Lofoten 2014 - part 4 - Stornappstind

On day 7 I took a calculated gamble and we headed off to the 'Wild West'. Everyone I knew on the islands had been focussing on the classic East Vagoya island mountains, with scant reports from further West. I was convinced we would find something worthwhile, and so it turned out...:

South face of Stornappstind - we were heading for the gully dropping directly below the summit:

Skinning from the car door once again!:

Start of the bootpack in the South gully of Stornappstind:

400m of bootpacking nearly done:

Out onto the mellower slopes of the West ridge:

Last year we had a spectacular day skiing the West face of Stornappstind, and the views this year again didn't disappoint - in fact I think this may well be my favourite mountain anywhere!

Happy crew on the summit:

A short wait was needed on the summit as a slightly fresh wind was delaying the snow softening, but after 45 minutes or so we headed over to the top of the couloir and found the snow 'cooked' to perfection.

Mark and Ian dropping in:

Paul:

Ian:

Jim:

How good was that? 400m of great steep spring snow, with another 400 of mellower slopes down to the car still to come!:

Looking back up the couloir:

Back at the car we put our tourist hats on and went for a drive to the village of å - the furthest West you can get on Lofoten roads (and the last letter in the Norwegian alphabet apparently...). The scenery was simply stunning:

An absolute top notch day in the mountains - great skiing, great team, great summit, great views... what more can you ask for?