - two forty-somethings : reasonably experienced off track skiers, but not quite enough it transpired...
Accomm - one week loverly hut £430 v warm near Hovringen, about 20 mins to pistes. Included electricity and truly marvellous stove.
The tracks - hundreds of km of "groomed" tracks some pretty in woods and some over remarkably knarly mountains, not that any of this is apparent from the piste map....
The snow - aaagh. Rock hard sastrugi. The tracks (when not covered in said rock-hard sastrugi which took, oh about half an hour if the wind machine was turned on) went like the proverbial off a shovel and were huge fun, trouble is, they lost their form the moment you left the tree line and pretty much gave out once you put any distance between you and the resort. This made planning days in advance difficult so be conservative with how far you expect to go. The occasional spot of powder cowering in sheltered cwms.
The skis - we hired from Hovringen ski school, good 69ish long touring full metal edged skis. Really advise booking in advance if not bringing your own. Another party only got skis with half metal edges which must have been, er, interesting. Ski hire cheap as chips in Norway and no fees for tracks. But.... no skins. I still have the mental scars, Norweigans are basically honey badgers.
The hut trip - in the end only went to one hut - Rondvassbu - a day's ski from base. You ring up and warn them but they never turn anyone away but we were the only people one night and there were a wacking four people the next. (About thirty people then appeared, very odd). It had staff so no key issues. I discovered that they have a key available in non-staffed huts, so no dying on the snow outside. We did hear of a (probably apocryphal Ozzie) who was found shivering in such a hut, not having thought to put the wood in the stove...
Ronvassbu tho was v warm and nice - own room! Toilet in different building, so fun when -20 at 8 am. Stars were brilliant tho. Glorious showers and drying room. Cost was eye - watering £100 a night each for room full board and snow shoes. But Mr Badpanda has bad business travel habits and and can spend money anywhere; you could use the dorm and eat less to save money, but it will never be youth hostel cheap...
We just struggled with anything at all steep on the concrete sastrugi so the hut kindly lent us snow shoes to get to the tops of things. Most mountains top out at about 2000m. So we skied up till we had no chance of skiing back down and then used the snowshoes to get to the top. What we really needed were our ice axes and crampons (sitting in the hut in Hovringen) which would have made for perfect Scottish-style ridge walking, take your avy gear tho.
We'd love to go back (having robbed a convenient bank) and I think we would take the shortest route from a roadhead to ski (on skins!) to Rondvassbu carrying ice axe and crampons and then do the ridges from there, skiing up to the ridges as appropriate.
If there was powder, you could spend your entire life free-heeling down nice slopes going "wheee" but I rather doubt with their climate how common powder is above the tree line.
We met an (English!) party doing a week's tour mixing staffed huts, unstaffed huts and hotels going across the park, a German doing similar to us and a classic honey badger Norweigan who just skied over everything and probably hewed wood and melted ice for water in unstaffed huts.
Weather - unbelievable, mainly blue skis and some days little wind. Temps from about -4 thru to -20.
To sum up - pretty much as expected. Norway is jaw dropping beautiful, jolly cold, very expensive, very friendly and well organised and the Norweigans are hard as nails. Just take your skins....oh and a suitcase of food if you have the baggage allowance.
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Badpanda, THE most entertaining and interesting trip report I've read in a while.
any pictures?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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It must be global warming: when we were there some years ago we stayed in the same huts and did all the big hill/ridges on ski (but we did have skins). There was one section where we 'needed' crampons, but had to make do with cutting steps with a snow shovel! Not recommended.
The Rondvassbu hut was packed out and we were put up in the laundry cupboard (well, it was our honeymoon!), but we spend quite a few nights in a snow hole to save money, and for the joy of it 
Had a mixure of powder, hard snow, scoured ridge and soft/damp; just like home really.
Planning a return in the next few years, when we have saved enough!
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FAQ
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