Norway Splitboarding

I have run many successful splitboarding trips to the north of Norway. The mountains and snow conditions often lend themselves to touring on a splitboard, with plenty of straight up and down routes, all with incredible backdrops. The areas that I have run splitboard specific trips are the Lyngen Alps, Lofoten Islands, Senja and Finnmark and they have all been amazing weeks.

Generally speaking it’s best if you have your own splitboard equipment, as hire options are limited to Tromso. The terrain also works reasonably well for mixed groups of splitboarders and ski tourers, as generally it’s not the equipment that differentiates between tourers but the skills and fitness!

The structure of a splitboarding trip in Norway is simple : stay in a rented fjordside house, with travel by car/minibus each day to a different touring venue for day tours to mountain summits.  The amount of vertical each day often depends on the conditions and weather, with many peaks being around 1000m there’s lots of choice, and options for increasing or decreasing the amount of vertical ascent as required. The fact that we are touring from sea level is also a welcome change from touring at high altitude.

Basic splitboarding skills are fine as there isn’t much mountaineering involved. We don’t expect to be getting out ropes, although I do often carry one for emergencies . We do carry boot crampons and splitboard crampons everyday and maybe an ice axe, mainly for bootpacking onto summits if necessary.

There is some glaciated terrain but only in the Lyngen Alps, so on the whole the touring is on glacier free mountains, so no need for harnesses and crevasse rescue equipment . This, along with the fact that we are day touring, means that packs can be relatively light, with just the usual avalanche safety gear and all you need for the day.

The riding is varied, as with all touring . Many peaks can be ascended and descended by relatively straightforward routes, with most riding around 30 degrees maximum steepness. Occasionally if the conditions are good we may venture onto steeper slopes but normally up to 40 degrees maximum. Good controlled riding is what’s needed, and an ability to cope with a wide range of terrain and snow is more useful than anything else.

We have tried various options for catering from fully catered, to self catering weeks, or a combination of the two, all depending on what’s available and budget. Similarly with transport we have hired minibuses, or just a couple of cars, or had a local person taxi us around every day. We have occasionally used boat taxis to access more remote drop offs , normally when the weather is good and the sea is flat 😉

Have a look at the ski touring pages for more information about my Norway destinations as they are all suitable for splitboarding 🙂