After reading Johanna Sinisalo's novel Birdbrain (could be added to my list of eco-lit), I've been dreaming of leaving the civilization behind for a while and go hiking with one week's food packed in my backpack. Be at the mercy of the nature and/or admire its wonders. Well, I didn't quite shake the civilization's dust off my feet, but I had a wonderful 6-day hike in the Jotunheimen National Park in Norway with a friend of mine.
On Leirvassbu-Gjendebu route.
I have to say that I didn't quite understand that there are such amazing mountains so close to Finland (unfortunately Lapland now feels pretty lame). No need to fly all the way to the Alps. Yet alone to the Himalayas that my friend was recalling at the sight of the Norwegian mountains and valleys. Though flying would be easier than our night in the boat to Stockholm, 6-hour train to Oslo (almost 90 EUR), 3 hours bus ride to Fagernes (around 40 EUR) and hitchhiking for the last 1.5 hours until Gjendesheim (although we were lucky to get a ride in around 5 minutes straight to our final destination). However, this slightly cumbersome trip only put me into a real travelling mood.
For good information on the hiking routes, I used the website Tilltops. It has short descriptions of the routes shown in the map below. We did the following route: Gjendesheim-Glitterheim (1), Glitterheim-Spiterstulen (27: because the route 2 via Glittertind was unrecommended due to bad weather), Spiterstulen-Galhøpiggen (4), Spiterstulen-Leirvassbu (29), Leirvassbu-Gjendebu (28) and finally Memurubu-Gjendesheim (3).
And on this blog, I have written my own description of our 6-day hike in Jotunheimen and illustrated it with some photos taken with a digital pocket camera (everything you pack, you need to carry all the way...). When Tilltops wrote something like "a slight climb" it usually meant something more like "a hell of a climb up if you're not a native Norwegian huntsman", and when it said "a bit stoney", it was more like "what the fuck is wrong with this country", and when it described the path as "unexciting" for us it was spectacular views.
By the Lake Gjende.
After the first - and extremely windy - night in our ultralight tent by the Lake Gjende we were full of energy to start our hike. My friend opted for a heavy breakfast in the Gjendesheim guesthouse (140 kr, or almost 18 EUR), but I was impatient to try out our cooking equipment and lighten my backpack with some grams (the weight of your bag becomes very important after a long way in the mountains). Breakfast included 2 dl of porridge with some goji berries (just pour in the boiling water) and green tea. I had exactly measured this for 6 mornings. The sun was shining and I enjoyed the lovely landscape of the mountains and the green lake. Holidays!
Day 1: Gjendesheim-Glitterheim.
Our first hike was estimated to be 7 hours long, but with our breaks it took around 10 hours. It was our longest, and also the hardest, day trek during our trip. At 8h53 we set off and immediately tested the strength of our thighs on the steep path towards the mountains in the North. The views were spectacular from the beginning. We walked by the Lake Bessvatnet (altitude 1370m) and had a longer break by the Lake Russvatnet listening to the rapids nearby, admiring the snowcapped mountains and writing our first haiku poems. Beautiful everywhere you looked!
"Hennosti kasvaa
Vieressä virtauksen
Runosuonikin."
After lunch I already encountered the first slightly scary moment when we had to cross rapids where a bridge had been destroyed. Adrenaline floating, I surpassed my own fear, and continued with a stronger self-confidence. Wonderful!
After three o'clock I started feeling the hike and the gentle slopes in my muscles. But this was only when the climb really started. The rest of the hike was uncomfortable stony way but the surrounding views were great. Just when I thought we must already be close to our camp site, there was still one steep hill and crossing of snow. This was a moment of slight disheartenment. The last hour was quite painful - gladly, this was the only time during our 6-day hike that I was feeling a loss of energy.
We put up our tent and measured that it wouldn't be too close to the Glitterheim guesthouse. There was always an official camping ground around the guesthouses, so we had to make sure that we were 1 km away from the house or somehow hidden behind rocks or trees (in order not to pay the around 10 EUR camp fee per person). This meant that we weren't official customers so we had to pay for the shower and weren't really allowed to use the toilets. In Glitterheim the shower was 5 kr, or less than 1 EUR, for three minutes of hot water. Ah, a relief (and the last hot shower during our trek).
