Finnan

It's Sunday. Most people are still asleep, either sleeping off their hangover or just enjoying the last day with no alarm clock waking them up....Me though? Well, I was awake by 7:30h in the morning. I guess it's the bright sunlight peeping in from behind our curtains that poked me, telling me that I shouldn't spend such a lovely summer's day in bed. While my hubby is still asleep, I sneak out of the bedroom to check the weather conditions outside. Both my hubby and I have been checking the weather forecast quite often since Friday morning. Would this weekend give us the weather window that we have been waiting for quite a while now? Would it bring us a clear sky day, so that we can spend one more day out and about on our skis before we really have to put them away for this season?

The weather forecast told us that we could just forget about it, but with mountains all around us and the weather changing nearly by the hour, you never really can rely on the forecast. It's better to just wake up, check the sky and the thermometer... So that's what I did, surprised to see a clear sky for miles around and a temperature of 17 degrees Celsius. The day we had been waiting for, was finally here! With a big smile on my face, I storm back into the bedroom, waking up my hubby with the great news: "We are going ski mountaineering today!"

After a sturdy breakfast, trying to load up on energy, we empty our storage booth for skis and other necessary equipment, fill up the car and off we are! We know exactly where we want to go - the peak of Finnan (1786 metres above sealevel) at the top of the Trollstigen (Troll's Path) - a road with 11 hairpin bends ascending nearly 800 metres from the Isterdalen valley. This road is closed during winter, but is opened up for traffic in the end of May / the beginning of June again - the perfect opportunity to go ski mountaineering on the last bits of snow on the peaks up on the Trollstigen plateau.

Whereas the snow down in the valley has disappeared completely, the peaks at the top of the Trollstigen are still covered with enough white magic. We park the car in one of the small parking areas 2 km from the visitor's centre, put our ski boots on and start to ascend Finnan.

After ascending for nearly five hours with only one short lunchbreak, after running out of energy several times along the way, after seeing an avalanche not far from our route, we finally reach the summit of Finnan. All pain, frustration and anxiety from the ascend is forgotten as soon as I look around and see the beautiful view.

Tears are rolling down my cheeks from sheer happiness. We made it to the summit! I am so grateful for everything my hubby has learned my about the great outdoors and skiing throughout the 13 years we have been together.

The wind at the summit starts to increase in strength, a sign that we should turn around and enjoy some off piste skiing back down to the car park again. Even though the sun has turned the snow into slush, the adrenaline is rushing through our veins and life is smiling at us. We definitely made the right choice to get out of bed early on a Sunday!!