Skitouring

Among several famous mountains I can mention Mt. Skaala 1848 masl, Mt. Lodalskaapa 2083 masl, Mt. Kyrkjenibba 1400 masl, Mt. Midstolshyrna 1771 masl, Mt. Rinddalshyrna 1677 masl and Mt. Storskredfjellet (the great avalanche mountain) 1718 masl. At Mt.Strynefjellet you will find the skiers favourite summer ski resort in Norway, and next to the village Stryn you will find a small ski resort which gives the most perfect access to several super nice descends to the Stryn valley. Also one of the steepest cable-car in the world, the Loen Skylift brings you to a great starting-point for alpine skitouring.

By Einar Løken  ||  Last update 14.10.2018


Why skitouring Stryn?

  • Large mountains with long descends
  • Choose between a large amount of tours according to personal ambitions and skill
  • The mountain - glacier - fjord experience
  • Lifts to perfect surroundings
  • Loads of snow above the forest
  • Not over crowded, yet! And if many tourists we still have about 100 mountains suitable for skitouring
  • Close to the cultural landscape
  • National parks
  • Large variety of tour opportunities according to weather and conditions.
  • Many activities to join when not skiing at resting and/or cultural days.

Climate and best season

The local snow conditions is mostly very good above 3-400 mas (meters above sealevel). You almost always have a solid base once you reach 500mas. Nearer to 1000 mas it is normally several meters of snow! It´s a reason why Jostedalsbreen Glacier is the biggest glacier at the European continent and covers a large part of this municipality.

Skiing all the way down to the fjord is often possible from midle of January to end of March. Some years we are privileged with an early season start. As in the 2017/18 season it was already possible to ski all the way down to the fjord in mid-November. The inner part of Nordfjord has lots of mountain roads and small ski resorts which provides easy access to the snow even in seasons with less snow. This makes Stryn to be one of the safest spots for your skiing holiday. And dont forget! ...Stryn offers some of the best late season snow in the world. Yes, in 2017 we had 8 out of 12 months in total with proper conditions for skitouring. Not a surprise the Tystigbreen summerski resort is the skiers favourite! (1)  Enjoy freeride and skitouring in the summer!


Useful resources:

Avalanche bulletins: 
"The Norwegian Avalanche Warning Service issues daily avalanche forecasts on Varsom.no during the winter season. Get the forecast and consider the avalanche problems when choosing when and where to travel" (2). Even though the Indre Fjordane region will cover most of the skitouring mountains near Stryn, you are still at the very north in the described region. You should always compare to the Sunnmøre bulletins! When skiing at the Strynefjellet area, you might bump into avalanche problems (such as faceted snow etc.) described in the Jotunheimen bulletins, even when they are not present in the Indre Fjordane region. You might also experience the large variations in amount of snow between the main areas Hornindal, Stryn, Oppstryn, Strynefjellet, and Loen/Olden after a snowfall.


Weather forecast:
Among several forecasters, the weatherservice at yr.no has become the one of the most used. If you would like to read a more presise weather forecast, written purely for the mountains? ..read the weather forecast in the avalanche bulletins.


Book a mountainguide / skiguide:
In Norway you will find many different companies providing guiding in the mountains. Most of them are good skiers and very nice people, but be aware! In Norway we dont have any regulations or quality assurance system, which means everyone can start a guiding company...

This is seldom a problem when skiing in easy terrain, and most of the guides are doing a very good job. However, you might en up being very unlucky, hiring a guide with lack of training and/or lack of experience. Thus, not qualified in order to make proper safety assessments in moderate and complex terrain. The only way you are able to know if your guide have proper training and has a recognized qualification, is to look for the IVBV/IFMGA/UIAGM mountainguide logo and/or NORTIND skivegleder (NORTIND-guide). In Norway these guides are the only guides who have been qualified and tested over a period of several years by the norm of the international standard. In Stryn, you will be able to find qualified IFMGA guides @Breogfjell.no

If you want exciting nature experiences in easier terrain, the Naturguide scheme is the Norwegian equivalent to Mountain Leader scheme. These guides have expert knowledge and are qualified in activities like hiking, snowshoeing, Nordic skitouring (in easy terrain) and many more exciting winter and summer activities.


Accommodation, food and other activities:
Our most valuable information resource is the tourist information service Visit Nordfjord || www.nordfjord.no. Here you will find all the information you seek about accommodation, restaurants, local food, transfers, and other alternative activities.



References:
1.  O. Cenk Demiroglu, Halvor Dannevig & Carlo Aall (2018) Climate change acknowledgement and responses of summer (glacier) ski visitors in Norway, Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 18:4, 419-438

 2. http://www.varsom.no/media/1587/checked-the-avalanche-forecast-on-varsom.pdf