Gaustatoppen fabulousness

Saturday morning came with promises of sunshine and a day hike to Gaustatoppen, only a few hours drive away. 

Poor Hannah, she was already feeling poorly and the short 5 minute drive (in the rented Prius-which I'm a big fan of by the way) over to my friend's house just about did the girl in. So we drove Hannah home and Robbie (dedicated husband that he is) stayed home with her to keep her company. Claes and I decided to carry on. I quickly concluded that Hannah made the right decision because the crazy mountain roads just about did me in as well.

Here is Gaustatoppen. Notice the giant cloud exactly covering the summit. 

The sheep just stopped by to say hi and ask how it was going.

On the way up. It actually reminded me of the hike in Everest base camp. We started down below by the lake. It was 5 KM to the top and we made it in an hour and 40 minutes. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all.

Nice little hytte (cabin) at the top of the mountain. Inside we found hot chocolate and a place out of the wind. 

The final decent to the tippy tippy top. I was a little sad that we were basically inside the cloud so we could only see the view intermittently. On the other hand my great fear of heights might have stopped me scrambling across huge boulders along the ridge 5000 meters up from the valley below. 

We made it! I was so sad that Hannah and Robbie missed out (even sadder when I learned that she spent the day crying on my heated bathroom floors). 

You can just barely see me through the cloud. I'm sitting on the edge just a few yards from the very top (and desperately trying to stop visualizing a possible fall and therefore sure death). 

Just working on getting over my fears. Claes made me hang my feet out over the edge.

My poor boots hadn't been used in a very long time. Luckily they decided to wait to fall apart until the last 15 minutes of the hike. I think its time to purchase some new ones. I definitely plan to do a lot more hiking in the next 2 years. I am a huge of fan of Norway and I'm sure you will all feel the same way once you come and visit!