The Godmother of all couloirs

The Godmother of all Couloirs
When I first saw the clearly eye gripping white splitter that divides the rock walls of mountain Forholttinden into parts, I felt simply enchanted by it's perfection and beauty. 
It is truly a steep skier's candy and I love sweets!


What a name... A name that left us curious. A name that must have it's reason, but what about?
Was it the angle, the exposure, the commitment? Of course both Gorm and I was excited to see what "The Godmother of all couloirs" would offer us.

5 km along the shore takes you to the foot of the mountain

The adventure takes place on Forholttinden, a mountain on the Lyngen Penisula that you can see clearly on the other side of the Kjosen fjord when driving along the road between the Lyngen ferry ports Svensby and Lyngseidet. To access you either need a boat or you need to enter from the southern part of Lyngen, driving through Lakselvbukt village to Jøvik village, then walk along the shore.

Forholttinden mountain North face seen from the road 91 on the northern Lyngen penisula

Access
After about 1 h of walking along the shore, skis on the back back, you reach the foot of the mountain Forholttinden, 1469 m. When you stand under the rocky north faced wall it's easy to know where to go. There are simply not many options of possible ski lines here. A neighbor couloir "Valpariso", opened by our friends Andreas Fransson, Morgan and Bjarne Sahlen is another option and even tougher, but either way you are opt for an adventure in the game of steep skiing.

The Lyngen Alps book
The Godmother of all couloirs is mentioned in the recently published book "The Lyngen Alps" by Eivind Smeland and Sjur Nesheim. The two remarkable locals have been climbing and skiing in the Lyngen area for a lifetime and their book is their celebration to the magic landscape of Lyngen and a true gift to adventure seekers.

Buy at Friflyt shop or Amazon.

"The Lyngen Alps" offers route descriptions, beautiful pictures and inspiration the some of the best adventures for climbing and skiing in Lyngen.

I learnt that the mountain Forholttinden itself was first climbed in 1946 and the first skiing descent on the north face down The Godmother of all couloirs took place in 1989. Three Swedish steep skiing pioneers: Sten Qvarnström, Mårten Claesson and Petter Eneroth were the first.
The book hints about the amplitude of the adventure they had:

" To improve the level of safety, we brought a selection of helmets, however due to low budget, improvisation was necessary. I brought my old Jofa hockey helmet with a wire cage - and duct tape replacing a missing screw. Mårten borrowed Petter's tweed-pattern car racing helmet from the 60's. Petter treated himself to a nice and neat blue helmet, although designed for river kayaking"

- S Qvarnström, 2012, recalling the first descent

From the First Descent, old school style. Brave and talented pioneers.

Forholttinden seen from Tyttebærstinden opposite the fjord. The Godmother couloir marked

Skinning up the first 500m

We started climbing. The conditions were simply fantastic due to snowfalls the last days. The couloir was filled with deep fresh powder. I crossed my fingers that we would be alone. It was the day of the Skittentind randonné ski and downhill competition back in Tromsø and strategically my plan was that other candidats to ski the Godmother would be occupied...

After 300m of climbing through the rock zone, we got up to the snow and saw fresh boot tracks.
-Oh no, we are actually not alone, I sighed to Gorm...

 There were no tracks coming down so we had obviously a party ahead of us. Due to both risk from falling objects and the impact upon the snow, it wasn't the best discovery.

Ascending the couloir

As we came up to the altitude where the couloir starts to get narrow, two skiers came down. Two local young guys had got the icing of the cake and could tell us about loads of powder and a tiring ascent. They looked quite exhausted but seemed very happy as they skied down to the fjord.

"Well, at least, the snow sticks" I thought to myself as we continued our climb.

Gorm starting to feel far above the sea

Soon midnight sun
The good thing was that in comparison to the previous party, we were late and could enjoy the light. As the afternoon turned to evening, the sun moved along the sky. As we ascended, the couloir got filled with more and more light as the sun rays approached.

With a bit of luck, the sun would actually come into the north aspect of the mountain as we skied down. That was good news!

Enjoying those longer days up north now opens up for many possibilities. From the end of May we'll have Midnight sun up here in Lyngen.

It's a tiring activity too...

The ascent proved to be a tiring journey. At parts, we were basically swimming in fresh powder, sometimes up to the breast. It took us hours to get to the top and the climb felt endless.

It is 1300 vertical meters from the sea and up to the top of the couloir. The use of crampons and an ice axe can come handy, especially where the snow is firm.

At parts it felt like as if we were swimming up the couloir, sinking down deep in the snow

Finally up at the top of the couloir some 1300m up from the sea

We experienced all conditions of snow and as we reached the top, a feeling of accomplishment filled my body. It had been a long ascent and it was sweet to look over the edge and see the other side of the mountain. I had to remind myself that the top is only half way. Now it was time for the reward- to ski down in one of the most magnificient couloirs I had seen.

The expression "Earn your turns" must have been invented just here.
It was a pleasure to click into the skis and point them out above such an impressive surrounding.

The moment we have been working hard for, now comes the reward!

The Godmother of all couloirs

Skiing down the splitter
From the top followed 1300 vertical meters of skiing around 45º and up to about 50º on the sides when choosing the steeper sections. The snow was excellent and despite the earlier visit of the previous party, to the sides of the mid fall line, we could ski untouched powder. The best of it all was the fantastic light as the sun filled parts of our descent.

Gorm enjoys the ride

Skiing down to the fjord is ALWAYS a nice feeling, no matter where you are.

Commitment and safety
When choosing to commit to an adventure like this, you need to play your cards right. That means making constant evaluations to the snow pack, conditions and safety along your way. As we climbed up the couloir, we had been able to judge the snow and get a good over view over it's stability, the different layers underneath and any special dangers in the terrain that we could ski into on the way down.

Such an evaluation is mandatory, apart from the necessity not to choose to ski anything you aren't sure to handle. It's never good to fall when it's steep.

And if the day is not right, one must be able to accept that and turn around. When it comes to adventure skiing, the conditions are everything. We had perfect conditions this day, and we surely felt privileged to get the opportunity.

Gorm paying attention and having a good time

Gotta smile!

It felt like swimming on the way up, down it was a powder feast!

Sluff but not too much

At 22h we were back at the shore. The sun was about to leave the horizon and the sea was calm. Now I could allow myself to feel the accomplishment. I think the descent of "The Godmother of all couloirs" deserves to be among one of the most beautiful skiing moments I've had.

Gorm is exiting the couloir in a beautiful sunset over a calm sea

The couloir shined in golden yellow light.
Gorm looked up at at the tracks with a big smile and hinted about tired feet.  I was hungry because all food was eaten by 17h...

- "I'm happy we don't have to walk back in ski boots" Gorm said as we changed to sneekers and replaced the skis on the backpack. Let's go home!

When the sun hits a north face, around 22h in Lyngen in May

As we walked back to the car, we were accompanied by some 15-20 Harbour porpoises that were swimming through the fjord. I had never seen those animals so close before. In many ways, it had been a special day!

The Godmother of all couloirs has her reasons to be. It would not be fair to try and explain the origin, but rather allow each skier herself to discover and explore. Enjoy.

Where the Porpoises swim