A weekend ski trip to Trollvassbu Jan 18 2026

It’s not the first time that Annika and I have visited the mountain cabin Trollvassbu. This time our friend Christine joined us on this ski trip.

At 10 o’clock we set of, Christine and Annika with backpacks and I with my camera backpack and pulka. And since there is a lot of space in a pulka – for example for all our sleeping bags – we could bring lots food with us for the evening and next day’s breakfast.

Navigating there has never been easier. Since it hasn’t snowed for twelve days the backcountry ski trail was not snow-covered and was very easy to follow. I have taken pictures of all the mountains already last year, but that’s no reason not to take more:

And there lies the mountain cabin Trollvassbu.

At first it was pretty crowded inside, but many were just on a day trip and didn’t stay overnight. Nowadays the head torches are so bright, that skiers can leave in the afternoon as well after it had become dark.

Like many mountain cabins, you heat Trollvassbu with a wood-burning stove and fetch water from the river nearby. It seems to be open all winter.

While I was taking long-exposure shots of the river, Christine was preparing a luxury dinner: reinskav with Spätzle. Reinskav is shaved reindeer meat and Spätzle traditional egg pasta from Swabia in the southwest of Germany. Thanks for cooking, Christine – so delicious!

In the evening it got warmer, and during the night the wind strengthened and turned very gusty. The next day showed that Yr, the Norwegian weather forecast, had been correct: it really had started raining.

After a long breakfast we got ready to leave Trollvassbu and ski back to the car park. This time the landscape looked colourless in the rain and the photos came out nearly black-and-white.

To our relief the wet snow did not slow us down and soon we arrived at the car park apparently guarded by this snowman with the top hat.

Now came the most dangerous part of our ski tour: crossing the car park that has transformed into a huge area of wet ice, which was almost frictionless. But no one slipped and fell, and we packed the car with all our wet stuff and left.

The parking place – bring out your ice skates

The weather on our way back could have been much better (and much worse), but it was fun to be out together. Shall we do it again later this winter?

Scotland NC500 – day 7 – a rainy day Nov 10 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

October 19

According to the weather forecast it will be pretty rainy in Northern Scotland the whole day. So, today we may interrupt our road trip less often than the other days. We will drive to AppleCross, where we’ve got a room in the Hartfield House Hostel & The Bunkhouse. If we arrive early, we may get a nap in the afternoon, which sounds tempting given the weather. We have breakfast in the hotel and take it easy. When we leave, it is half past ten. It is raining.

We make a stop at the visitor centre of the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. There’s a small museum and a cabin, from where you can spot birds. There are also lovely spots outdoors, but – it is raining.

Next stop: The lake Loch Clair, where I go for a short walk. I put on rubber boots, waterproof trousers and a rain anorak, because – it is raining. Annika prefers to stay inside the car to read. A smart choice, because the trail is just a rather dull gravel road and – did I mention it? – it is raining.

No noteworthy stops after that. We arrive at the bunkhouse at three o’clock. Beside the house there is a fenced in pasture with Scottish highland cattle. They look pretty soaked, but I guess, they are used to this kind of weather.

After an afternoon-nap (we got one!) we take a small car trip southwards. On the photos it looks like the weather has finally brightened up a bit.

But if you see a photo taken from inside the car you realise – it is raining.

Landscape – as seen from the inside of the car

One of the last photos I take today is of the seafront of Applecross.

As Google has already told us, the pub is closed. So we head back to the bunkhouse and have our dinner there.

The end of high summer in Tromsø Aug 24 2025

One month ago was the last polar day in Tromsø, where the sun did not set at all. Now it gets dark again in the night. Rain clouds may help as well to make it darker and I got a lot of help from them, when I made an evening stroll through the forests nearby yesterday evening.

It was still light when I set off and it was raining. The big leaves of the wood cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum) beside the forest paths had started to turn yellow.

The small, grass-covered bogs always look like autumn. The vegetation is just yellower and browner. Because of the recent rain they were pretty wet and partly covered with water.