Day 2: Glitterheim-Spiterstulen.
We woke up with a very heavy wind and some grey clouds in the sky. After some reflection, we decided (wisely) not to climb Glittertind (2466m) on the way to Spiterstulen but opt for an easier (but "unexciting" said the guide) route. The (not so unexciting) path started with some duckboards, and there were also some spots were there could have been duckboards. I needed to use my friend's hiking sticks to make it safely over these spots. However, in general, the sticks are not needed on the trekking routes we took.
The heavy wind continued and after one hour of hiking it also started raining. Some reindeers (basically the only animals we saw during the entire hike) were watching our smooth journey between the mountains. Before we were half-way through there were some exciting moments when we had to cross steep snow patches. A slip could have ended up in a half-frozen mountain lake.
After a long stoney path (see below this annoying and ankle-twisting path), the last leg of the hike was downhill. The route was estimated to be 5 hours long but again we exceeded this by almost 3 hours.
In Spiterstulen, we had to look for a camping place quite far from the guesthouse, but found a nice and calm spot along the river. After the cold and rainy day, when at moments I had been dreaming of a glass of red wine, we ate pizza at the guesthouse's cafeteria. It was expensive as everything in Norway, 150 kr, almost 20 EUR, but the leftovers served as a great lunch the next day.
The harsh conditions in the mountains don't discourage pretty little flowers from living there.
Day 3: Galdhøpiggen.
From Spiterstulen it is possible to reach many of Norway's highest peaks. We of course chose the highest of them all, Galdhøpiggen (2470m), the highest mountain in the whole Northern Europe.
The way down was fantastic fun sliding down in the snow.
After an early morning haiku, we started our climb already at 7h20 as the weather forecast had promised sunny weather until noon only (but it was sunny the whole day).
"Aurinko noussut
Kasteisella nurmella
Kaasu pihisee."
That early, it was extremely cold, I was wearing my leggings, hiking trousers and my rain trousers. But the sky was cloudless and we had wonderful hiking weather.
The climb up was hard and steep but already after 2 hours we could see the peak. However, I wasn't fully convinced, the climb up was supposed to last for 4 hours (for a hardcore Norwegian hiker). Indeed, it turned out, this was only the first peak over 2000m on the way to Galdhøpiggen and we had to conquer yet another one to see our final destination. It took us the full 4 hours to reach the café at the top of the mountain. We were among the first ones there at 11 o'clock.
The views were gorgeous 360 degrees around us. Snowcapped mountains and glaciers everywhere. The sky was still cloudless but it was cold and windy at the top. We dried our sweaty clothes for a while in the café sipping overprized tea (40 kr or around 5 EUR). The young man in charge of the place told me that he skies down to another tourist hut 1.5 hours away once a week for a day off and to stock up.
The place started to get full after an hour so we headed down towards Spiterstulen. We took it easy; the rocks had begun to heat up in the sun, so we sunbathed and relaxed in the unwindy spots. Who would have thought that we get a marvelous tan in Norway...
Although the way up was challenging, it didn't feel that bad as we only had light day bags with us. On our way down it was still nice to look at all the people sweating as they climbed towards the peak. Ah, thank god, we did it already!
Down in Spiterstulen, we have deserved beers (75 kr, or 10 EUR). Ah!
"Pohje kasvanut
Vuoret valloitettu on
Eräretkellä."
Day 4: Spiterstulen-Leirvassbu.
This was a bit less exciting route. It was again a quite sunny and warm day, so we didn't rush and made the 5-hour distance in around 8 hours. The path followed a river for a long time and only had a gentle slope towards the end of the trek. The views were slighlty more spectacular closer to Leirvassbu when we passed a few mountain lakes.
We set up our tent by the Lake Leirvassbu across the guesthouse. This time we decided to eat at the gueshouse as well, and I finally got some red wine. The guesthouses in Jotunheimen serve full 3-course menus (340 kr, or almost 50 EUR) but it was also possible to choose only a 1st or 2nd course. I had a mushroom soup for 100 kr. Like the other guesthouses, this one as well was very cozy and atmospheric. The dinner service was almost fully booked (the prices are not an obstacle for the local tourists) and there was a real ambience of a trekkers get-together.
