Ski Success/Slow Spring

After the ski snafus reported in last month’s post, I’m delighted to report that this month brought ski success on both the Alpine and cross-country fronts.

Celia and I got in a fantastic last day of Alpine skiing at Snowman Resort. It was pouring rain when we left Tromsø and I had my doubts. On arrival, the rain miraculously stopped, the weather was warm and the snow was excellent. I had fully mastered the bobble and T-bar lifts by now and managed to stay upright on both the ascents as well as the descents.

G and I were determined to do a cross-country hut-to-hut ski trip especially after last month’s aborted attempt. We watched the weather carefully every day. Two weeks passed, I found a used pair of skis to buy, G still had his borrowed skis and we were able to borrow two backpacks. Mark/Jane and Marissa from Tevakenui decided to come as well, this was to be their fourth trip. The weather forecast wasn’t great, but seemed reasonable. As it turned out, it was probably the last and best week of the winter for a ski trip. Since then, it has hovered just above zero with rain, sleet and grey skies just about every day. For our four days in the mountains however, the weather was wonderful, mostly sunny and with little wind, what luck.

We set off on a Tuesday morning. The trail that was invisible on the first trip attempt was now very apparent, there were tracks to follow and the ‘cut’ through the trees was clear, now that we knew where to look. On our first trip we had gone too far up the mountain too fast and missed it entirely. We crossed our decision point from last time and realized that we had made the right decision to turn back. It was still quite a way to Trollvasbu, the first cabin, and it was mostly uphill. Today, in better conditions, it was an easy few hours of skiing and we arrived in good time.

 

Trollvasbu, most of the huts look something like this although Trollvasbu is exceptionally large with five bedrooms and a large great room.

The view from Trollvasbu.

Mark and Jane from yacht Tevakenui (New Zealand).

 

Marissa, aged 15, towing a ‘pulk’.

Trollvasbu is a large, easily accessible cabin and thus sees a lot of use. The night before there had been a school group of twenty-two teens that had spent the night. Luckily, we didn’t have to share with them! We shared with a rather dour, older Norwegian man who was there to do work on the cabin. He didn’t speak any English and communication was difficult. The Norwegians like their heat and he stoked up the fire so high that we were all roasting. We’d open a window or a door, then, he would close it and put more wood on the fire. It got to be quite humorous with all the opening/closing going on. An early night was in order, but, after just forty-five minutes in bed, Mark called the alarm. Northern Lights! We sprang out of bed and outside. It was amazing, an undulating, green curtain of light with tinges of pink and yellow. It stretched from horizon to horizon right over the top of the cabin and our heads. How fortunate on the first night out to see such a quality display.

Northern Lights above Trollvasbu, out-of-focus and doesn’t really do it justice but maybe you can get some idea.

Next day dawned bright and sunny and we pushed on to Nonsbu. It was only about a three hour ski away and we arrived in time for lunch. This hut was kind of semi-detached with two self-contained units joined together.

 

G in the galley at Nonsbu. Note our water supply, the bucket of snow melting on the stove.]

Mark, Jane and Marissa took one side and we took the other. We had a few people drop in for lunch and then a very interesting overnight visitor. Into this hut in the middle of nowhere, a single woman shows up who lives in Copenhagen. Her family owns a seven generation winery at a French chateau in Burgundy. How unlikely is that. She was lightly packed, but had made sure to bring along her custom-made pair of traditional reindeer boots worn by the Sami (Lapland aboriginal people).

These are the traditional Sami reindeer boots our overnight visitor wore.

Each day we had been climbing higher into the mountains. After leaving Nonsbu, we were heading for Skarvassbu, the hut with the highest elevation and the longest ski distance. The weather was lovely, bright and sunny. There was lot of up, but, also a lot of down. Then, we arrived at ‘Killer’, the hill that went on forever. It actually only took about an hour to ‘ski’ up, but, it was up all the way and very steep. Reaching the plateau and the cabin at the top, the elevation was obvious with the very deep blanket of snow surrounding the cabin. From the approach, it looked almost buried in the snow.

G arriving at Skarvassbu, being greeted by Mark/Jane. Note the snow banked up and over the cabin. The windows were completely snow-covered and the trip to the similarly buried adjacent loo was an adventure in itself.

 

View from the top.

View from the top. This photo was taken by Mark/Marissa after they had skied to the summit of a nearby peak on an afternoon outing.

There were only five bunks in Skarvassbu, so, we had it all to ourselves. We had settled in for a quiet evening, the wind had picked up and it had started to snow. It was snug and warm in the tiny cabin. Around 8 p.m. there was a lot of noise and commotion outside. We were startled to see about a dozen snowmobiles roar up to our door. Snowmobiles in Norway are highly regulated and are only allowed in certain areas (Canada take note) and they are rarely seen around Tromsø. It was the Norwegian Red Cross mountain rescue team, out on practice manoeuvres. They all piled into our cabin and we made coffee and learned what they were up to. They were practicing towing stretchers and up to five skiers on a rope behind snowmobiles. This is so, in case of an avalanche emergency, they can get rescuers to the scene quickly and in great numbers. It was a lot of fun meeting such an enthusiastic, active bunch and they quickly roared off to get back to town before dark.

The rescue team suiting up for departure.

 

The rescue team in action.

The fourth day was again bright and sunny. The forecast had been for 60mm of rain, so, we felt really blessed to see a blue sky. It was mostly downhill all the way into Tromsdalen to where we could get on a bus back to the boat. As we descended into the valley and back into the trees, the air warmed up and the snow got softer. Jackets, hats and mittens came off and the last part of the run was an absolutely delightful, effortless coast through the forest. We stopped partway along for a picnic lunch atop a convenient sun-warmed rock.

