25th Anniversary Appeal Expedition: Day 26

25-anniversary-expedition-day026Lemonsjø Fjellstue to Dovre. 43km, 9 1/4hrs. This section is tricky for all those attempting Norge på langs; how and where to cross the deep Otta valley. In recent low snowfall years this has often meant a lot of walking along roads… 😱 I took local advice from Tor-Ivan at @lemonsjoe.no and skied first to Vågåmo by pisted tracks and some off piste farmer-field cruising. This section felt like skiing through an empty Jura… not another soul in sight! I skied to the main bridge crossing the Vågåvatnet and walked 1km into town. Posted used maps back home and went for a quick lunchtime latte near the beautiful church. Then for the afternoon… a 600m climb, first walking, then skiing snowed up roads, then into the mountains again. I passed high of the Jetdalen and dropped down to Kroken just south of Dovre. It was an excellent plan… 12km tracks, 18km mountain off-track, 8km skiing on snowed up roads and 5km of walking. Pretty varied… and challenging… particularly the final descent of a steep powder-filled pylon clearing. Normally that sort of thing would be exciting but on straight Nordic touring skis with minimal floatation and a 20kg backpack the spice level was a touch high. I was glad to get to gentler terrain in one piece… Back into mountain huts tomorrow and the Rondane mountains