Tre daggar på Skarvarna

Three days on the Skarvarna

Day one:

Left the house with the intention of completing a long circuit of peaks. I punched through the warming snow with the goal of topping out on Lill Hamra, which happens to be just behind my backdoor. Not very far, or tall, but fun with the conditions, because I managed to choose a very windy day with bad snow: two steps and then I would posthole with my entire ski. Not only that, but the snow was sticky, and it would stick to the bottom of the ski.

Lill Hamra.

A flock of Fjäll Ripor (Ptarmigan) flying away from me.

After topping out on Lill Skarnven, I began the descent. It was so windy that I could point it the entire way down and not have to worry about turning! The downside to this was that the flat parts or the slightly downhill parts required extra effort to overcome the wind.

The cairn at the top of Lill Hamra (1081 M)

Backside of Lill Skarven.

When following the trails here, there are trail markers every 10 meters. Overkill? Growing up I thought so myself, but there have been times when I have not been able to see only one sign at a time.

The backside of Lill Hamra.

The South End of Stor Skarven.

Rather then using climbing skins, I have begun using a technique that maximizes the amount of snow that fastens to the bottom of the ski.

Funäsdalen from the top of Lill Sarven (1224 M).

Storr Hamra and Lill Hamra from the top of Lill Skarven.

Day 2

The second day on Skarven was a reconnaissance trip for an extreme skiing competition that would be held over the weekend. This time I got to hop on the back of a snow machine to get there. The snow was great, due to the immense amount of wind that was blowing snow into all of the bowls on the peak.

The potential boundary for the next day's competition.

Rasmus and David getting lost in the wind on Lill Skarven.

Skiing down in the recycled powder was the closest I have been to experiencing at least a little bit of snow. In the West we are so used to having at least one day during the season where the snowfall is deeper than your boots.

From the bottom there does not seem to be a lot of potential for competition, but everything is much larger than it seems.

The easy way to and from the base of Lill Skarven.

Now I deviate from the story. Mom and I went out on a snowmachine tour the same day to make sure the afternoon snow woud hold the machine.

Judging by moms crawling in the spring snow, you would be able to see a couple of things. One, the snow in the afternoon does not hold a snowmachine or a person. Two, mom maybe fell off of the snowmachine into a dramatic faceplant. Three, moms abs hurt the next day because she was laughing so hard.

Day 3

The day of the competition. I decided to compete in the day’s competition since the area did not seem too challenging. I would have to say I was more coerced into the event rather then skiing due to my own free will. The competition was a fun little get-together with the local ski school. Most of the skiers were excellent skiers, and if there was anyone who was at the bottom of the skill list, it would have been me.

Clear skies for competition day.

Going up was the easiest part, but weird. Swedish snow travel does not really match the type of snow travel we do in the West. Here, everyone seems to prefer walking up the line they want to ski in a large group. To compound the danger of the situation, nobody wears an avalanche transceiver, and if they do, it’s in their pocket or their backpack and they do not turn it on until they go down. The competitors did not seem to want pristine snow for riding. They all preferred walking up to the base of the cliffs to deem if it was possible to throw themselves off of them. I had to be the poor bystander watching as hordes of people destroyed perfect snow!

"This cliff looks good. Take it with speed here. The landing is soft!?"

Not the best model for safe travel: everyone moving up the same gulley. Granted it was spring and the snow is safe, but this is not a habit one should develop.

I did not feel intimidated going up, but everything changed once I saw the first skiers go. They all skied hard and aggressively, which can be attributed to both their skill and alpine skis. I chose to ski with my Telemark setup, mostly because that is what I know how to do.

Endless possibilities...

Competitors were everywhere on the way up.

At the end of the day the group went to a local pub to watch the movie of all of the riders and to judge a winner. I happened to win! Of course, I was the only person who skied in the Telemark group, hence winning both first and last place. It was however, more embarrassing receiving recognition than it was gratifying.

One of the cliff bands in the bowl.

Three days were gone rather quickly and I had gotten some good skiing out of it. The backcountry culture here is not the same to what I am used to, but I still get to lay down a couple of turns so why complain?

Lill Skarven from afar. The parting shot for three days on one mountain.

The results of the competition can be found here:

http://www.tillfjalls.se