The weather, scenery and company had been superb, what a great trip and a grand finale to our winter here in Norway. If we were to do it again, however, I don’t think we’d go without the proper ski gear. We knew the gear we had wasn’t really adequate for the conditions we’d encounter as we only had very light, narrow skis and shoe-like boots which are intended for fully groomed tracks with moderate inclines. Back country touring in mountains requires more robust boots and wider skis. On downhill skis, the edges provide a lot of control, on the flimsy skis we had, it felt like there was no control on the sometimes steep downhills we encountered. We actually walked down the last, very steep downhill as we didn’t want to risk a broken limb. On the uphill climbs, I was lucky to have been able to borrow a pair of ‘skins’. I hadn’t heard of these before, they are like a temporary strip of Velcro that you stick onto the bottom of your skis. I couldn’t believe how well these worked, I could just ski/walk right up the hill with no sliding backwards. Unfortunately, we only had one pair, so, G used the old-fashioned method of doing a ‘herringbone’ up hills. A lot more effort is required to counteract the inevitable backsliding.

Norwegians also do a lot of what they call ‘top-touring’ where they climb up a mountain and then ski down. For this activity, they use downhill boots and skis with a specialized binding which adjusts to fit your foot to the incline on the way up, very ingenious. A lot of Norwegians still do traditional Telemark skiing as well. If you haven’t seen it before, it’s amazing and incredibly graceful to watch. There are a lot of deep knee bends involved. I think this is one of those sports you need to learn as a child, not as a 60 year old! It also requires specialized boots and bindings.

G/A loaded up and on the trail.

Now that we have done all the winter activities that we had planned and feel that winter is behind us, we are eager to get on with spring and our departure from Norway. As mentioned earlier, the weather has not been cooperating. It really has been dismal and quite depressing with all the rain, cool temperatures and grey skies recently. We keep hoping we will get at least one sunny day to work outside on the boat, but, it just doesn’t seem to happen. We’ve pressed on with our inside jobs and have made amazing progress. So far, we’ve gotten through the following major jobs:

• Removed toilet and Lectra-San system.

• Installed new toilet and all new hose, tested holding tank etc.

• Installed VHF splitter and AIS transceiver. This turned out to be quite a simple install. We also spent time mapping and tidying up the electronics wiring and cleaning out obsolete equipment etc.

• Installed external Iridium satellite phone antenna. This has improved things immensely and the phone is now a useful tool that can be used inside the boat. Have also figured out how to use it for internet access, although this will be used very sparingly due to cost, but, could prove useful for a quick weather forecast at sea.

• Installed external WIFI aerial.

• Replaced dead battery monitor.

• Installed propane gas monitor.

We’ve also done many other small jobs that have been niggling at us for a while. As a bonus, we’ve been getting a much better understanding of the boat systems although we’re not totally there yet.

There are still a number of jobs that need to get done before departure, but, we’re confident we have the time to get most of them done. Some of the jobs, like touching up the brightwork and the ice-damaged hull paint will just have to wait until we get to a warmer climate. We are so disappointed with all the brightwork (varnished wood) we did last year. It was an incredible amount of work and did look really nice. We followed all the rules and hoped to have it last for a few years at least with only minor annual touchups. If we had been able to cover up the entire boat for the winter, it may have survived. As it is, anywhere that snow sat on it, the water has gotten under the varnish which is fatal to it. It will need to be scraped/sanded back and hopefully we will be able to patch it rather than start over again.

In May, we will be finishing our boat preparation. Sometime in June will see us on our way and out sailing again. A is going to Miami for a few days next week to pick up the new mainsail and track system. There will be some work required to install it as we have to create a new mast gate slightly higher than the old one to accommodate the new track. Hopefully, it will all fit ok and not take too long to install.

One aid to outside work is the rapidly lengthening days. It’s now light at 4 a.m. through 10:30 p.m. The remaining hours are really just twilight. By May 14, we should have 24 hour daylight. G has been getting up at first light, 4 a.m. Don’t know what he’ll do when the sun never goes down…

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Ski Failures

This winter we thought we’d have lots of time to rediscover the joys of skiing, both downhill and cross-country. What with one thing and another, events have conspired against us and we’ve hardly done any skiing at all. January was dark and most of February was spent in Canada. March seemed to be our last chance to get serious if we were going to do it. There certainly wasn’t a shortage of snow as it snowed almost every day all month.

I have previously mentioned the downhill ski trips to Snowman Resort (Målselv Fjellandsby) with Celia. We had bought a three-day lift ticket so were eager to get our third visit in. We set out in early March in a car Celia had borrowed from a friend. We were enjoying the drive to the resort in the clear morning and it promised a great day. We were almost there when all the dashboard lights lit up. Not sure what was happening we pulled over and tried a few things. The car started again and the lights had gone away, so, we continued on our journey rather nervously. I kept looking at how narrow the road was. There weren’t any shoulders due to the amount of snow that had been banked steeply on either side. After about 10km, I started to relax, we were almost there. Then, the car started to cough and splutter and we lost power. We were on a curve and there was just no way to get off the road. We rounded the corner and just coasted into the only bus stop lay-by for miles. Relief!

