The Trollheimen Triangle
(Part 1: Gjevilvasshytta to Trollheimshytta)
Påske is the Norwegian word for Easter, and the week leading up to Easter Sunday is a nationwide holiday during which most people head...somewhere. For many it is still the mountains, but a lot of people go someplace warm and dry: Spain, Portugal the Azores. Not us. We packed our rucksacks and set out to ski the Trollheimen Triangle, three full service huts a day's ski apart -- if you can ski at least 22 kilometers in a day. We began by skiing into Gjevilvasshyta, a log-and-sod roof hut with a stunning view over Gjevillvatnet.
At first we thought that the 22 k ski over a pass to Trollheimshytta was a little beyond Zoe, and planned to break it up by skiing along the lake to a little self-service hut. But the weather outlook was good, and we studied the map and decided we could probably pull it off. It took us until mid-afternoon to make the long, slow, and never very steep climb to the pass below Blåhø, by a few meters the highest peak in the area.
Form here it was all downhill, but that didn't make it all easy. There were some rocky and in places icy stretches where the wind had blown the snow off the mountain.
And there was a steep descent on rather firm snow that took a while to get down. This was followed by a fast gentle downhill. Zoe enjoyed it so much that she said, "Thank you, Dad, for bringing me here."
But an hour later she was shrieking with frustration as we made the final descent to the hut, in deep, heavy corn snow that had just started to crust over as it cooled off -- humbling stuff for even the best of skiers. But Zoe is one tough 8-year-old. She wouldn't relinquish her pack, and we all made it to Trollheimshytta in time for supper.