|
Alpengirl Norway Itinerary 2008
Dates: July 27-Aug. 10, 15 days
Cost: $3650.00 per girl
Ages: 14 and up (girls only)
Highlights: Oslo cultural tour, language introduction, Jotunheimen National Park backpacking trip with glacier travel,
Leave No Trace certificate earned, Sognefjord and Naerøy Fjord sea kayaking trip.
Special feature... Parents are invited to attend for the first few days with their daughters!!!!
Day 1:
Departure date from the USA. Fly to Oslo, Norway.
Day 2:
Welcome to Norway! We will meet you upon arrival at Gardemoen International Airport outside Oslo, Norway.
Travel to Oslo and check into a guesthouse where we will stay two nights. After introductions and a meal we will visit Bygdøy Open Air museum. Here we will see old buildings and learn about Norwegian history. We will also receive an introduction to the Norwegian language. Even though most Scandinavians speak English it is more fun if we all can say a few phrases. Dinner tonight will be at a local restaurant.
At the guesthouse the Alpengirls will be sharing rooms. Parents are sharing double accommodations.
Day 3:
After a hearty Norwegian breakfast we will venture out and see more of Oslo. Today we hope to visit the Viking ship museum, The Fram explorer vessel used for arctic explorations and maybe we will have time to see Kontiki and Ra II as well. After lunch we will cruise the Frogner Park and enjoy the enormous sculptures by Vigeland. Dinner tonight will again be in a local restaurant.
Day 4:
This morning we will say good-bye to the parents and the Alpengirls will head for the train station and travel to the community of Lom. We will enjoy lunch onboard the train. Upon our arrival in Lom we will pitch our tents at the local campground, buy food at the supermarket and cook dinner on our camp stoves.
This afternoon we will make sure that everyone has all the needed gear for our backpacking section in the Jotunheimen National Park. We will also buy the food for the upcoming mountain section and repack it so it fits in our packs.
Day 5:
In traditional Alpengirl style we will start our mornings with yoga, select Leaders of the Day (LOD’s), conduct Alpenolympic Events, and end each day in celebration with 9:15 activities and more!
Today after breakfast we will board the bus up into the mountains. At the Sognefjellshytta Mountain Lodge we will leave our extra luggage and then we hike off! From now on we will camp out and all our meals are cooked on camp stoves.
The trails leading off from the lodge will take us up towards vast glaciers, through wide glacially carved valleys and around spectacular alpine lakes.
Day 6:
After yoga and breakfast the Leader of the Day will brief us on today's trek. Our pace is mellow, each member may take as many breaks as they'd like, to view the mountains, breathe the fresh mountain air or drink from the cold gushing streams. The surrounding peaks are impressive and tonight's goal is to get to the base of Fannaråki glacier.
Day 7:
Today instructors from the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT) who offer instructional ice climbing, glacier courses and glacier tours will join us. Our Mountain guides will rope us up and teach us the basics of safe travel across a glacier. We will together walk up the Fannaråki Glacier up to the top of this impressive mountain that is the 4th highest in Norway (2,068 meters above sea level). The views from the top will take your breath away!
We will camp out on top of Mount Fannaråki with all of the Jotunheimen Mountains surrounding us. The word Jotunheimen means "Home of the Giants" in Norwegian. A wilder place is hard to find. If the weather is good we can see all the way down to the Sognefjord.
Day 8:
Today we will be trekking down, down, down……our goal is the glacier lake by the small Norwegian Climbers cabin. If we are lucky we might see the only herd of wild reindeer in Norway. They like to hang out on the patches of snow we will hike by.
Throughout this Alpengirl Adventure in Scandinavia we will focus on minimum impact camping. We are traveling through a unique environment and keeping it natural is important to us. By the end of the trip each participant will receive a Leave No Trace Trainers certificate.
Day 9:
Depending on the weather we might choose to just have a casual lay-over day in and around our camp. This is a perfect time to catch up with your journal or to write a letter or two. If the weather is good we might take our day-packs in the afternoon and hike up to stone cabin on the ridge above us. This is only a two-hour hike but the views are really spectacular and maybe we will meet climbers on the ridge.
Day 10:
This is our last day of hiking. We will head down to the Turtagrø Mountain Lodge and check into the Annex where we will sleep tonight. The luggage we left behind in the beginning of our mountain trek will be delivered to us. At Turtagrø we will enjoy showers and casual afternoon. Tonights dinner will be in the lodge restaurant.
Day 11:
Our yoga session this morning is the last one in the mountains. After breakfast we will all board a bus and travel by bus to the Skjolden community at Lustra Fjord. Here our fleet of kayaks are waiting and your leaders will do an introduction to safe and fun sea kayaking. We will have both doubles and single kayaks and we will all take turns in the boats.
After buying and repacking our food we will pack up our personal gear in water proof bags, load the kayaks and paddle out of Luster Fjord. Again our nights will be spent in tents and our meals will be cooked on stoves.
Day 12:
Maybe you will start your day with a dip in the fjord. Sure, it will be chilly but how refreshing! After yoga and breakfast we will pack up the kayaks and paddle out of Luster Fjord into the Sognefjord. The Sognefjord is indeed the longest and deepest fjord in Europe. There are points along this fjord where the fjord is as deep as the mountains are high (3000 feet).
Today we might work on more technical paddling skills. We can also practice rescues in the afternoon if there is an interest.
Day 13:
While paddling along the Sognefjord we might encounter some small porpoises called "nise" in Norwegian. We will stop at small communities, stretch our legs and buy fresh food. Today we will most likely camp along the shores of Aurland fjord.
Day 14:
This is our last day of paddling and if the weather gods have been with us we will paddle in to Naerøy Fjord (one the most narrow fjord in Norway) and to the small community of Gudvangen. After cleaning out the kayaks and our camping gear we will check into a guesthouse. Our backpacks with our extra personals will be delivered again and we can all enjoy a shower. Dinner will be enjoyed at the guesthouse restaurant.
Day 15:
This morning we will first travel by bus for 30 minutes and then we will board a train. The train ride from Flåm to the Myrdal mountain station is one of the most famous railroads in Europe. The ascent from fjord to mountain plateau is steep and the train goes back and fourth while climbing out of the valley. We will arrive in Oslo in the late afternoon and check into guesthouse. Tonight we will celebrate our great adventure with an end-of-trip banquet in a local restaurant.
Day 16:
Breakfast and a last group photo will mark the ending of our trip. Together we will travel to the Airport for departure to USA.
We are looking forward to our adventure together!
|