Luckily, Celia speaks Norwegian so we were able to call a tow truck. While waiting for the tow truck driver to call us back we both really needed to find a washroom. We were in the middle of nowhere. It was impossible to leave the road due to the deep snow. We thought if we opened the car door into the snowbank it would provide enough privacy and that’s what we did. As we’re both crouched down, each behind a door, the phone rings. I answer and hand it to Celia. As she’s multi-tasking talking to the driver while continuing to crouch, we notice over our shoulders that a car is pulling out of the driveway right beside us. So much for our privacy. The driver pulls up and now Celia has three tasks in process: talking to the driveway car driver to determine where we are, relaying our location to the tow truck driver, all while she is two inches off the ground with her knickers down. I start to laugh and all three of us (the car driver was a middle-aged lady luckily) end up in gales of laughter. The tow truck driver on the phone couldn’t figure out what was so funny. That was the last bit of fun for that day. We were towed into the nearest town where we had to leave the car for repairs. We got the bus back to Tromsø and although we were only a couple of miles from the resort, there was no skiing to be had that day.

 

Celia and our disabled car.

We haven’t done much cross-country skiing over the last few years, but, used to enjoy it although it can be really hard work. When we found out that there was a cross-country ski trail running the full length of Tromsøya (the island on which Tromsø is located) and also ski trails through the surrounding mountains we thought we’d like to take it up again. We had noticed used skis in the Salvation Army store earlier. We should have bought them while we had the chance. Now, in March, there just weren’t any to be had. G was able to borrow a set from a friend. I found a store that rented them. We decided to try the hut-to-hut network in the mountains above Tromsø. It was to be a three night outing, staying at a mountain hut each night.

The mountain huts belong to the Norwegian Trekking Association (www.turistforeningen.no/english). This is an amazing organization that has been in existence for 160 years. They manage a network of 20,000km! of marked hiking trails,  7,000km of cross-country ski trails and 460 cabins which criss-cross the entire country. They also have guided tours. The cabins range from fully staffed lodges that provide meals to very basic huts that provide emergency shelter only. The cabins above Tromsø are self-service. This means they are fully equipped with beds, kitchens/cookware, wood stoves and firewood. You only need to bring sleeping bags and food. Cabin prices are very reasonable, only about $40 if you are a member and not much more if you aren’t. With wonderful facilities such as this, it’s no wonder the Norwegians love the outdoor life so much.

So, with our borrowed and rented equipment, including a borrowed backpack and one pack of our own, we set off. The weather forecast indicated light snow and winds with grey skies and temperatures around 0 for the next nine days. We were hoping for a few clear patches in this dismal forecast. We left late as we’d been told the first hut was only a few hours of easy skiing away. We took the bus to the start point and set off. Our map reading and compass skills were rusty and we ended up skiing quite a bit out of our way, first up above the treeline and then down to the river. We had a GPS, but, of course this only indicates a straight line to the destination, it doesn’t show you the best way through. The hut is next to the river so we thought we could use it as a ‘handrail’ to guide us there, so, downhill we went. We ended up bushwhacking through dense brush and it wasn’t fun. We decided to retrace our steps back up the hill. By now it was getting on for 17:00 with only about an hour’s daylight left. Our pack had also started to disintegrate at the shoulder straps. We had nothing to repair it with and if it broke we’d be in big trouble. Things were getting a little serious as we didn’t want to be out there after dark.

About half-way back up the hill, over to the right, I saw a rather unnatural looking squared-off ridge where it looked like the snow had been cut off. We didn’t see this on the way down. Looking to the left, it became immediately obvious that there was a cut through the trees! So, we had a decision to make, left to the hut which must be just a mile or so through the cut, or, back to the road to try again another day. Due to the equipment problems, we decided for the known path back to the road and arrived just after dark. It was lucky we made this choice for we found out that the weather forecast had been changed at the last minute and we were now in for a big snowstorm and high winds the next day. We also found out that there is a groomer which drives from Tromsø once a week across the ski trail! All you have to do is follow its path. There was so much fresh snow and no tracks, so, we didn’t see the path and weren’t looking for it as we weren’t aware it existed. Anyway, we felt a bit like fools, but, better safe than sorry. We are planning to try again in April. People tell us that skiing in the mountains is possible even in May/June. We’ll probably be too busy with the boat then, but, we would like to see and experience the huts. Will keep you posted…

When we do get up to the huts it will probably look a lot like the following photos. These were taken from the cable car running up the side of the mountain which overlooks the boat. The forecast for this day was heavy snow. As you can see, it was a glorious day without a flake in sight and we took full advantage of it. Being able to just ‘seize the day’ is one of the joys of being retired and more in control of your own time.

  

On the sailing front, we have ordered our new mainsail from Mack Sails in Florida. It will be a fully-battened main, with a ‘Strong Track’ track slide system and a set of lazyjacks. We have measured up for our new toilet and will be ordering it this week. We’re just going with a basic, manual Jabsco as you can get these anywhere and will therefore be easy to replace/repair in future. Now all we need is some better weather to get started on our boat jobs. There is still tons of snow on the boat and it’s a little too cold to be working outside. We’ve been told that a hot summer’s day in Tromsø is about 15C, so, maybe the wait for warmer weather will be a too long one. We need to get started soon as we’d like to be underway sometime in June.

After much studying of various charts, books and pilots, we have refined our sailing plans and have decided that our goal for this year’s cruise is Barcelona, Spain. We’d like to be there by November and stay over for the winter. There could be a lot of reasons why we might not make it all the way, but, we need to have a goal to aim for. It will be about 4,000 miles of sailing. The Baltic cruise will be cut a little bit short as we’re now planning to traverse the French canals from Calais, through Paris and out into the Med near Marseilles with a final sprint across to Barcelona. The mast will need to come down for the canal trip. We also need to stick with the main canals. At 1.8 metres water draught and 3.2 metres air draught, Black Sheep II is at the maximum dimensions. We expect we might touch bottom in a few places, but, as long as there isn’t a drought this summer we should be able to squeeze through. It is surely a better choice than going around the outside and across the Bay of Biscay in October when the conditions can get really bad.

