What Am I Doing?

My destination from the beach in Voss. I have no idea what its called.

On route...

Sometimes I don't have the faintest idea and other days I have some grand plans. By the way I am living in Bergen, Norway, making $26 an hour working on some trick jazz at Sykkel Senteret (bike shop), learning to live without bike racing, just bought a mountainbike again, developing a hint of Norwegian accent and generally trying to figure stuff out. But more about that gradually later...maybe.
Anyways, more to the point I climbed a mountain on Sunday. Living on the west coast I am surrounded by mountains daily. The city is built in a valley surrounded by some fine, but minor peaks the tallest of which tops out at just over 600m above sealevel. They are the kind of thing you tackle during a lunchbreak or after work, nothing big, but a great jaunt none the less. This weekend I boarded the train to Voss, the extreme sport capital of northern Europe. After an hour of so of sharing a traincar with some incredibly easily excited and fascinated Japanese tourists I stepped of the train in fresh mountain air at a staggering altitude of...50 m. I took a quick look around and saw a few peaks with snow atop them, picked one and set out on a 7 hour round trip epic to the clouds and back.
I had a rough time finding a trail that could take me upwards, but after a few misses on tractor roads, hopping a couple of sheep fences and some bushwacking I managed to find some hikers who warned me of the dangers of the most attractive route and pointed me onto a safer alternative.

It was great to once again stand atop something substantial after a seriously greedy peak bagging spree back in Canada last fall. At nearly 1200m I could see the beauty of the area in full panorama. It was however a stark reminder of how much I miss the "old days" in particular the incredible partners in challenge I left behind, JSparls, Brooks, Haspinelli, Pip and many others. Types like you are few and far between, may we enjoy new adventures some day soon, you are all one of kind, I miss you all.

Voss from nearly the top of some mountain

From the summit of the same pile of rock

In other news I have moved into a new house, or villa as I would rather call it. It is a five bedroom masterpiece of turn of the century architecture nestled between the mighty Ulriken mountain and its smaller cousin the lofty Lovstakken. Central with only a quick tem minute spin to downtown and only ten minutes in the opposite direction to some of the most epic roads on earth. Our first floor is a tanning salon..."Brun og Blid" is the name of the tanning chain that runs it, translated thats "Tanned and Happy". More on my digs later as well, and the four roommates who are due to be arriving in short order to start the ultimate communal living arrangement.