There were still flowers in bloom, like the pink fireweed and the thistle in the next photo, but more and more it was the leaves bringing the colour—like the wood cranesbill, whose leaves turn a vivid red in autumn.

Red leave of the wood cranesbill (Geranium sylvaticum)

Most of the forest paths were mostly dry but some of them had turned into deep water puddles. Rubber boots came in handy.

Half past nine – it was getting darker. Now and then I caught a glimpse of city lights through the trees, but most of the time I was away from town—sometimes going cross-country through the forest, sometimes staying on the paths.

Another sign of autumn was starting to show. Various mushrooms have popped up beside the path. I don’t pick them—I haven’t got a clue about mushrooms—but I do enjoy spotting them.

When I came home at 22:20 my rain clothes were so soaking wet, that I hung them into the shower. Today was the first day after months, where I put on the electrical heating in the living room.

From Obbola to Tromsø – home home and work home Mar 25 2025

Thursday, 20 March – Obbola

Annika and I are in Obbola, my “home home”. In the morning we get visitors. Three deer stand in our garden – always alert. Are they happy, that much of the snow is gone?

In my lunch break I am kayaking round the island Bredskär. That’s just 3 km. There is still some ice round the rocks at the shore, but much snow and ice has melted away the last weeks. What a warm winter.

Friday, 21 March

Annika and I take the car to Tromsø. We will make a stopover in Jokkmokk, because the total distance is almost 1000 km. Hejdå home home!

In warm and sunny weather we head northwards to Piteå and then northwest to Jokkmokk. Now we are north of the Polar Circle.

In Jokkmokk we meet a good friend and take a walk round the lake Talvatissjön. Around the sun a halo appears .

Saturday, 22 March

After a good sleep in the hostel Åsgård Annika and I continue our car trip. Gällivare, Kiruna, Abisko. Torneträsk – the 6th largest lake in Sweden – is still completely frozen. Good for recreation such as skiing.

Parts of the road were closed some days ago. You can still see some remains of the snow storm.

Some weeks ago it would have been impossible to drive from Jokkmokk to Tromsø in daylight. Anyhow two days ago astronomical spring has started and the days are as long as everywhere. After hours of driving the sun is low but visible. It illuminates the beautiful clouds. And then we arrive at our apartment in Tromsø, my “work home”.

Sunday, 23 March

On Sunday the weather gets nasty. Max temperature: +9 °C and wind gusts up to 23.5 m/s. Annika and I take a promenade anyhow. With spiked shoes because some of the ways are just bare, wet ice and the friction is next to zero. We arrive at home before the rain. Good luck.

Monday, 24 March

On my way to work I spot the first spring flowers in front of the Tromsø Cathedral. I could believe in spring …

Tuesday, 25 March

… but do know the forecast and it is correct: Snow, snow, snow on the next day. So it looks like in the morning outside of the apartment …

… and so in the afternoon, when I walked home.

Me and the old Anorak I’ve bought 2nd hand

So we did not solely travelled between countries but also between seasons. Anyhow I hope for some more winter days (or weeks), before my seasonal clock will jump to spring mode. Perhaps in mid-May?

Rain, rain, rain Jan 17 2025

It was so beautiful in the weekend when Tromsø got half a metre of fresh snow. Already on Monday it got warm and it started raining. Since then it has been above zero with a lot of rain of all kinds. Drizzle, steady rain, downpour. Snow became sleet, the roads and footpaths became very icy and roof avalanches tried to hit my car with wet snow.

Wet snow by the street left by the plough

While it continued raining first the larger roads became free of ice and snow and then even many smaller ones. More than half of the snow has melted away. What a shame! Anyhow, if yr is correct we get new snow on Sunday and colder weather next week. That would be much appreciated by a winter lover like me.