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A trip to Canada

As I briefly mentioned at the end of January’s post, we had to make an unplanned trip back to Canada for three weeks to visit A’s mother who was ill in hospital. We made it just in time to say a very quick farewell as she passed away within twenty-four hours of our arrival, on January 31, 2011. The death was not unexpected as she was eighty-four and had been ill for many years. In a way, we felt relief that it was finally over for her as the last year had seen her lose her independence and mobility, a very difficult burden to live with for a fiercely independent person. We were also grateful that it happened at a time when we were not out sailing and were therefore able to quickly pick up and travel.

My mother left England in 1957 and lived for over fifty years in Canada where two of my brothers were born. Her ‘Englishness’, however, remained intact through all those years and England is where she chose to be for her final resting place. On the way back to Norway, we had a two day layover in England. This enabled us to take her ashes to Mortlake Cemetery, in London. The cemetery is adjacent to the Chiswick Bridge and fronts right onto the River Thames. It was a typically, grey, dank, cold English day, but, the crocus and daffodils were almost ready to bloom and it was green with the promise of spring. We met other family members there and put Mum to rest in the Rose Garden. She has now come full circle back to England.

 

Gates to Mortlake cemetery.

After the family meeting at the cemetery, we had lunch at an adjacent pub, the Ship Inn. Even though the weather was cold, there were rowers out on the river in front of the pub.

On the first of our two-day layover in England, waiting for our connecting flight from Gatwick to Tromsø, we went up to London in search of a chandlery. We were hoping to pick up some cruising guides to help in planning our 2011 sailing season. We were fighting to stay awake having been up all night, but, forced ourselves to walk around Westminster for three hours looking at old haunts. It had been many, many years since we’d been by Buckingham Palace and Big Ben etc. Although we didn’t get the guides we wanted, the walking tour was a lot of fun. Here are a few photos from our quick tour:

 

Big Ben, of course. Nice to see it all freshly restored and without scaffolding.

The Household Cavalry barracks adjacent to the Palace.

 

Westminster Cathedral]

 

 

Westminster Abbey

Although the primary purpose of our trip was sad, there was also a side benefit in that we found ourselves with some time, after the first week, for other pursuits.

Muskoka, in February, can be very pleasant when it’s cold, sunny and with those brittle, blue skies against white snow that you only see in the North. We found the brilliant sunshine blinding at first as we two moles hadn’t seen any direct sun for two months, but, soon got used to it and enjoyed the sun’s warmth. We were hoping to be able to get out cross-country skiing, but, ran out of time. We were able to get out for a skate on Lake Muskoka though and although out of practice and wobbly it was fun.

A skating on Lake Muskoka, I do have skates on my feet here although they’ve been chopped out of the picture.

G skating on Lake Muskoka

Gravenhurst, on Lake Muskoka, is home to a couple of steamships. One, the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Segwun (frozen into the ice in the foreground in the picture below), is a true wooden antique and is coal-fired. It is truly amazing to see it in operation, with the coal fires being stoked below (a very hot job in the summer), black smoke belching out of the chimney above and all the brass workings of the ship polished to perfection and in operation.

 

The antique Segwun (foreground) and the replica Wenonah (background).

Historic plaque about steamboating in Muskoka.

We also really enjoyed being warm and able to have a hot shower every day in our apartment. We were able to visit friends and also get through all the usual personal maintenance items, like dental visits, haircuts, visits to accountants/lawyers and property managers etc. G was able to renew his driver’s license which had been a bit of a worry.

The extra time also allowed us to get started on the purchase of some of the boat maintenance items we need before starting our 2011 sailing season. A lot of the items we needed are only available in the U.S. At Christmas, we’d tried importing a couple of replacement manual galley foot pumps into Norway from the U.K. This proved to be so difficult and expensive that we just didn’t know how we were going to be able to obtain the other items. Being in Canada enabled us to quickly get onto West Marine and our other suppliers and order the following  items:

1)      AIS transceiver – I mentioned in a previous post how useful our AIS receiver had been and how we wished we had a transceiver (a unit that both transmits and receives boat info like course/speed, boat name, MMSI number and even calculates the CPA (closest point of approach) and TCPA (time to closest point of approach)).  With this new transceiver, our boat information should now show up on the big ships’ AIS screens. This, of course, assumes that someone is looking at the screen, it is turned on etc., but, we feel that anything that lessens the risk of getting run down is worth it. This year we will again be in areas with very heavy shipping. The transceivers had been quite expensive which is why we didn’t get one before, but, West Marine now has a unit available for only USD$500 which made it affordable. Unfortunately, you have to lay out another USD$200 for a VHF AIS Antenna Splitter so you can share the same coax cable that the VHF radio uses, but, even with the cost of both units, the price is still less than the name brand transceivers by themselves.

2)      Iridium external antenna – Our satellite phone has proved useful at times and is another essential safety item. However, we were very disappointed with its performance. Calls seemed to get continually dropped, even while at sea. Also, it can only be used outside with a clear view of the horizon. So, when it’s dark, the weather is freezing and the wind is howling through the rigging, it isn’t very conducive to going out on deck to make a phone call. In order to make calls from inside the boat we needed an external antenna. We also want to start using the phone to download data (weather grib files etc.), so, we needed an external antenna to do this as well. As usual, the price was out of sight, $600 for a piece of cone-shaped plastic and a bunch of cables. Added to the cost of the phone and the minutes it almost makes me wish we’d gotten an SSB instead, but, the convenience of the phone in an emergency still wins out in my view.

