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After snow all week, I just wondered *when*, not *if*, it was going to start snowing this Sunday. But the morning weather was good, so I decided to take a trip to Gullfjellet and do some skiing. I left Troll back home. He can survive 4-5 hours without the owner. I hadn't checked out the weather forecast, and wondered if it was going to be a great day when I had to pay parking fee at Osavatnet. They are only open when they expect many visitors, it seems. I still didn't know where I would be going when I got the skis on 10:30AM.
After a few meters, I turned right and started to climb the Austrerinden ridge. Everybody else was going the normal route towards Redningshytten, and I wanted solitude. I had been lucky with preparing the skis (which I know little or nothing about), and skiing upwards was just fun. A couple came "Telemarking" down the ridge in. It looked just great, and I felt for doing the same when I got to the summit. I don't know how to do Telemark. Heck, I'm just happy if I don't fall. But still I would enjoy this type of descent.
I reached Austrerinden summit 11:30PM, and was torn between the inviting ridge back to the car or a longer ski-trip. I chose to set course for Gullfjellstoppen. My wish for a fun downhill came true on the 200m descent towards Redningshytten. I had serious fun during the 10 min. descent. I immediately started the long climb towards Gullfjellstoppen. The grip under the skis just got better by the minute, and I passed a heap of skiers on the way upwards. It was the kind of ski-trip you will not forget in a while. The white and blue colors, and the shadows on the mountain were almost poetic.
I reached Gullfjellstoppen 12:40PM, which indicated one hour of skiing from Redningshytten. A small group of skiers left the summit, and I had the summit all by myself. The nice slopes back to Redningshytten were tempting, but I had decided to traverse the mountain. I looked down towards Gullfjellhalsen and didn't see any tracks. I rapidly descended the 100m down to the lake between "Halsen" and Gullfjellstoppen, and followed Gullfjellshalsen northbound until I reached the end of the ridge. This descent was partly steep and icy, but eventually I was down by Vossavardane. The normal route down Kinndalen is not compatible with skiing, so I skied down to Kinndalen at Gassabrekkane. This descent also went fairly quick, and after passing lake Svartavatnet I was back at the car 14:15PM after 17Km on skis.
Back home, Troll explained, through a not-too-warm welcome that the day had been completely boring. I told him that I would take him to Ulriken and he was jumping on all four feet. The walk was probably the hardest walk I've ever had to Ulriken. But Troll seemed to enjoy the walk to the fullest, which was the important thing. We reached the Ulriken tower 15:40PM. I had climbed 1350 vertical meters so far, and looked immensly forward to the descent. The wind was now strong and cold, and a low pressure was clearly on the way. I was quite grateful for the window with sunshine this Sunday. Darkness came a little later with a familiar mixture of snow and rain.
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