Tour de Norway
Rab-sponsored pro skier Andreas Fausko embarks on a ski and bikepacking adventure, completing a 1,000km loop around southern Norway.
After a major shift in mindset in 2020, I started pushing myself to be more active. I began ski touring more. I picked up a gravel bike and started exploring the endless network of gravel roads around Oslo. I also started planning proper adventures, like a 340km ski with a sled through four national parks, as well as a bike ride from Oslo to the French Riviera. Every time I arrived back home, the planning for a new trip would begin.
After feeling more comfortable and ambitious with these sorts of missions, I realised that I really enjoyed biking and skiing in the mountains. This planted a seed in my head: would it be possible to combine these two activities in one big adventure? I saw a movie on YouTube where two German guys mounted their skis on their bikes and rode through the Alps, ski touring at different mountains along the way, before they ended up in Nice (read all about it in Fall Line 175). It was a huge inspiration for me and I knew I wanted to try and do the same thing back here in Norway.
In early 2023 I started planning my route with a potential start in early spring. At that time pretty much all of the roads would be clear of snow, it wouldn’t be too cold, and the mountains would still be skiable.
My starting point would be Oslo. I wanted to ride to the most popular ski touring destinations in the southern part of Norway and also have the route as a loop. After going on Google Maps and having a rough idea of where to ski, I ended up with a nice loop of 1,000km on the bike, with six ski touring destinations along the way. Total elevation gain, including the skiing, would be around 40,000m. In other words, it would be my toughest challenge to date.
Brutal Climbs and Big Sends
On 16 April I set out from Oslo and started my journey towards the mountains. I had packed my bike to the brim with all the gear and equipment I thought I needed for the trip. My skis and poles were mounted on each side of my bike frame with heli straps, and I had a rack mounted both on the back and the front. I had two panniers on the side of the front rack, where I had my ski boots, and the tent, sleeping bag, and handlebar bag sat nicely on top of the rack. I had a frame bag where I stored most of my clothes and some food, and at the rack in the back I had my ski backpack with all my avalanche gear and skins.
The first mountain along the route was Gaustatoppen (1,883m), a big block situated in the middle of the landscape, around 180km from Oslo (to the base) and two days of biking. It turned out the setup I chose worked really well for the first two days, but it was one thing getting to the bottom of the mountain, and another thing getting up to the parking lot where I could put on my skis. To get to said parking lot I had to ride my bike up a climb aptly called Zombie Hill. A brutal climb of 10km and almost 1,000m of elevation gain that is hard enough on a normal bike, let alone one with several kilos of ski gear on it. I decided to set up camp at the bottom of the hill and left as many things behind as I could that I wouldn’t need when skiing (like all my camping gear). But it was still physically exhausting getting up there with my skiing gear attached to the bike.
It took me three hours to reach the parking lot. I skinned to the top of the mountain in around 90 minutes, grabbed a coffee at the summit hut, and skied a nice couloir back down to my bike. As hard as it was, it was nice to have it under my belt, knowing that I would be able to handle proper climbs, as I knew there would be a lot more of them coming along the way.
My journey continued further west towards a place called Haukeli, where I met up with a friend and we skied a nice south-facing face in a valley called the Nups. After that, it was over the Haukeli mountain pass down to a place called Røldal, a resort known for its famous freeride competition, and where some of the biggest sends in Norwegian freeride history have gone down.
I met up with a group of local huckers and was shown the competition face for that year’s event, not far from the ski lift. A super-nice west-facing face, with lots of possibilities for going big off rocks and cliffs for those who are into that. I stayed firmly on the snow the whole way down, but it was cool to see the youngsters sending it off the cliffs.
The following day I did a ski tour on my own at a mountain called Monsas. It was a long tour and the couloir I decided to ski down was like an ice tunnel. That mountain was far from any sort of civilisation, and if I had fallen and hurt myself in that couloir, I would have been in big trouble. It made me think twice about what I was doing.
Push On, Push On…
The bike riding so far had been really nice with quite a lot of hilly terrain, but nothing as brutal as the first climb up Zombie Hill. I’d also had sunshine and blue skies every day. But, as I approached the fjords and the west coast, rain was forecast for the upcoming days. I was contemplating having a rest at this point – considering it had been non-stop riding and skiing for over a week now. However, the rain never came, so I continued on straight towards Myrkdalen, a small ski resort around 30km from Voss with some 400m of elevation gain to reach it. Nothing too serious and I made it up there without much of a struggle.
It was, however, the next stretch towards Sogndal that would really test me. Knowing this, I did a small tour in Myrkdalen (in whiteout conditions) then had a rest day there.
To reach Sogndal I had to continue uphill from Myrkdalen to ascend over a mountain pass before descending back down to the fjord again. This meant I had a massive climb ahead of me. Most mountain passes in Norway are closed during the winter because of massive amounts of snow and harsh weather. The upcoming mountain pass, Vikafjellet, is no exception, and once it opens in the spring there is always a chance there will still be snow on the road. This was playing on my mind as I made my ascent.
Approaching the top of the pass I was greeted with strong winds and definite patches of snow-covered road. I put on all of my ski clothing and decided to push on, hoping that the conditions and weather would improve once I got further down over the pass. Luckily they did, and after an event-free ride over the pass I made it down to the fjord and ended the day in a T-shirt and bike shorts! A surreal day and one that proves that in Norway you really can have all four seasons in one day.
I was now nearing the end of the trip and en route to the last ski destination of my trip, Hemsedal. But one more daunting mountain pass stood in my way. Separating the west from the east is the Hemsedalfjellet pass, open all year round since it’s an important route for delivering goods between the two regions.
