I left the dog back home, and drove to the Vasstranda trailhead. After putting on my T4 boots, I felt like screaming. I got a bad blister on my ski-trip to Sulafjellet, earlier in the week, and it was simply not possible to walk anywhere with these boots. For sure, there had to be something wrong with one of the inner boots, as I NEVER got blisters on the other foot.

As I drove back home, buddy Svein called me and asked what I was up to. He had considered a ski-trip to Vasstrandsegga as well. I told him I would call him back, after testing the inner boots from my Alfa boots. After swapping the inner boots, I didn't feel the blister at all. I called Svein and let him know that I was available for a trip.

We left the Vasstranda trailhead 12:15PM. We looked forward to ski down from Vasstrandegga - the big reward of the trip. We took turns being in front. There snow got proportionally deeper with the elevation. Once above the forest, the wind had blown off most of the snow from the southwest ridge, but by staying east of the ridge, we could ski on snow up to the very top.

We reached the top 13:50PM. The high point was still 1,1Km further northeast, but we decided to turn around. Another snowfall was on its way, and Svein had limited time. At least, we had reached a named point with an official elevation. My GPS stated 524m as average elevation, during a 5-minute period. The GPS tracks stated 526m, during the same period. In any case, that's "way" below the official height (531m).

It felt good to ski downhill again (in daylight), and 20 minutes after leaving the top, we were back at the trailhead. A little less snow would have been perfect, but none of us were complaining.

Almost back home, I nearly had an accident. Just after the Hatlaåsen tunnel, I entered the left lane towards Gåseid. Another car, driven by an elder woman, came up from behind, in the right-hand lane, cutting in to the left, right in front of me. The icy road didn't have much effect on my brakes, but I was able to direct the car into the median strip. And, without causing damage to the car. During all of this, I was desperately seeking for the horn. It takes time to become familiar with a new car..

Of course, I followed the woman to the parking lot at the grocery store, and in a polite and civilized manner, I gave her a quick intro to "the basic concept of lanes and mirrors". Rather than just saying "sorry - my mistake", she - almost insulted - explained that she never had any accident during her 45 years of driving. I could see her bite her tongue in the same second, and I couldn't let the punchline slip away.

- "So?"

Svein's trip report can be found here.