New Trip! – Our Folla Ski Touring week explores a brand new area of Arctic Norway, as yet little visited by skiers.  The region offers a very diverse range of touring terrain, mixing coastal mountains and stunning fjord scenery, with dramatic inland alpine peaks.  This is an exploratory trip for our regular clients, so expect an adventure!

Trip Info

This is an ‘Al Special’ exploratory trip to a new area, so you need to have skied with us previously and be prepared for an element of discovery during the week!

This is an area of Norway with huge potential, that we’ve had our eye on for a number of years, but historically there have been very few places to stay.  Summits in the region are typically 800-1300m high, so ideal for day touring and importantly, there is also access to a number of different micro climates; with both coastal skiing and access to a drier, colder, continental snowpack further inland.

As you can appreciate we are keeping the finer details off our website, but as always we have done our homework and the ski potential of the region is obvious, but it’s still very quiet, so this is a great time to explore the area before it gets too well known.

This trip travels on Friday out/Friday return, to make use of the best flight options.

Suitability

This is an intermediate level trip. To take part you should be at Fitness Level 3 and Tech Level 3 (see our Fitness/Experience guidelines below). You need a few weeks previous ski touring experience and you need to have skied with us before to join this tour. The week includes 5-6 hour days with generally steady climbs, but also some steeper terrain involving kick turns and the odd short boot track to reach summits. Typically we’ll be doing 800-1200m of ascent a day (but this is at at sea level, with day packs on) – so you can expect to be skinning for 3-4 hours a day. Type of ascent: we use 100% skinning on this tour – approx. 6000m of skinning up, 6000m of skiing down, all at sea level.

Guiding ratio

One IFMGA guide skiing with 6 clients.

Included in price

• 6 days of guiding
• All guides expenses
• 2 nights accommodation in Bodo, including breakfast
• 5 nights accommodation in the Folla region (self catering, food included)
• Travel during the trip in shared hire vehicle

Excluded from price (see factsheet for cost estimates)

• Evening meals in Bodo
• Drinks and Hill Snacks
• Flights
• Taxi to Airport
• Insurance
• Equipment hire

Accommodation

Our hotel in Bodo is the excellent 4 star Radisson Blu Hotel, situated in the centre of town and just 10 mins from the airport. The Radisson is one of the best hotels in town, providing a great breakfast and is very close to shops, services and local bars and restaurants.

Our accommodation in the Folla region is at a self catering holiday house in an idyllic location overlooking the sea, with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.  It’s in an ideal location for exploring the area, with the nearest ski venues being just 5 mins walk away.

We will self cater and buy most of our food for the trip in Bodo, plus there are a couple of supermarkets in the area for obtaining fresh bread and extra supplies during the week. Please let us know if you have any special dietary requirements.  Bedding and towels are provided.

Hotel details can be found on our Accommodation page.

ABTOT Protected

This trip is protected by ABTOT – Alpine Guides Ltd, Membership Number 5394.  For further information, please visit our Financial Protection page.

Friday

Fly from UK to Bodo in Northern Norway. Overnight in Bodo. Evening Briefing – your guide will run through kit checks and safety routines, before going on to discuss the current weather and mountain conditions and how these affect our plans. We’ll have maps and information on the area to show you, so if you’ve any further questions or last minute requests, then this is the ideal time to bring them up.

Saturday

AM – Drive to the Folla region and drop our kit off at accommodation.  PM Day Tour close to our accommodation.

Sunday to Thursday

Day touring in the Folla region

A wide variety of day tours are available, skiing from summit to sea.

The area is home to dramatic coastal mountains and numerous offshore islands – some of the larger ones are accessible by bridges and offer great ski touring.  Needless to say, photo opportunities are excellent and we always stop to take shots of scenery and wildlife along the way.

Further inland, we have access to dramatic alpine summits in a granite region – this area offers quite a different climate, being a colder and drier continental snowpack.

Outings are selected to cater for group interest, ski ability and the current snow and weather conditions.

Thursday PM Drive back to Bodo, overnight at hotel in Bodo.

Friday

Early transfer to airport, flights home.

Your course meeting point is Bodo airport (BOO), reached via flights to Oslo, with connecting flights on to Bodo (same airline). Your guide will do one pickup from Bodo airport at 17.00-19.00 on Friday 8th March 2024 (final time TBC, depending on peoples’ flights). Please do not book flights arriving later than the pickup, to avoid the rest of the team having to wait too long! For transfer to our hotel and travel during the trip, the guide will drive a hire vehicle.

You will be dropped off the following Friday morning 15th March, in time for return flights from approx 6.30am.  Your guide will make one drop-off for the early flights, so if you wish to take a later flight you can arrange your own taxi from the hotel, or travel with the group and wait in the airport.

