Mini Trip to Jostedal

Nearing towards the end of August things started to quieten down in Sjoa..... by quietening down it actually I got a couple of days off as had pretty much worked all of July and part of August straight!

Toni pumping the rafts before a trip

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

View of part of the small town of Jostedal

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

I got to get out on the river my first day in Jostedal and it was so much colder than Sjoa! This is because it is a glacier river so the water is around 5 degrees. Andreas and Toni kept joking about a massive hole on the last rapid of the trip trying to get me nervous (and it worked!). The river was pretty short and relaxed compared to the Sjoa River but the last rapid did have a big hole which managed to get another kayaker swimming but I was thankful I just blasted through the hole and had a lot of fun.

Gear shed for River Pig Rafting in Jostedal

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Toni and Ben fooling around while doing post-trip clean up.

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

My second day in Jostedal was pretty fun. I went with Mo's girlfriend to see more of the area. Jostedal has some of the biggest glaciers in Europe so there are a lot of tourists coming everyday to go trekking or on a kayak/trek combo to the glaciers.

One of the glaciers which you can view from the Tourist Information Centre in Jostedal.

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

We both went blueberry picking then searched the forest for chanterelles and were lucky enough to find a big handful of them to make a pie for dinner!

Everyone in Toni's house decided they probably owe at least one bootie beer for a swim within the last year so we all did a joint effort.

On my last day Mo took me out on the largest glacier in Europe (apart from Greenland!). We took a motor boat out to the glacier and saw a few small ice-bergs floating on the way. As we approached the ice-berg we also heard a large crack. It could have been ice from the glacier falling in miles away as it is about 50km long!

Mo getting ready to take us out on the boat to the glacier

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Before we set foot on the glacier Mo ran us through some basic safety and we got crampons fitted to our shoes which would help us not to slip on the ice. We all were also attached to the same rope by carabiners. Mo was leading us so we were all essentially attached to him. If someone accidently falls through the ice the people either side will stop the person from falling down as we are only about a metre apart. I'm not quiet sure on our trip if this theory would have worked as there were a few kids which I don't think would have been heavy enough to fall but at least we didn't have to find out from experience!

Mo getting kitted up with crampons

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

A crevice on the glacier

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

A good visual showing the rope which we were all attached to

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Looks like Mo is telling his story of how the Smurfs make some parts of the ice that blue colour

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

Mo using a pick axe to check the stability of the ice before we climb across

Photo: Jacqui Whitehead

My Job.....Better than Being a Dietitian!

So I never really talked about what I am doing in Norway this year. Well as the title of the post says 'better than being a dietitian' I now have the perfect job! This year I'm working in Sjoa again but instead of being a raft guide I am now a photo kayaker at Sjoa Raftingsenter (NWR). It's perfect I get to kayak everyday, earn money and keep creative by taking photos.

I'm planning on getting my own website up and running soon but in the meantime here are some photos I've taken from May and June on the Sjoa River.

Fun with Toys

Last Friday Nina from GoRafting organised a ‘Floatila’. What’s a ‘Floatila’ you may ask? Well it’s basically a surfing competition with ‘anything that floats’.

So we all bought our blow up toys and tried to surf Faukstad on the Sjoa River. Becky and I aimed to get a tandam surf on our dragon but everytime we both tried to sit on it we ended up swimming.

There were prizes for longest surf, best effort on the river, best effort with the floatation device, best trick etc. Just a fun relaxed social gathering for a few laughs.

Thanks to Nina and Tallis for organising the evening and thanks to all my work mates at NWR and GoRafting for supporting the Floatila!

Sjoa Festival 2011

A week to recover from Voss then it was the Sjoa Festival (in Sjoa of course!). We were super busy at work during the festival week (and basically all of July and even now in August) so I couldn’t participate in all of the activities but made it to the infamous annual Pimp and Ho party at Pensj and managed to convince my boss to let me have a day off work so I could do the Steep Creeking day course run by Gene 17.

My friend Jakub ran the Steep Creeking course and I was pretty lucky there were only 2 other men from Sweden on the course with me. We went to Upper Ula to practice some ‘boofing’ and then run a drop and small slide.

When I say ‘small’ they would have been baby size for someone like Jakub but for me and it being my first time really attempting to run any drops they were pretty intimidating. Once I got over my fear I realised that running drops is pretty simple but it’s just getting over nerves which is the hardest part.

I definitely took home a lot of lessions from my day with Jakub on the river and highly recommend Gene 17 to anyone who wants to improve their kayaking skills or has a particular goal they want to achieve.

Ekstremsportveko Voss 2011

On the last week of June the Ektremesports Veko was held in Voss Norway. Luckily that week we were quiet at work in Sjoa so I was able to go from Sun-Thurs to Voss to kayak, party and do a few rafting races.

I stayed at my friend Anvesh’s house which is one of the 3 Voss Rafting guide houses. I must say the houses rented out to guides in Voss seem like mansions! Def a 5 star rating! Anvesh owns his own rafting company in India called Expeditions India (he trip lead the Sarayu/Kali expedition which I went on last October) so it was nice to see him after 7 months.

There had been a lot of rain so all of the rivers were super high and super fast in Voss. Unfortunately on my first day paddling it was my last day kayaking in Voss for the week. Misjudging where to be on the R lead to me getting beat down in a hole and swimming. Luckily I was okay but my boat and paddle went down the class 6 gorge below the section we were running. I never saw my paddle again but sky divers saw my boat floating in the lake about 3 days later so I got that back and surprisingly my boat only was missing a few screws and had a dinted nose.

The other days in Voss I participated in drinking sessions in the Festival Tent and entered the Rafting Adventure Race with 2 guides from Troll Active and 2 Norwegian men. Our team ‘Troll Mountain’’ came third so I was lucky to get a Bula beanie as a prize. Following the race we also had an amazing BBQ at Voss Rafting – it was the best burger I have had in Norway so far!!!

I had so much fun in Voss I didn’t want to leave but had to return back to Sjoa for the weekend. Good to be working an earning money but pretty gutted I missed Fat Freddies Drop and Swollen Members perform on the Saturday night in the Festival Tent…….maybe next year.