Data from the Norwegian weather service yr:

Date	Snow depth at 0:00 CET	Rain fall
2025-01-13	124.0 cm	26.7 mm
2025-01-14	94.8 cm	23.0 mm
2025-01-15	88.6 cm	0.2 mm
2025-01-16	72.5 cm	34.9 mm
2025-01-17	64.1 cm	13.9 mm
2025-01-18	55.0 cm

Date

Snow depth at 0:00 CET

Rain fall

2025-01-13

124.0 cm

26.7 mm

2025-01-14

94.8 cm

23.0 mm

2025-01-15

88.6 cm

0.2 mm

2025-01-16

72.5 cm

34.9 mm

2025-01-17

64.1 cm

13.9 mm

2025-01-18

55.0 cm

(Source: www.yr.no/nb/historikk/graf/5-90450)

November thaw Nov 10 2024

It took only four days to melt away 47 cm of snow.

Last Sunday I used skis to glide over the snow in the forest. However, the forecast at yr showed already that this pleasure would be temporary. And yr was right. It became much warmer and rained a lot. My way home on Wednesday was wet and so was the jogging on Thursday.

On Monday the snow depth had been 47 cm. On Friday it was zero. Thaw and the amount of rain led to flooding and several roads and bridges were closed. In the forest and on the bogs it looked like autumn was back.

Today I took another promenade through the near forest and felt like being back in October regarding the weather. With a clear difference: Having this cloudy weather it is not longer bright outside anymore.

Sixteen more days and the polar night in Tromsø starts with the absence of the sun for the following seven weeks. The darker it gets the more I’m longing for snow. It makes everything brighter.

Autumn forest, snowy mountains Sep 21 2024

When the temperature have dropped to 2–5 °C and the wind blows and it rains, rains, rains in Tromsø, then the season is a matter of altitude. In the lowlands it is autumn yet the mountains are covered with fresh, white snow.

Back in Tromsø – an autumnal walk Sep 19 2024

After five weeks of travelling with just two intermediate days I have come back to my work home Tromsø two days ago. Now I’ll stay here for a while.

Yesterday I have started working in the office again and today I walked home from the lake Prestvannet to my apartment after work. That’s five kilometres. Weather and nature have been showing, that summer says farewell and the wind is strong enough to tear out some of the tree’s green leaves, too. From today on I’ll try to take a one-hour walk every day. Let’s see, how long I’ll keep up that habit.

Some photos from today. Just the iPhone and some editing in Lightroom.

Wind and weather Feb 3 2024

Friday, 26 January

I took this photo at two o’clock in the afternoon just after I had walked home from work. I enjoyed my new apartment and the view from the balcony.

But I knew, that this beautiful weather wouldn’t last. The forecast predicted rain and storm.

Saturday, 27 January

In the evening the weather already had changed. It good warmer, rain clouds covered the moon and the speed of the hardest gust was wind was 24 m/s¹.

28 January

On Sunday the wind calmed down a bit but the forecast for the next day showed wind gusts of 36 m/s in the afternoon. That’s Beaufort 12 – “hurricane-force”. I wasn’t the only one who decided to work from home the next day.

29 January

And the weather became really nasty, although not as bad as expected. I was glad to be able to stay inside anyhow.

Let’s not forget, that Tromsø lies sheltered on the island Tromsøya surrounded by mountain chains. There are other places that are much more exposed to the elements. For example Torsvåg lies on a small island west of Vannøya. There the strongest wind gusts were round 41 m/s².

1 February

After two calmer yet warmer and very rainy days another storm had arrived, this time with gusts up to 30.8 m/s in Tromsø³.

Laughable the people in Kvaløyfjellet på Sømna probably would say. There the average wind speed between 1 and 2 in the night was 54.4 m/s (196 km/h)! That’s a new wind record for whole Norway⁴. And the gusts exceeded 60 m/s.

The nice thing: After all that rain in Tromsø it snowed again. When I arrived home the wind has already calmed down but the entry of my flat was caked in snow.

2 February

And the next morning it still snowed.

When I walked home today I crossed the cemetery. And there everything was snowed in and many tombstones were completely hidden under the snow. As if rain and storm never happened.

