And then the summer was gone..

Suddenly it was over, and I'm back in Bergen. Not much new happened the last few weeks, I was away a bit, people left, people came back, worked a lot, spent time with friends, some hikes in the mountain and more goodbyes. Hate goodbyes, but it has happened a lot the last couple of months now.

Well, guess I should start where I left off. Not sure if I can remember all, so just take "the big" stuff. Guess the first thing is Jotunheimen.
I went there with a friend of mine, Johan. He is going far, far north to study this fall, so it was a sort of goodbye-trip. He is my training-buddy, always drags me up Fløien, so think it's going to be weird going up there without him. But I'll manage, as always.
Anyway, on a fine Tuesday morning around 7, I got in my car and drove to Gol, which is around 4 hours drive, where I picked up Johan, who came from Bergen by train. Then we drove up to Gjendesheim, which lies in Jotunheimen. Originally we were planning to take a boat to the end of Gjende (which is a small lake), and then go to the middle of it, to Memurubu and stay the night there. This was changed, and we walked from Gjendesheim to Memurubu, over Besseggen, the first day instead. The plan was to take this the last day, because we were wearing big backpacks and had heard that it was better to go Besseggen the other way instead. But because of fine weather and Johan wanting to walk immediately the first day, Besseggen it was! And I don't regret it! We started around 1000moh, and the highest point on the trip was 1743moh, so it's ok as first day trip:P
The view up there was quite stunning, just look at this:

Really near the top, with the view of our startingpoint

Johan, sitting on the edge..

This is where we went down.. steep

5.5 hours from we started from Gjendesheim, we arrived on Memurubu. It's estimated to take 7 hours, so I'm ok with that:) And there we had a good dinner, after that a glass of wine for me and beer for him before heading off to bed quite early.

The destination the second day was Surtningssue, 2368 moh. We didn't start as early as wanted, but what can you do :P The bed (ehm, mattress is more correct) was to tempting.. Anyway, after a good breakfast we started to walk around 11, the first part was straight up for half an hour.

This is where we went up the first part. Down there somewhere is Memurubu

Then a tiny break before walking first straight ahead and then some up again. Then break before this was the next step:

I really have to admit that seeing the mountain you are about to climb covered in mist/fog/clouds is NOT helping your motivation. But, we started to climb it. Even though the first part was straight up (and I really mean STRAIGHT up), it was the part after that that was truly tough. At this point we couldn't see a thing, only 5-10 m ahead, but according to Johan we were now not that far from the top, only 10 min walking. Considering that I was now tired and my hip hurted like hell, I was really happy about this. But then we walked for 10-15 min and we bumped into some people. I asked if it was long until we reached the top, and they smiled encouraging and told me it was not far. I was sooo happy until the next few words "Only around 30-45 min". I think my smile ran off my face. Not what I expected or wanted to hear.

So we continued, because we were going to the top, no matter what. At the end of the trip I was so down that all I wanted to do was lie down and scream. My hip was not better, I was cold, there was a lot of wind, and it actually had started to SNOW. It was also still foggy (strange, since we were walking in the middle of a fucking cloud) so we had no idea where the top was but FINALLY we were there. I have never been more happy to hear the words "Here is the top" as I was back then. And just for the record, I didn't complain about it when I was there. I HATE people complaining, so I try not to do that. But in order to not complain, I didn't say that much the last 45 min:P

Finally at the top

We sat at the top for a few minutes, then walked down again with a small stop in a small hut on the way, just to eat some food, get some new energy. Once I got the heat in me, everything was ok. Then we got out of the cloud and we were heading down the steepest part again.

Before arriving at Memurubu again, we slided on some snow, walked along a river, drank more of the amazing mountain water and pretty much had a great time.

I have to tell you, the best feeling in the world is to come down again from a long trip, sit down and take your shoes off. Amazing! Just the feeling of being really tired in every single muscle in your body. Indescribable!
That night we had a really good dinner (ate of course too much), before putting our stuff in our room. This night we actually had a room, the first we slept on mattresses on the floor sharing with a lot of people, this night in beds sharing with 4 other. We had brought some wine with us, so we decided this was the evening to celebrate. We had plans of just sitting in our room, but people wanted to sleep, so we put on a lot of clothes and found a table outside. And that wine was the best tasting wine I've had in a long time! Yummi.

Early the next morning Johan decided to JOGG from Memurubu to Gjendesheim. We were planning to take the boat to Gjendesheim and then drive to Rondane and have a trip there friday, but it was only me that took that boat. Recall that we walked the same distance, only the other way with big backpacks, in 5.5 hours. This maniac used 2 hours 20 min!! That's insane. And I also think he destroyed the motivation for around 300 people that day!
Johan was (surprisingly) a bit sore in his legs when he came back, so we decided just to go home that day.

When I was driving home, I passed our cabin/hut in the mountains, and to all my foreign friends, this is some of what you can expect if we ever arrange a trip up here:D

The rest of the summer was working, saying goodbye to people, and of course some trips in the mountains. Here is some pictures:

Ok, for now only 1, but more to come. Here: Svinestranda

Wops, the summer was gone. I have to say, no matter what Sylvia says, it has been a great (!) summer. Yes, it has been raining a lot (means no sun), and yes, we did not climb Skåla this year either, but my summer has still been great, and I have a lot of wonderful memories from it. Of course I wish it had been more sunny, but you can't have it all, can you? At least I got the sun in Vietnam.

And then I was in Bergen again:D I have a new appartment, have moved almost everything I need. I'm sharing with 4 other, and they seem quite nice, 2 girls and 2 boys. Curious to see how things work out. I'm in general quite curious about a lot of things this fall, and looking forward to it. Now I'm facing a lot of catching up with the people here, some parties and then of course the start of my master. Wish me good luck!