Friflyt forum Ski Lofoten

Hello all,

First of all my apologies for not communicating in norwegian, but since I'm from Belgium that's quite a hard language for me.

Who am I? I'm a 29 years old  belgian tourskier that was in Norway (Hemsedal) for the first time in the beginning of april and the scenery and the country stole my heart immediately. I was hardly back at home or I was already thinking about my next trip.

How and why did I end up on this forum? I want to go to Lofoten next winter, but unfortunately most information about touring/freeriding there isn't in english. I have a lot of questions about the region where I can't find a good answer to. Would one of you be so kind of helping me out with the following ones:

- What are the best parts of Lofoten to start with (I'm planning to come for 2 weeks)

- Is there a good base camp or is it better to travel around?(where coming by camper)

- What is the best period for touring in Lofoten?

- Where can I find maps of the region? (I already ordered "toppturer i Norge" )

- Silly question: do I need special tyres or are the ones that I use in the Alps sufficient?

- Is there an avalanche service for the region that hands out daily snow bulletins?

- What are the best weather sites ? (preferably in English)

All other information about trails, descents, lodging and transportation are of course welcome too!

If you want, you can send me an email as well: jeroen_janssens@hotmail.com

Thanks in advance!

Greetings,

Jeroen

Hi there Jeroen! I think I can answer a few of your questions, regarding the technical stuff.

- Silly question: do I need special tyres or are the ones that I use in the Alps sufficient?It's probably best to use winter tyres with studs, but its not recomended by law.

Where can I find maps of the region? (I already ordered "toppturer i Norge" );You should be able to buy detailed maps of the different regions, at any sportshop in Svolvær(city).

- Is there an avalanche service for the region that hands out daily snow bulletins?- What are the best weather sites ? (preferably in English) I would recommend; http://www.yr.no/ - They also give an avalanche forecast, which should give you some idea of the danger level -> And you get it in english.

It's nice to travel around in the winter time, and it is also very cheep ( by norwegian standards) to rent a cabin or find a place to park your camper.. IE this winter we had to pay about 500 kr per night for a 5 person cabin with kitchen and bathroom. And you will allways find something vacant.

Anyhow keep in mind that it is limited with daylight in Desember and January. Between 7. des and 6. jan. The sun doesn't rise. (but its still some daylight.)

The closest thing we got to an avalanche service in Norway is varsom.no. Here is a link to the english page for Lofoten: http://www.varsom.no/en/Snow-avalanche/Lofoten/#.UXfP-CsuDys

You can also contact Northern Alpine Guides (http://www.alpineguides.no/norway/lofoten-ski-guides/) i guess they will be happy to answer any questions you have about the snow conditions. They also offer housing.

I would recomend going to Lofoten late february through march. The sun is back up again and snow conditions are often good then. If staying in Svolvær, Kabelvåg or Henningsvær you can pretty much reach most of the island by car in one day. The famous lofoten cod (skrei) is also moving in close to Lofoten so you can go fishing as well on down days.