In July I did some trekking at the famous Romsdalseggen in magnificent Norway.
View from Romsdalseggen
The Changing Seasons: July 2017
Tag Archives: trekking
Self-portrait at Romsdalseggen
Romsdalseggen, Norway.
I went hiking. Just woke up one morning and thought: “I want to go to the mountains”. So that’s what I did: got up, booked a train ticket, packed and went hiking for a couple of days. Now it’s soon off to a tattoo convention to do some photographing and meet up with friends and sexy women.
I’ll post more photos from Romsdalseggen in my next Changing Seasons post.
Enjoy the summer! (winter if you’re down south)
Besseggen Panoramas
Last summer I went hiking in different Norwegian mountains. Here are some photos from the Besseggen hike in Jotunheimen, Valdres.
Besseggen, Jotunheimen.
Preikestolen, Kjeragbolten and Trolltunga
I shot these photos on our trip to Preikestolen, Kjeragbolten and Trolltunga this summer. I took too many photos to upload them all to WordPress, so if you want to see the rest of the photos you’ll have to visit my Flickr gallery – nearly 300 photos of wild, Norwegian nature, I promise you that the gallery is well worth a visit:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskBnsky8
Preikestolen
We started in Oslo, rented a car and drove to the West coast of Norway.
The first day of hiking, we visited Preikestolen (English: Preacher’s Pulpit or Pulpit Rock), one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway (The two most visited is Oslo Opera House and Vigelandsparken in Oslo). “Preikestolen is a steep cliff which rises 604 metres (1,982 ft) above the Lysefjorden. Atop the cliff, there is an almost flat top of approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 ft × 82 ft)” – Wikipedia.
The hike to Preikestolen is an easy one. It has some small parts of uneven terrain and the beginning of the hike is moderately steep, but there are stairs built in the mountain, so anyone can do this hike. Even fat, untrained people can do it.
Kjeragbolten
The second day we walked to Kjeragbolten. “Kjeragbolten is a boulder located on the mountain Kjerag in Forsand municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The rock itself is a 5-cubic-metre (180 cu ft) glacial deposit wedged in the mountain’s crevasse. It is a popular tourist destination and is accessible without any climbing equipment. However, it is suspended above a 984-metre (3,228 ft) deep abyss.” – Wikipedia
The hike to Kjeragbolten is much more interesting than the ones to Preikestolen and Trolltunga. It has some technical parts and, according to visitnorway.com, it’s a demanding trail: “The hike starts at Øygardstøl south of the Lysefjord by the Lysevegen road above Lysebotn. This demanding trail traverses several ridges, and climbs 570 metres. To avoid wear and tear and accidents, please use the marked trail.” – visitnorway.com
Trolltunga
On the third day we hiked to Trolltunga (the Troll’s tongue). It’s an easy hike, without any technical parts, but it’s a long hike.
Here’s what they have to say about it on visitnorway.com:
“Trolltunga is one of the most spectacular scenic cliffs in Norway. Trolltunga is situated about 1100 meters above sea level, hovering 700 metres above lake Ringedalsvatnet. The view is breathtaking. The hike starts in Skjeggedal and goes through the high mountains, takes 10-12 hours (23 km in total to Trolltunga and return) and the ascent is about 900 meters. It is a long and hard hike. The hike is usually possible to do from mid-June, depending on when the snow melts in the mountains. Normally one can hike to Trolltunga until mid-September. Consider carefully whether you are in good enough shape and have the right equipment before setting out. There is no mobile phone coverage along the route.”
My Italian friend and I did the hike in 6 hours, but the others that we were traveling with, completed it in around 9-10 hours.
If you’re going on any of these hikes: Bring food, water (you can refill the water bottle on the way) proper hiking boots and warm clothes. The weather can change quickly, so it’s a good idea to bring warm clothes in a backpack and to be prepared for possible rain.
Also: leave your walking sticks at home – it’s just stupid and you should rely on your own balance. There’s absolutely no reason to use walking sticks!
(This post is my entry for WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge – check out WordPress for more).
Visit my Flickr gallery:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskBnsky8
Maurizio’s Photos: Preikestolen, Kjeragbolten & Trolltunga
As you already know I went hiking on the West coast of Norway this summer with three Frenchies and one Italian. I’m still working on processing all my photos from the trip, so I asked Maurizio – the Italian – if it was OK for him that I shared his photos in my blog, which it was.
I think it’s an interesting experiment to share two photographers impressions from the same trip: even though we saw pretty much the same things, we have captured and processed the photos differently. I’ll share my photos later, but all the photos in this post is taken by Maurizio – except for the few that he’s in. Then it’s me behind the camera (but with Maurizio’s post-processing).
If you read Italian, you can check out Mau’s blog about his journey to Norway. If you don’t read Italian, you can have a look at the photos here and in his blog. You can also follow him on Flickr.
The photo comments in this gallery is written by me (which is quite obvious for those of you who know me). Enjoy Mau’s photos!