3)      Battery Monitor – we went with the Xantrex LinkLITE monitor this time, hopefully it’s more robust than the last monitor we had.

4)      Boat bits – replacement cabin fans, bilge pump float switches, watermaker filters, replacement Alpenglow light bulbs from Montana, Spurs zincs and bearings from Florida, sail repair items from SailRite in Indiana, diesel solenoid switch from Cape Cod, MA and many other bits and pieces. It’s amazing what’s required to try and keep this boat in good nick.

The only drawback with all this shopping was that we had to lug it all back with us. We just squeaked through on our luggage allowance. We now have just about everything on our list to start our maintenance and upgrade jobs when the weather turns a little nicer here. We’re still working on obtaining a new mainsail to replace our shredded one and also some kind of backup regulator in case our single regulator that controls both alternators (one on the engine and another on the generator) gives out. A new toilet to replace the one that’s been leaking since we left is also on the agenda. Not sure if we’ll have time this year, but, we’d like to replace the corroded bus bars in the panel and redo the throttle cables as well.

We arrived back at the boat on February 23, around 2:30 a.m. The boat was cold, but, fairly dry and warmed up quickly. We learned that there had been a lot of snow while we were gone and a few very cold nights. Our water system was frozen, but, has now thawed out with the warmer weather we are currently experiencing and there weren’t any leaks  (fingers crossed). We see we have some hull paint damage where ice had formed on the fenders and then scraped against the hull.

Daylight is back and it’s now light between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., marvellous! We missed the National Reindeer Championship races on the main street of Tromsø while we were gone, something I was really looking forward to. Hopefully we’ll see reindeer elsewhere before we leave Norway. You’ll have noticed that leaving is now on our minds. We have started to plan our departure and 2011 sailing. So far, it looks like this:

a)      April/May – boat maintenance

b)      June - in the general Tromsø area enjoying the ‘white nights’ and ‘midnight sun’. We plan to visit the Lyngen Alps area and a few other fjords and anchorages.

c)      around July 1 depart for Svalbard. Svalbard is an Arctic island archipelago about 600 miles further north and only about 600 miles from the North Pole. This destination will be totally dependent on the weather and ice in the area and we may not be able to do it given the limitations of a fibreglass boat.

d)     Around the end of July make a long run offshore to the far south of Norway and through the Goteborg canal into Sweden and the Baltic.

e)      Tour the Baltic for August/September and then we’re not sure yet. We’d really like to end up somewhere warm for next winter, but, we may run out of time and weather, so, we’ll see….

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A month of Firsts

January, the first month of a new year was also a month of firsts for us.

First time to see the Northern lights in Tromsø. Although they are visible a lot here, they can happen anytime during the dark hours and they don’t often last long. You have to be in the right place at the right time. As we aren’t out much at night, we were beginning to despair of ever glimpsing them. We set up a watch system with Tevakenui and Mark gave us a knock on the hull late one night and there they were! A long curtain of shimmering pale green that arced right over us, wonderful!

First time to see the returning sun. January 21 was the day the sun came back over the mountains in Tromsø. Although it was a cloudy, snowy day and we couldn’t actually see the sun, it was a town celebration anyway. It is a tradition to celebrate by drinking hot chocolate and a solbolle (‘sun bun’) which is a kind of donut (more like a hot cross bun) filled with custard. We enjoyed ours but will have to wait to actually see the sun. The days are noticeably lighter now and it can only get better from here.

My favourite Tromsø building - photo museum Perspektivet

First time to eat reindeer. Celia, our new friend, invited us to dinner at her student residence and we enjoyed a lovely meal of reindeer. It was very tasty. She had threatened to serve us mølje as it is the season for it. This is some kind of mixture of cod livers and cod roe. We politely declined. She also threatened to serve us rakfisk (rotten fish), which sounds just as good. I don’t have all the details, but, they actually bury fish underground for a while, then, dig it up and eat it. The uric acid involved in the decaying process serves to tenderize the fish. Writing this, I’m sure you think I’m pulling your leg, but, it’s really true. Rakfisk is different from lutefisk which is cod marinated in lye which sounds equally appetising!

At the reindeer dinner party at Celia’s, we met Karsten and Helge, from Germany. Karsten is an executive chef on the Hurtigruten (coastal steamer) and it was fascinating to learn behind the scenes stories of a cruise. Helge is a geophysicist/glaciologist doing research at the Polar Institute. I have never met so many PhD’s/scientists in one place as there are here in Tromsø. It’s an amazing place with the University, teaching hospital and Polar Institute drawing brilliant people from all over the world. This week there is a large contingent in town for a major Polar conference. Norway, of course, is a polar nation and Svalbard, with its true Arctic environment, is researched extensively. Norway also has a large research station on Antarctica. Many of the scientists from here relocate to the research station to do research during the Antarctic summer season (i.e. now).

First time skiing in Norway. Celia was able to borrow a car and A went off for a day’s downhill skiing to Målselv Fjellandsby (Snowman resort). This was about a two hour drive southeast of Tromsø. What a treat to get out in a car, the surrounding area has absolutely spectacular scenery with mountains all round. The pastel colours of the sunrise on the mountains and unfrozen fjords were superb. The skiing was excellent, a small, uncrowded resort with great snow. I had no trouble getting down the hills, although they were challenging. My problem occurred in getting back up them! As a spoiled North American used to chair lifts and gondolas, the basic bobble and t-bar lifts provided proved to be a big challenge. I felt like a beginner again as I either fell flat on my face trying to attach myself to the lift at the beginning, lost balance and fell over half-way up, or, in one memorable case, got dragged up the side of a hill hanging on for dear life. It was all very entertaining for Celia to watch. I, however, had to swallow my pride and nurse my aching shoulders and triceps for days afterwards. Some of the lifts were very long and unlike a chair lift where you get a nice respite between runs, the manual lifts required effort to hang on and it felt like you were skiing uphill as well as downhill. It proved to be quite tiring. We are hoping to get in some cross-country skiing as well, possibly even a hut-to-hut overnight trip. However, when we went to buy some used skis last week, there wasn’t anything left, so this will depend on ski availability.

