  We met the others at Tungestølen and we were given crampons and rope before walking up the Austerdal valley. The rain poured down and before long most of us were soaked from head to toe. This didn't seem to affect the moral of the 'old students', as everbody was enjoying the walk. The trip up Austerdalen valley to the Austerdals glacier is a easy walk, taking about an hour and a half to the edge of the glacier.
A fantastic sight met us when we walked over the hill and saw the Austerdals glacier covering the whole valley in all its glory. Shortly afterwards we saw the glacial icefalls Loke, Odin and Tor. These three glacial icefalls join to form the Austerdals glacier, all of which have their origins on the Jostedals glacier. The Austerdal glacier with Loke, Odin and Tor have the reputation of combining to form the 'finest ice scenery in Europe'. This was the phrase uttered by the famous climbing pioneer William Cecil Slingsby the first time he visited the Austerdals glacier and saw the glacier icefalls.
There was just enought time for a slice of bread at the edge of the glacier before we roped up. We divided up into two teams and started up the glacier. This is one of the least technically demading glaciers to walk on and we strolled easily upwards on a wonderful voyage of discovery. Walking over a glacier is fascinating. Middle moraines, crevasses, rivers which disappear deep down in the glacier, amazing colour variations in the ice.....even the sun made an appearance a couple of times.
We walked up the glacier towards the icefalls but as we were running out of time had to turn round before reaching them. After two hours on the glacier we were back at the edge where we untied from the ropes and began the trip back towards Tungestølen and the bus. We had been given a mission by a local farmer, to find his 'lost' sheep who didn't want to come home. Half and hours walk from Tungestølen we found the disobedient sheep and asked our happy bus driver, also a local, to pass the on the message to the farmer.
After a long, wet and at times cold trip all of us felt the need to stop at the 'shack' in Veitastrond where we stocked up on cold beer before heading towards Lægreids bar in Sogndal. We all agreed that it was a great trip and now looked forward to meeting all the old students who hadn't come to Sogndal on thursday evening. |