The first night we spent in tents.
The first day of hiking, we visited Preikestolen.
Marine and Aurelien
Preikestolen
Preikestolen
Aurelien from France
Viking and DILF.
The second night we rented a cabin.
Maurizio, Aurelien, the beautiful Marine, Marie and myself.
Aurelien, Marine and Marie are from France. Wonderful people.
The whole crew. Maurizio made spaghetti carbonara, because that’s what Italians do. Since I was driving, I didn’t have to cook and we voted NO to frogs legs, so the Frenchies were stuck doing dishes.
Aurelien brought his guitarlele. We were all playing and singing in the car and in the cabins.
The second day we went to Kjeragbolten.
If you want to meet beautiful girls, Norwegian mountains is THE place to go! Here represented by Argentina.
You can see our cabin down there…
DILF, Argentina and Maurizio.
Argentina (the name, not the country) in Norway, on her way to Kjeragbolten.
A bit foggy here. It got worse on our way down. At the worst we could probably just see 10 meters (yes, use the metric system folks) ahead of us.
I felt conflicted: “What’s more beautiful: the view or the girl…?”
Maurizio – on our way to Kjeragbolten.
Marie on Kjeragbolten.
Maurizio.
Maurizio.
Argentina.
Argentina.
Argentina.
Kjeragbolten is suspended above a 984-metre deep abyss.
On the third day we went to Trolltunga.
On the way to Trolltunga.
Trolltunga.
Mau and I had some hours to kill while waiting for the others after Trolltunga (we were walking fast).
Since we’re both photographers, we decided capture this waterfall.
The sign says that you should estimate 10-12 hours on the Trolltunga hike. We did it in 6 1/2 hours, including waiting at the top.
After 3 days of trekking, we checked out the local beach.
Perfect temperature: ice fucking cold! (but it’s all good, because a cold swim is good for the muscles).
Hurry up Marine. Take the photo!
Nice sunset on our last day.
A terrorist, silently measuring the opponents and planning the next move…
These sneaky bastards tried to hijack our car, but Marine used her ninja-tricks, I hit the gas pedal and we escaped. If she didn’t, they probably would have beaten us senseless and have left us to die up there in the mountains. That’s how the vikings went extinct… Of course I didn’t mention this to the rest of the crew when we were there, because I didn’t want to create a state of panic. The sheep can sense that shit. Close call though!
Thanks to Maurizio Ghielmetti for letting me post his photos and thanks to Maurizio, Marine, Aurelien and Marie for joining me on this rare adventure. It killed my Iphone, but it was totally worth it (it’s a shame that we lost the timelapse video though…). Iphones aren’t built for Norwegian climate – never trust a fruit!
Check out his Flickr gallery and blog:
Summer Portraits
Here’s a small update from my adventurous summer:
As you already know from my previous post, I went to the North of Norway with my son. After that I spent one day at home, getting ready for my next journey: a trip to Belfast with a friend to check out Titanic International Tattoo Convention. Immediately after returning from Belfast I left on a road trip to the West coast of Norway with 4 strangers – 3 from France and one from Italy. We went hiking & trekking in the Norwegian mountains – just in time before a storm hit the area and several of the roads and tourist attractions were closed.
I have tons of photos from this summer, but I haven’t processed any of them yet. Here’s a few from the last two trips, some shot with camera(s), some with phone. Some landscapes, some portraits:
Both models behind me are inked by 梵天慶 – George from Funtian Tattoo in Taiwan.
“Can you take a photo of our bums? – YES, I can!”
Tattoo artist Olivia Moonchild from Twin City Tattoo.
With Danny O’Donoghue – an Irish singer-songwriter of the Irish pop band The Script and as a coach on the television singing talent show The Voice UK.
With the super-talented George. 梵天慶 -Funtian Tattoo in Taiwan.
St. Johns Ambulance, Belfast. “I feel very ill. Quick! Give me mouth to mouth!”
The wonderful Christine Lynn from Blue Sphynx Tattoo / Tattoos by Snoopy.
Tattoo convention after-party in Belfast. Here with the totally awesome Olivia Moonchild.
The stars of the after party.
Drag queens and Burlesque entertainment at the tattoo convention after-party.
Road trip
Do not feed.
On top of Preikestolen. Back: Maurizio, Aurelien. Front: Marie, myself, Marine
Marine at Preikestolen, Norway.
Norway at its best.
Nice view from Preikestolen.
I’m hiding in this photo somewhere… Photo by Maurizio (who didn’t spot me).
From the Kjeragbolten hike.
Kjeragbolten hike
Maurizio, Kjeragbolten hike.
Rose & Maurizio. Kjeragbolten hike.
Kjeragbolten hike.
Lunch at Kjeragbolten. Myself, Marie, random stranger in the background, Rose, Argentina, Aurelien. Photo by Maurizio.
Kjeragbolten #FTW
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Cardinal Guzman 