On the way back to the tent, my friend dared to have a dip into the lake while I was admiring the beautiful sunset.
Day 5: Leirvassbu-Gjendebu.
My idea of surviving with the food I brought didn't hold the whole time. On the fifth day, we decided to enjoy the breakfast buffet at the guesthouse. It was a very good deal. For 100 kr you can eat as much as you can (fresh stuff, yam!) and also pack some sandwiches to go.
"Muilutettuna
Muna aamupalalta
Lounaaksi syödään."
We had a superb hike in a sunny and warm weather (shorts!). Lakes, fine rapids, mountain chains. As the weather was perfect, we sunbathed half naked next to piles of snow. There were couple of nasty rapids on the way, but at this point my self-confidence started to be pretty high, so nothing that I couldn't have survived even though these were exactly the spots I was most afraid of before our trip.
The route wasn't difficult but it was quite long and we only reached Gjendebu at the other end of the Lake Gjende around six o'clock. My friend swam in the lake once again but, even after a hot day, I only had the courage to dip my feet.
The lovely Gjendebu guesthouse.
Day 6: Besseggen ridge (Memurubu-Gjendesheim).
On the last day of our hike, we took a boat to Memurubu and left our bags to be taken until Gjendesheim (120 kr + 60 kr for the bag). This was maybe the most famous, or at least the most popular, part of our entire trek. It was the part shown in all photos and book covers and it was also the one that I had been afraid of. In the photos, the ridge looks amazingly thin and those afraid of heights had been writing in blogs that it is reaaaally scary.
Maybe it was because of my greater trust in my hiking capacity but I was almost disappointed. It wasn't scary at all. The part where you walk on a sort of an isthmus between the blue Lake Bessawatnet on the other side and the green Lake Gjende on the other is not thin at all. You could do somersaults and yoga there without any danger. Ex ante stress for no reason.
A bit later, when you need to climb up using both your hands and legs, it's potentially a bit more freightening but above all, fun and physically challening. (There were little dogs doing the route. That's amazing!)
The place is beautiful, there's no question. So if you decide not to go there because you feel you couldn't do it, it's a shame. I guess it is much more challening if you do the route with your heavy backpack and you're coming from the other direction (from Gjendesheim). But with our strategy it was not a problem. This was actually the only time we made the route faster than estimated in the guide. We were in Gjendesheim in 5 hours (in comparison to the estimated 6-8 hours) and made it easily to the bus to Oslo.
Summa summarum, it was definitely a magnificent trek and truly recommendable to everybody with a slightest interest in challening your own body in the most beautiful surroundings. My own favourites were the climb to Galdhøpiggen from Spiterstulen and the hike from Leirvasbu to Gjendebu. We were also extremely lucky with the weather as just before our trip the temperature had been much lower and it had rained almost continuously. I'm already looking forward to my next hike - perhaps in Scotland. For sure, this is the way I want to travel and get to know places in the future.
Some little things that are good to know if you're planning a trek in Jotunheimen:
-Water is available in the countless mountain streams, so no need to carry a lot of water with you. Makes it easy and light!
-No need for a flash light if you go in early July. This was the only unnecessary item with me.
-Pack light. A bit lighter is even better.
-There's breakfast and dinner available in the guesthouses if you have the money. Credit cards can be used. You can make yourself a brown-bag lunch during the breakfast buffet.
-There's no real shops on the route, but you can buy some snacks in the guesthouses.
-The routes are very well marked, but a map is handy for a curious mind (and if you somehow happen to get lost). You can buy the map at the Gjendesheim guesthouse (150 kr).
-There are some direct buses to get to Gjendesheim from Oslo (by Nor-Way Bussekspress). It takes around 4 hours. The timetables are a bit hard to read as they contain many exceptions ("only the third Thursday of the month...").
-Gjendesheim was a great place to start the hike. Other possible routes are available.
-There is a boat circulating in the Lake Gjende. You can get between Gjendesheim, Memurubu and Gjendebu. You can also just send your bag to your destination with the boat. Several boats per day during the high season.
-It is possible to leave some stuff in Gjendesheim for the duration of your hike. The ski hut where you leave the stuff is unwatched and unlocked though.
-You might get hooked on hiking!