First time at an international film festival. When we first heard that there was an international film festival here in January, we wondered why you’d ever pick dark, cold, January to hold it. On further reflection though, it became obvious. It’s a great diversion for the dark time. We had heard that many volunteers were needed and with visions of spending a few days working inside nice, warm, dry, comfortable theatres, maybe ticket-taking, along with a few free movies as well we decided to become volunteers. English-only didn’t seem to be a drawback, so, we submitted our applications and were accepted. To our horror, when we got our assignments, it was to work outside at the children’s Snow Screen venue! First of all, it was outside, second, it involved working two split shifts daily for three consecutive days and it involved hordes of five year olds, just our cup of tea. It seemed like a match made in hell.

 

Historic movie theatre - Verdensteatret

The reality was quite different and although cold, we thoroughly enjoyed our volunteering. Only the morning shift involved children and I must admit it was a bit daunting the first morning. We arrived on-time, only to find that most of the children were already there. If you can imagine around three hundred five-year olds milling around in thick snowsuits all wearing reflective yellow vests, flopping around on the bean-bag seating, running up and sliding down the two snow slides

A on the snow slide

G on the snow slide

over and over again, well, you can image the scene, utter pandemonium. Combine this with us two newbie volunteers and it gets even better. Our job was to set up the venue and distribute hot lemonade, cut up and distribute apple sections and festival souvenir bracelets to the kiddies. On the third day, the audience was a little older, maybe around 9-10 years old and therefore more demanding. We had fiskeburgers (fishburgers) to hand out as well as the apples for them and there were a lot more questions in Norwegian that we couldn’t answer. Anyway, we got through it, the weather cooperated and we got our free film reward.

As volunteers, we were able to view, for free, up to six films every day, what a great deal. We managed to get in around sixteen films in seven days, so, got our money’s worth. All the venues were packed and most films were sold out. We missed a couple due to the sell-outs and also a few were on so late at night we gave them a miss. For some of the films, the makers were present and gave an introduction prior to the film. This really added to the experience. There were four or five venues around town, all within walking distance and it was great to see all the crowds and feel the energy on the streets moving from place-to-place between films. The Snow Screen venue, which we worked, is actually a screen made from snow. They hand-carve and smooth it out of a large pile of snow and it works remarkably well.

The Snow Screen outdoor theatre.

Snow sculpture

We had always wanted to visit the Toronto film festival, but, never had the time. In Tromsø, we made up for it. We also loved the Northern slant as many of the films were from Scandinavia, Russia and other polar countries. Did you know that Murmansk also has a film festival. We saw films from Greenland (their first ever feature film and it was good), Russia, Thailand, U.S., Norway, Argentina, Romania and the U.K. Some of the highlights were:

Incendies (Canada) – a Canadian film which has now been nominated in Hollywood for best foreign language film. It was amazing: well-made, good acting and a brutal, but, gripping story. See it if you get a chance.

How I Ended this Summer (Russia) – two men, a remote Arctic weather station, a radio, majestic scenery and not much else. You wouldn’t think you could make an interesting two hour movie from that, but, this one really worked for us and held our attention throughout.

Exit through the Gift Shop (UK/USA) – you’ve probably heard of this documentary. It’s about ‘tagging’ (street art), something I didn’t think I’d be interested in as I absolutely hate graffiti, but, the film is good fun as it’s actually more about the people involved than their ‘art’.

Roald Amundsen 1925 (Norway) – this was a silent film, made in 1925, with Norwegian subtitles, of Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the North Pole in 1925 via what looked like two flying boats. The film has been digitially remastered and the quality was excellent. The Norwegian government has declared 2011 the ‘Year of Nansen and Amundsen’ to celebrate two major anniversaries. This year is 150 years since polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen was born and 100 years since polar hero Roald Amundsen and his four men were the first people in history to reach the South Pole. On the last Sunday of the film festival, there was an additional celebration at Polaria to kick this anniversary year off. They had free Amundsen/Nansen films, dog sled rides,

Dog sled rides at Polaria.

speeches, lots of free cake, solbolles, cookies and hot chocolate to celebrate. G picked up what he thought were some chocolate disks which turned out to be something ‘fishy’, we don’t know what!

POSTSCRIPT – I am actually posting this entry in Canada, where we arrived late last night. It is an unplanned three week trip to visit A’s mother who is gravely ill in hospital. So, we may be seeing some of you face-to-face over the next few weeks. The boat is safe under the watchful eye of Tevakenui and we plan to return to Norway on February 23^rd.

Black Sheep II awaiting our return.

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Happy Holidays

Another month has slipped by and as planned last month we spent it very quietly. The increasingly dark days weren’t that conducive to much activity anyway. One highly anticipated milestone was reaching December 21 as it’s the shortest day of the year. We were very curious as to how much daylight we’d actually have on that date. As you can see from the photo below, taken at noon on December 21, a very clear day, there is a kind of a grey/blue twilight for about two hours a day, 10-12. Before 10 and after 1 p.m. it’s pitch dark. You know the sun is there somewhere below the horizon, but, you can’t see it. It’s just enough daylight to mark the coming and going of each day.

