Jotunheimen, Norway. 27-30 August 1997
All people arrived in
Oslo before Wednesday. Transport was arranged by minibus with Jan as a driver
and one car driven by Helga, his good helper.
On Wednesday before
noon everybody going for the organised transport was picked up in different
places in Oslo before we went to Asker to pick up the rest of the party (David
and Helga) who had been preparing lunch for the day. We had a good lunch break
near Lake Sperillen, and a smaller stop at Fagernes. It seemed the participants
enjoyed the trip, even if it was quite a long drive.
Weather was good and
we got a really good view of Besseggen and Sutringssui from the road before we
arrived at Gjendesheim.
The whole group met at
Gjendesheim, a good number of 19 people all together. The party had a good
reunion at Gjendesheim with a better dinner in the evening.
Thursday we got up to
a very cloudy day. Weather was nasty, and it had been raining heavily during
the night. An unruly party of 11 Meths mountaineers started the trip at 8.30am
(1). After transporting and securing the luggage with a tarpaulin at the
jetty, parking and paying for the bus and the car, Jan started off, but was not
able to get in touch with the rest of the party. Up above 1,300-1,400m the mist
was really thick, and it was raining in a steady drizzle. The party of 11 found
their way from cairn to cairn (2) in the clouds over Veslefjell
(1,743m), came more or less out of the clouds passing Besseggen and then along
to Memurubu. Three people went by the lakeshore and the rest went by ferry. The
day was a complete wet experience (3) from morning till evening.
Friday came after some
more rain during the night. The plan was to climb Sutringssui, Norway's seventh
highest mountain (2,368m). The weather made it impossible. Clouds were hanging
down to 1,600-1,700m and there was no idea to climb into the clouds where there
would be rain and it would be very misty. The path would not be marked as
clearly as the route over Besseggen.
We decided to make
another walk, up Memurudalen and back to Memurubu over the ridge called
Memurutunga. The route is known for its spectacular view. The weather was OK
for most of the day as it was not raining, although it was cloudy. We were
moving below the clouds the whole day. We climbed the Memurutunga and made
three peaks on the way. They were Lagtunga, Ove Sjugurdstind and Sjugurdstind.
In the afternoon we
came back to find that the hut was starting to get really crowded. There were
several parties coming in, all together approximately 180 guests. Dinner was
booked at the first dinner serving, so we were able to start our AGM at 7.30pm
in a separate sitting room (4).
Saturday morning after
breakfast the whole group went back to Gjendesheim by ferry, except Bruce
Martin. He was up very early that morning and went the three-hour walk along
the lakeshore back to Gjendesheim.
At Gjendesheim, next
to the jetty, the Mad Axeman exercised Suswa washes on
the beach with ice-cold glacier water (5) from Lake Gjende. An audience
consisting of the queue waiting for the ferry was looking and wonclering what
was going on.
After Gjendesheim the
Woods and the Wards in hired cars went their own way while the main party went
down through Gudbrandsdalen (another route back to Oslo) passing through Otta
and Lillehammer.
I think it was really
nice to have so many Meths people on a visit to the annual meeting here in
Norway and I hope everybody had a nice trip in spite of the weather (6).
Jan "Duke of York" Frøseth
Footnotes:
1. This classic
misunderstanding must rate along with the Charge of the Light Brigade as one of
the great blunders of all time and deservedly won the coveted and prestigious
'Prick of the Meet' award. Our leader told us to start off and he would catch
up. He never did until the end of the walk.
2. Visibility was down to 25 yards and finding one cairn from the next was not
easy.
3. The 'wet experience' enjoyed by the president was standing under a hot
shower at the end with a glass of whisky in one hand and a can of McEwan's
Export in the other.
4. And finish it. The chairman and president put on an impromptu exhibition of
Morris Dancing at one stage using their respective gavels of office.
5. Either this or the night before severely affected his aim.
6. We all thoroughly enjoyed the meet and must thank Jan and Helga for their
splendid organisation apart from the one notable lapse. The weather whetted our
appetites for a further visit to Norway. Well done.
Participants: Jan "Duke of York" Frøseth
(leader), Helga "Duchess" Aulie, Ian "Mad Axeman" Mason,
Sadie Mason, Dave "Lord of the Big Ruo" Harrison, Judy Harrison,
Daphne "DM³" Martin, Bruce "Legs" Martin, Steve
"Ballcrusher" Ward, Pauline Ward, Eric "Polevault" Scott,
Val Scott, David Cornelius, Mike "Mad" Petzold, Verena
"Muesli" Petzold, Christina Petzold, Lloyd and Janet Woods and their
two-year-old son.
Prick of the meet: Jan
©
WDYFO, 1997