Silly Billies Return to Roam

In preparation for this crazy race: http://www.merakertiltopps.com/26-Peaks-Extremity-Race.html which Chris has been persuaded to compete in July he thought he had better do some running. 100km sounded like a gentle ease in, don't you think? Problem was I had a bad cold on Friday, and wasn't up to much on Saturday morning, so we lounged around, organising stuff and generally mucking about. Then it was 4 pm and we decided we had better get going. So, we drove to Oppdal and he ran while I cycled about 20km and 700m climb into Orkdalshytte on a high plateau beside the Orkdalsjøen (lake). We arrived at the hut at about 10pm, and were eating dinner round midnight.....the em and chris timetable in its full glory! Chris on the run in to the hut Cycling across the plateau with a heavy pack Arriving at the hut in the evening mist We slept in late. Of course! We were tired from being up so late the night before. A sprinkling of new snow on the tops with the sun peaking through ro...

This weekend we took off on Friday night for an overnight trip with our mad keen ski friend Bård - the aim was to try and find some more snow before it all goes. We drove out to Stjørdal and met Bård there, then onwards towards Meråker. After that we crossed the Swedish border and headed into the Snasahøgarna mountains. The weather was a bit average - cloudy with patchy rain. We were able to ski up a river that was still full of meters deep snow - even though the surrounding land was completely snow free - it was some kind of lee valley where all wind blown snow must accumulate. There were great cracks like crevasses where the thick snow was slowly falling into the river. Bård pokes the snow crevasse - it looks more dodgy than it was The craziest thing of all on the way up however was the lemmings! The little furry creatures were scuttling everywhere, and there was also a multitude of dead ones sprinkled about on the snow. Bård told us they carry a disease and you shouldn't touc...