Feedback from skiing experience with the athlete Antte Lauhamaa from Black Diamond

Feedback from skiing experience with the athlete Antte Lauhamaa from Black Diamond
For the athlete Antte Lauhamaa de Black DiamondSkiing is a true form of expression. Since his childhood Lauhamaa has travelled the mountains of his native Finland by telemark. He has thus developed a deep taste for the wilderness. And it is quite naturally that he was attracted by Norway and the virgin lines of the Northern Islands. Follow Lauhamaa and his team for a steep skiing session on these absolutely magical coastal peaks.

ANTEE LAUHAMAA TELLS US ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE SKIING IN NORWAY

I stand on the deck of the boat watching the mountains grow as we approach the coast. "Opal", our Icelandic two-masted schooner, is peacefully cleaving the water as the crew prepares to disembark near the corridor previously spotted on Google Earth. As it is impossible to reach this place in any other way, I feel very privileged.

Kvaenangen Peaks

The Northern Islands in Finnmark County in Norway offer endless potential for ski adventures. The most difficult part is getting there: the only way to get there is by boat, and to sail on the Arctic Ocean you need a sailboat with full rigging. Opal, equipped with both an electric motor and an emergency diesel engine (without forgetting the possibility of using sails) is our solution to reach these abandoned shores.

Picture: Mika Merikanto

We start our expedition in Lyngen/Lyngseidet. The goal is to sail north and find new spots to ski - my dream was about to come true. I had been skiing in the Lyngen area since 1998 but I had never had the chance to go to the Northern Islands which are full of coastal mountains.

The biggest challenge turned out to be the weather. First of all a very violent storm generated avalanches, which buried three cars on the main road to Tromsö. After the storm, heavy snow began to fall... We went on a ski trip in waist-deep powder snow in the middle of a birch forest in Kåfjord because there was nothing else we could do! The untracked couloirs were just waiting for us... Unfortunately, it looked like they were going to have to wait another year or more.

Image: Mika Merikanto

When the weather gets in the way

When planning an expedition, one always hopes that the weather will be nice and dry but recently it has become clear that there is no reliable means of forecasting. As far as I remember, there have been more thunderstorms in a single winter on the North Polar Cap. January was particularly hot, with temperatures ranging from +5 to -30 degrees Celsius. From my point of view, everything proves that the climate changes quickly. The weather report gives us the green light for the rest of the week, but we know we're going to face potentially unstable snow in an area where none of us have ever been before.

Crossing a sleepy village

Image: Mika Merikanto

After a stopover in Skjervöy, we sail eastwards towards the small village of Reinfjord. Eight people live there and the only public access is by speedboat once a week from Skjervöy. After mooring our boat at the old harbour, which was once used for fishing boats, we put on our skis. The streets are very snowy and there are no tracks. The houses look empty but as we ski on the main road of the village, an old couple greets us from their balcony. They tell us that there hasn't been any traffic in the village for two weeks and that the weather has been so bad that the speedboat couldn't make the shuttle last Friday.

Image: Mika Merikanto

When conditions are complicated, it's good to choose a place with as many options as possible. That's why we chose Reinfjord. As soon as we saw this beautiful place, we realized that our choice was a wise one - it was possible to ski here for weeks without starting on the same slope. We decided to climb Boazovuoncahca - an easy summit south of the village - to familiarise ourselves with the snow conditions. Once we reached the summit, the sky finally cleared and we could admire the surroundings. When we arrived by boat, we had spotted corridors on the western side of the mountain as far as the shore and decided to check what these corridors looked like from above. After careful evaluation with a rope, it seemed that one of the main corridors was skiable, so we decided to try it.

Picture: Mika Merikanto

The ski corridor has about 500 metres of steep, vertical descent. We have broad smiles on our faces as we return to the shore. The sun is shining when we reach the boat with the idea of our next day's outing in mind. We want to check the conditions beyond the tip of the fjord in Jökelfjord and we sail briskly through the evening to this new goal.

"Sixteen the day"

The next day brings further proof that this weather is difficult to predict. The east wind is blowing and it's snowing heavily. We are moored at the old port of Jökelfjord - about two hours by boat from Reinfjord. Clearly unable to ski that day, we spend the day watching avalanches on the other side of the fjord.

Picture: Mikko Lampinen

We had passed this splendid corridor on the way between Aibmadasgaisa and Jökelfjord. I had already taken a close interest in this corridor on Google Earth during the preparation of our trip. We decide to ski it the next day. It was rather questionable considering the existing conditions but it looked like it had been protected from the winds that had been blowing lately. The next morning, we unload our equipment on the shore using a dinghy.

Image: Mika Merikanto

The risks involved are reasonable and it is easy to approach the corridor from below. We analyze the snowpack during the ascent and have confirmation that it has not been destabilized by the wind. In fact, we even have an excellent powder session once we pass the ice bottleneck on the upper part. This is the most beautiful ski descent of my life! The boat is waiting for us a little further down as we make curves at sunset. Given the difficulty of access, it's no exaggeration to say that this sublime descent is probably a first. We take advantage of this privileged opportunity to call this line "Opal" in reference to the proud wooden sailboat that brought us to this corridor.

To equip himself like him in Black Diamond:

Spark Powder Gloves // Helio 105 skis // Cirque 45 bag



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