Store Jægervasstinden - Lyngen Alps

By Hannah Vickers

Store Jægervasstinden is one of countless majestic peaks in the heart of the Lyngen Alps and is a much sought-after ski mountaineering peak. It’s one that had stood on my wishlist for several years, but I’d never quite got round to doing because a combination of factors had never aligned at the right time. However, the last weekend in April 2017 had a stellar weather forecast and with a relatively stable snowpack and my two close friends Kine and Johanna who were also psyched up for an attempt, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go for it. Kine’s partner Leiv was also keen to join a girl’s trip, so we let him come along too ;-)

We took the first ferry over to Svensby from Breivikeidet at 8.10, around 1 hour’s drive from Tromsø, and by the time we’d driven from Svensby to the car park by the lake Jægervatnet it was a little after 9 am when we started skinning along the forest track and toward the mountain. It’s a nice gentle warm up before the serious ascent begins! At the end of the track we began the gradual journey upwards through the forest, heading in a more or less southeast direction towards the foot of the west ridge coming down from Litle Jægervasstinden. The conditions were “fast” with a frozen crust providing little resistance, though as we eventually emerged into the sun and onto the south facing slopes of Litle Jægervasstinden’s west ridge the snow became noticeably softened by the warmth of the sun. A well earned drink/snack break was enjoyed after having completed the more sun-exposed part of the traverse in towards Trollbreen (glacier). The surroundings were now beginning to feel distinctly alpine with the steep walls of the Jægervasstinden peaks encompassing us! From there we chose to follow a sort of moraine ridge before continuing up Trollbreen and to the foot of the couloir which would get us onto the south ridge of Store Jægervasstinden. Conditions on Trollbreen were really good, with the cool and shaded surroundings keeping the powder cold and light. It was promising for a good ski down!

At around 50m below the start of the couloir an old loose snow avalanche had formed a mess of frozen lumps which made skinning over it both awkward and time-consuming, so we switched from skis to crampons and started booting from here. It had started to get steeper anyway, so it made more sense to get the transition done in relatively easy terrain. Booting is actually one of my all-time favourite activities. I have after all spent many more years in a pair of crampons than I have with skis on my feet, so bootpacking up the couloir was good fun, even with a heavy pair of powder skis on my pack. Not everyone shared the same enthusiasm for booting though :-) The gradient in the couloir varies from 35-45 degrees but since there were really good tracks already made by others, it was never really necessary to get the ice axe out and ski poles worked well enough to get us out onto the ridge above. The views down were pretty amazing, especially as the summit of Litle Jægervasstinden emerged as we got higher. Once we’d exited the couloir and reached the south ridge of Store Jægervasstinden however, the views opened up even more and to the south we could look across to the formidable peaks of Trolltinden, Stortinden, Forholttinden and Trollvasstinden, to name but a few of Lyngen’s other beautiful summits. There are never enough adjectives to describe quite how amazing the Lyngen Alps are – and pictures will never really be able to replicate the reality, but they do at least give an impression of this stunning area.

From the top of the couloir, all that was needed was an easy hike up the south ridge to reach the ski summit at 1520 m. Had snow conditions been less hard I imagine it would have been possible to skin up to the south summit, but as the snow was still crusty we just opted to continue with skis on the packs. There were several other groups of ski tourers out too, and probably useful that some had already started earlier than us as the ski summit wasn’t exactly a spacious place for many people! The true summit of Store Jægervasstinden doesn’t come into view until the ski summit is reached though, but wow – it was a really elegant and somewhat airy ridge linking the ski summit to the true summit. The large majority of folk don’t really bother going further than the ski summit, since there is a small downclimb from the ski summit to get onto the ridge. Depending on snow conditions this can either be an easy climb down on snow, or might require a small abseil. None of us had brought any ropes or protection, so we’d decided that if it came to that, then we’d not bother trying to go further. Both Kine and Johanna were happy enough to have reached the ski summit anyway, so we had a good break here to enjoy the views together and take lots of photos! But… both Leiv and I were keen to have a go at getting up onto the true summit, and I’d deliberately brought 2 ice axes in case the downclimb was a bit awkward, so we decided to at least try. Leiv is a really good climber, so I did the polite thing and let him go first and check out the conditions! It wasn’t especially well snow covered, so it ended up being a delicate climb down to the ridge with some careful axe and crampon placements which I was thankful to have pointed out by Leiv from below :-) Once down onto the summit ridge it was just a matter of walking over another mini summit which also required a short downclimb, though only on snow which was relatively straightforward. After this, an easy stroll along the elegant snow ridge took us the rest of the way to the highest point of Store Jægervasstinden. And so finally – that moment I’d long dreamed of experiencing had become a reality. The views were truly incredible, in every single direction. Mountain tops, islands and sea, the kind of combination of views that are so special to northern Norway….. Being the only two who were on the true summit gave us ample time to take in the surroundings and savour the atmosphere. It was a bit of a contrast to the busy ski summit we could see at the other end of the ridge!

Anyway, after having gazed enough at the views and exchanged high fives we started to make our way back to the ski summit. Going in this direction was pretty easy in comparison since all the downclimbs were now just climbing upwards on snow. After one last glance back at the mega cool summit we’d just stood on, we switched to ski mode and started the ski down the ridge to the start of the couloir where both Kine and Johanna were waiting. The mood was one of anticipation. I think we were all a bit semi-anxious, semi-excited about skiing the couloir. The snow conditions had been optimal for booting up, but for steep skiing, they could definitely have been better…. On the shady side of the couloir the snow was a bit tracked out and bumpy- but dry, while on the sunny half of the couloir the snow had a distinct icy sun crust which hadn’t really softened, so it wasn’t much fun trying to make turns there! Fortunately halfway down the couloir there was an appropriately positioned “sun balcony” (as termed by Kine) where we could take a short mental break to psyche ourselves up for getting down the remainder of the couloir. Kine is a really good skier and made easy work of the awkward conditions while Johanna and I mostly went for a slip-slide tactic which resulted in not very many turns before we emerged out at the bottom. On the plus side neither of us had managed to stack it, so that was a positive result! 
The rest of the ski back down Trollbreen was a dream, and we could finally chill out a bit and cruise back down the cold silky powder, which eventually became more of a fine spring slush as we lost height and came back out onto the south facing slopes under Litle Jægervasstinden. Lots of smiles all around and a few breaks here and there made the journey back to the car park a relaxed affair. It was a great atmosphere and a memorable day, without a doubt the highlight of the 2017 season thus far and one that I was glad to have spent in the company of really good friends. As it’s customary to say in Norwegian at the end of a trip – takk for turen (thanks for the trip) Kine, Leiv and Johanna!