Flights

Norwegian offer flights from the UK from London Gatwick, Manchester (and Edinburgh – though 1.40 connection on way out), SAS offer flights from Heathrow (and Manchester – though 1.40 connection on way out), all via Oslo. Check the Sky Scanner flight comparison site for your best option. NB We advise you to allow 2 hrs transfer time in Oslo on the outward leg.

Further information and travel links can be found on our Travel Planning page.

To enjoy this trip you should be comfortable operating at Fitness Level 3, and Ski Tech Level 3:

Fitness Level 3
You do 3-4 hours cv training/sport per week. At this level you are happy doing a 5-6 hr hillwalk, 40-50ml cycle or 3-4hr mountain bike ride without being totally exhausted. If you are into challenges – then the thought of doing a road sportive, or training to do a 1/2 (or maybe even a full) marathon, wouldn’t seem too ridiculous. On foot: you should be able to do the full Langdale Horseshoe: Langdale – Pike of Stickle – Angle Tarn – Bow Fell – Crinkle Crags – Pike of Blisco – Langdale in a day without finishing up exhausted. On skis: you can skin uphill at 300-400m/hr for 3-4 hrs a day (ie 8-1200m of ascent each day).

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Tech Level 3
Confirmed Off Piste Skier. You can put down a reasonable set of tracks in powder, but difficult snow types – eg heavy wet snow, crusts, poor visibility or 40dg slopes – can all cause problems (though you can cope with them safely, if not elegantly!) *Equivalent to Ski Club of GB Off Piste Level: Purple – Advanced*
Likely to say: ‘I’d like to handle difficult snow/steep slopes more confidently in better style’
Our Advice: Off piste coaching still useful. Intermediate off piste weeks are at your level too. If you want to get into ski touring, try a touring course or intro level ski tour. If you’re an established ski mountaineer, then intermediate level tours are generally suitable.

To view all of our Ski Fitness Levels and Off Piste Technical Levels, please visit our Ski Ability page.

If you need to top up your fitness for this trip, please see our Ski Touring Training Advice page.

Day Touring/BC Ski Course Equipment List

Just remember, every extra kilo on your back knocks 10% off your enjoyment on the descents – so try and keep the weight down!

Technical Clothing

• Waterproof Jacket – preferably lightweight and breathable
• Overtrousers/ski pants – preferably with side zips
• Fleece mid layer or equivalent
• Spare fleece or lightweight insulated duvet jacket
• Socks – specialist ski socks or a warm loop lined pair of mountain socks
• Wicking thermal top – not cotton please…
• Thermal leggings or ski pants
• Thin inner gloves
• Warm ski gloves or mittens, if you suffer from cold hands
• Warm hat

Personal Items

• Water container – at least 1 litre
• Personal medications and blister kit – regular meds, zinc oxide tape, compeed and painkillers etc
• Ski goggles
• Sun glasses – CE rated 3 or 4 with side protection
• Sun and lip cream – factor 30+
• Wallet, passport and insurance docs

Technical Equipment

• Rucsac 25/35l – try and avoid ones covered in too many features, just ski and ice axe attachments required
• Freeride boots or ski mountaineering boots – check detailed factsheet kit list for preferred boots
• Skis with touring bindings – check detailed factsheet kit list for preferred skis and bindings
• Ski strap – to keep skis together on your rucksack if we need to carry them
• Ski poles – with good size 5cm+ baskets (telescopic poles are not needed)
• Climbing skins – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Harscheisen (ski crampons) – they come with the skis if you hire your kit
• Metal snow shovel – must be a full metal shovel (plastic blades don’t work in real avalanche debris!)
• Avalanche probe
• Avalanche transceiver – must be a modern digital model (older analogue models are now obsolete)
• Harness, with 120cm sling and locking karabiner
• Crampons – bring them if you have them
• Ice Axe – bring if you have one
• Ski helmet – a lightweight helmet is recommended for off piste skiing

Your guide will have all other safety kit, first aid and survival equipment.

Recommendations and Advice
Visit the Knowledge Base section of our website, where we publish an annual review of the years best new skis, boots and touring equipment, plus a range of other interesting tips and recommendations. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch!

Purchasing Equipment
Backcountry UK in Otley offer an excellent ski touring boot fitting service, one of the best ranges of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK and top notch advice.

Hiring Equipment
Please visit our Equipment Hire page for recommended hire shops in your resort, and Alpine Guides hire equipment price list.

For this trip you must have specialist travel insurance providing medical, emergency search/rescue and repatriation cover for off piste skiing and ski touring, as outlined in the trip itinerary. We also strongly recommend that you purchase cancellation cover, in case you’re unable to attend your trip due to personal circumstances or injury. Please arrange your insurance as soon as your trip is confirmed to run.

Further details can be found on our insurance info page.