___
¹ https://www.yr.no/nb/historikk/graf/1-305409/Norge/Troms/Troms%C3%B8/Troms%C3%B8?q=2024-01-27
² https://www.yr.no/nb/historikk/graf/5-90800/Norge/Troms/Karls%C3%B8y/Torsv%C3%A5g%20fyr?q=2024-01-29
³ https://www.yr.no/nb/historikk/graf/5-90490/Norge/Troms/Troms%C3%B8/Troms%C3%B8%20LH?q=2024-02-01
⁴ https://www.nrk.no/nyheter/ny-vindrekord-i-norge-1.16744736

Tromsø – waiting for the sun Jan 29 2023

This winter polar night in Tromsø was from 26/27 November till 15 January. While the sun has been above the horizon at noon since 16 January it took some additional days until it could rise above the mountains to be seen in Tromsø. That day was last Saturday, the 21 January. It is called soldagen (the sun day). On this day it is tradition to eat “Berliner” doughnuts called solbolle (sun bun). When I went shopping in the afternoon only a few were left in the shop. But I already ate one in the cantina in advance the day before.

Saturday, 21 January

It is soldagen today. I walk to the bay Telegrafbukta at noon. Other people have gathered waiting for the sun. Some of them are barbecuing. But it is too cloudy to see the low sun itself. So: no sun.

Sunday, 22 January

Weather has changed. It has been raining at temperatures up to +7.6 °C. All the ways are icy. A misery!

I take a walk in the afternoon. Sunset has been one hour ago but through the thick rain clouds still comes a purple-violet shade of light. It looks very dramatic. But no sun.

Tuesday, 24 January

While I’m working some heavy snow showers move over the city. The large cruise ship that moored in the centre is almost hidden from my view through the windows of Framsenteret. Definitively no sun today.

Thursday, 26 January

It has become slightly colder and 15-20 cm of snow have fallen since last night. I walk home early, the first time not in darkness. It’s bright, but – no sun.

27 January

Warmer again. And today it really rains a lot. While I’m out at 15:00 it just pours down and large and deep puddles are everywhere. And wet ice. A real misery! And of course: no sun even today.

28 January

I take a long walk by the coast of Kvaløya. Temperature has dropped to +1 °C and it snows a lot. The snow is wet and sticky. Later it clears a bit but still no sun.

28 January: the wet snow is pretty sticky

29 January – today

Will the sun ever come out? Even today it snows and it is quite cloudy. Since I can see some small blue patches between the clouds and want to get some fresh air anyhow I again walk to Telegrafbukta as eight days ago. There are a lot of clouds and there’s a ship in the distance.

A ship? If I have time I always check which ship it is using the app VesselFinder. OK, let’s see … . What!? I’m really surprised: It is the Kronprins Haakon, the very ship I’ve been on at my polar expedition last year. I didn’t know that it arrives in Tromsø today. I directly get a strong longing to be on that ship cruising to the high Arctic again. (Spoiler alert: I may, later this year.)

29 January: Kronprins Haakon arriving in Tromsø I

29 January: Kronprins Haakon arriving in Tromsø II

But I can see something else. While I take photos of the bright spots between the dark clouds I spot a bright orb through my telephoto lens. The sun, the sun! Can it be true?

I check the photos at home. Although the orb is not visible on the photos (too bright) the altitude fits. So now I’m sure I saw the sun today, at least for some seconds through my camera.

This year will be a bit special. If everything works out Annika and I will see the sun coming back again in five, six weeks. In March work in Longyearbyen on Svalbard for a week and before that Annika and I stay there as tourists for about a week. One of the events I’m looking forward to is the 8 March: A quote from visitsvalbard.com:

[…] Marking the sun’s return is a long-standing traditional for the residents of Svalbard. When the sun returns on 8 March, we gather on the old hospital steps to celebrate the ‘sun’s return’. The saying here goes that ‘the sun is declared back in Longyearbyen when its rays reach the steps’. […]

Addendum: 30 January at lunchtime

30 January: finally a sunny day (taken from the canteen)

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