December 21, noon

December 21, sunset

 Now that we’re past the winter solstice, we can expect each day’s light to become longer. On January 21 the sun will rise above the horizon again for the first time since November 21. We’ve been told the days lengthen very quickly and by Easter we should expect almost 24 hour daylight. Once the days start to lengthen, the ski season will also start in earnest. Some people are already taking advantage of the lit, cross-country ski trail that runs the length of the island, along its spine. We don’t have skis yet, but, hope to buy some used ones at the local recycle centre soon.

One negative to all this ‘darktime’ is that it has been playing havoc with our sleep patterns. There’ve been a few episodes of going to bed at 3 a.m. and not getting up until 10-11. We’re trying to maintain a ‘normal’ sleep pattern, but, it’s difficult. On the plus side, it’s been a welcome break in our usual hectic lives and has allowed us to get back into reading for recreation. Unfortunately, we have now gotten through every book we had on board and all those we traded with the neighbouring boat. There are some English language books on sale here, but, they’re expensive and not a great selection. So, I have ordered myself a Kindle from Amazon (electronic e-reader) and am eagerly awaiting its arrival in late January so I can download books anywhere and everywhere. In the meantime, what a treat it’s been to finally read a lot of books that have been on my list for years, like Mutiny on the Bounty (a really good yarn). In addition to quite a few sailing books, I have also ploughed through the Stieg Larsen ‘dragon tattoo’ trilogy, Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (very good), Jonathan Frantzen’s The Corrections (well-written, but didn’t like the characters or story much) and about a dozen other varied titles.

Three books that really resonated were all by the same author, David Howarth. I mentioned in an earlier blog that we met the author’s son-in-law on a neighbouring boat in Stornoway which is how the author first came to our attention. Usually, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in war history, but, these three are just good all-round adventure stories as well as historical books. I think they’re still in print and if you’re interested in a good story, these are all a very fast, enjoyable read. For us, having visited the sites in both Scotland and Norway and right across the North Sea where the action took place made it all the more real and gripping. In the spring, we’re planning to visit the Toftfjord and the Lyngen Alps mentioned in the books. Would recommend reading The Shetland Bus first, followed by We Die Alone. The Sledge Patrol can be read independently and is set in Greenland. If you like these books, you may also like The Last Gentleman Adventurer: Coming of Age in the Arctic, by Edward Maurice which I found fascinating for its insights into the Hudson Bay Company and Canadian Inuit culture just prior to ‘modernization’.

December, of course, also brings the Christmas and New Year’s period. We were interested to see how Norwegians celebrate. This was also our first Christmas spent living aboard and we wanted to celebrate old traditions while perhaps also making some new ones.

For us, Christmas dinner is always turkey. For Norwegians, it’s usually lamb or something else, so, first we wondered whether we’d even be able to get a turkey (‘kalkun’). There were a few, in boxes, in the grocery store, so, we nabbed one when we first saw them. The next question was whether it would fit into our propane oven. With some rearrangement of the interior we were just able to fit it in. The next worry was would it cook properly as the oven heat is somewhat irregular and localized and we could run out of propane. We were having guests (Mark and his daughter Marissa from the boat Tevakenui and Celia, my new friend from New Zealand who has been here six years teaching English), so, were worried that not only might we ruin our own Christmas dinner but others’ as well. As it was, by rotating the turkey every hour, it was done to perfection and the dinner was a great success. We made an effort to have all the trimmings as well. We didn’t make stuffing, but, the requisite Brussels sprouts and other vegetables were easy to find. Not so easy was mincemeat. We searched every single grocery store in town and found a single, dusty jar of imported Robertson’s mincemeat which was only one month past its sell-by date. We grabbed it! Our guests brought homemade Christmas cake and shortbread which rounded out the traditional meal.

New Year’s Eve was highly anticipated. We knew there would be a fireworks display from the top of the chairlift that goes up the mountain adjacent to our marina. We anxiously watched the weather throughout the day as we first had some fog, then heavy snow, which obscured the mountain top. We thought the celebration might be cancelled. In the evening, the skies lifted and it looked like a go. Around 11 p.m. we made our way to the town square to find that there were only a very few drunken foreigners milling about, no Norwegians, no music and no scheduled events. Disappointed, at 11:45 we decided to make our way back to the marina to watch the fireworks from there. Halfway back, the mountaintop around the detonation site was first surrounded by red flares and then a ring of bright white, flaming, torches. Then, the fireworks started and we soon realized why no Norwegians were downtown. They were all at home setting off their own elaborate firework displays. The private displays were almost as good as the official display. We’ve seen better quality fireworks, but, the sheer volume of the displays, which must have numbered in the hundreds was truly amazing and went on for almost an hour. Both sides of the channel which separate the island of Tromsø from the mainland and up the mountain sides were ablaze and the air smelled of gunpowder. At the stroke of 12, the Hurtigruten (coastal steamer) sounded a few long, deep blasts of its horn and followed up with some red parachute flares of its own. Then, for additional atmosphere, a light snow started which complimented the warm (0C) and windless evening. A very memorable evening after all.

I wish I had a tripod so I could have taken better pictures, but, here a few which really don’t do the scene any justice at all….

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Settling in for Winter-Tromsø, Norway

People speak of short winter days and how winter evenings ‘close in’. Well, here in Tromsø, at 69 North, the evenings have ‘closed in’ permanently. The sun has disappeared below the horizon and we won’t see it again until late January. That doesn’t mean it’s totally dark all the time (yet!). Right now, it gets light about 9:30 a.m. and is pitch-black by 2:30 p.m. The ‘light’ period gets noticeably shorter every day. At first, it was very peculiar. It would be very dark out and we’d have this feeling like it should be after dinner already. It felt like you were always late for something, then, look at your watch and realize it was only 3:00 p.m. and could relax, still lots of ‘day’time left. We can still see the loom of the sun below the horizon, but, at 10:00 a.m. it looks like you’re viewing a sunset rather than a sunrise.

Sunrise/Sunset

Black Sheep II has pretty much settled in now for the winter at Polar Havn Marina. Life at the dock has taken on a bit of a routine. Between daily trips to the library (we don’t have internet access on the boat), the gym/pool and the daily chores, the days seem to fly by. Daily life is a bit more difficult and time-consuming than on land. We have to get all our water in jugs from a public supply, fairly close by and transport it to the boat to fill the water tanks. So far, the boat’s water system hasn’t frozen, but, it’s still a worry that it might. Likewise, both propane and diesel have to be bought across town and carried to the boat. We don’t have hot water, so, when required, it must be heated on the stove. Showers aren’t an issue though. I have joined a gym within easy walking distance and Glenn has a pool membership, so, we’re well served in that regard. As we’re close to downtown, we have a choice of grocery stores and Glenn enjoys getting an English newspaper once in a while. Laundry is a problem, we have to travel by local bus ($16 round-trip) to a campground that has the only public laundry we’ve been able to find in all of Tromsø. To wash/dry a single load is about $16, so, it’s not an inexpensive chore. They only have one machine too, so, to do just two loads is an all-day task costing about $54. Needless to say, we only go when we absolutely have to. Hand-washing is out of the question, we don’t have the space and humidity/condensation is already an issue on the boat.

In our slip at Polar Havn Marina

Mark (our New Zealand neighbour) drops by to visit quite often. A Norwegian friend of his had been out fishing and left a couple of freshly caught fish on the back of Mark’s boat. As it was dark he didn’t notice them there and woke up to a commotion in the night which turned out to be an otter stealing one of the fish. We were given ½ of the remaining fish, a very large cod and it was delicious. Other than that, we haven’t seen any wildlife here, it seems strange.

As I mentioned earlier, I have joined a gym and it’s been really good to get back to a fitness routine again. They have all the same types of classes that I’m used to. However, doing a yoga or step aerobics class when it’s all in Norwegian and you don’t understand a word can have interesting consequences! One nice perk is that I met a couple of ladies at yoga who are part of the English-speaking Tromsø ex-pat community of mostly Americans. We got invited to their annual American Thanksgiving pot-luck celebration. It was conveniently located in a building next to our marina and we really enjoyed the turkey with all the traditional trimmings including pumpkin pie. They were able to buy the only eight turkeys in town and people had saved up cans of pumpkin. Couldn’t find cranberries, but, local Norwegian lingonberries were a great substitute. We met some really nice people, most of them professors at the University.

We’re managing to keep fairly warm on the boat with our little electric heaters although we are using way more electricity than we’d like to. The boat isn’t insulated and condensation is a problem requiring continual wiping up. It was fairly cold this week, around -10C and the heaters were struggling a bit, so, we’re hoping it won’t get too much colder than that, or, we may have a problem.

There is a two-page list of boat jobs waiting to be started. However, we have decided to take a bit of a hiatus from boat work until the sun comes back. It’s just too dark and cold to be trying to do outside work. Some jobs had to be done though. We weren’t sure how cold it was going to get here, so, thought rather than worry about it, we’d winterize both the main engine and generator. Sourcing out the correct antifreeze took a while, but, we managed and got them both done as well as topping up the diesel etc.

The snow that arrived with us in late October is still here along with a bit more. The temperature seems to stay fairly constant with little fluctuation between the day and night temperature. They don’t use salt on the roads here, so, the snow stays white and is very dry, quite nice actually except for the ice on which I’ve slipped and fallen twice already. A lot of people are wearing crampons on their boots, guess I’ll have to get a pair.

People here seem to take the winter and darkness in stride and even revel in it. It still amazes me to see construction workers, up on a roof, building trusses in the pitch-dark, not even wearing head lamps. There are even many bicycles about on the snow-covered streets, using studded bicycle tires for traction. We haven’t seen any of the Norwegian kick-sleds in use yet, although we’ve seen them for sale in the stores.

Cathedral

Tromsø is really a lovely town with a great quality of life. No highways and driving to malls and big box stores to deal with. There are three very small indoor malls, so, the old-fashioned main street with all its wooden buildings is still the primary shopping area and it seems to be thriving.

Florist

Part of the street is a pedestrian mall. On Saturday, even when it’s really cold, the street is just crammed with throngs of people of all ages. Elderly ladies with canes decked out in fur garments from head to foot, young families with very small babies all bundled up, gypsies on street corners playing accordion and saxophone, street vendors selling shrimp and waffles, it’s all very charming. The street has been hung with Christmas lights now and the stores are being decorated. Many stores have candles lit up on the sidewalk outside to lead shoppers in. There are many coffee shops packed with patrons. One really nice innovation is that they pump seawater underneath the sidewalks, so that they remain ice and snow-free.

We don’t have much planned for the winter and expect it to be a quiet time, will be spending our energies just trying to stay fit and warm. We won’t be sailing again until probably May, so, it will be a long layoff. However, we’re looking forward to a bit of a rest as the last year has been so busy what with multiple intercontinental moves opening/closing apartments in three countries, refitting the boat, finishing up work and preparing ourselves for our first year’s cruising. It will be good to slow down a little. Probably won’t have too much to write about, but, will post monthly just to let you know how we’re doing. When the sun comes back in January we hope to become more active again.

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