Dovrefjell 4 - Back to Kongsvoll Station

Even though Meghan and Andy didn't make it all the way to the summit, they still had an amazing view of the surrounding landscape. Andy took the photo above from where they turned around, just below the cloud that descended over the summit. Meghan and Rolf on the way down the mountain, overlooking the plateau above our campsite. Back at the campsite, we were very fortunate to eat our lunch in sunshine - soon after it began to rain again. Our last glimpse of Snøhetta before being swallowed by the rain. Our second meeting with the musk ox was greeted with much less enthusiasm than the first meeting. It took an extra hour to circle the herd - no fun when you're tired and soaked! In the photo above, Tyler has just finished scouting for more musk oxen over the ridge. We arrived back at Kongsvoll station a little worse for the wear - Meghan was limping, Andy's cheap Coleman rain suit was in shreds, and we were all tired, soaked, and hungry. But in 2 days, we had hiked 26 miles, climbed a mountain, and seen a herd of musk oxen. Quite an incredible hike!

Dovrefjell 3 - Snøhetta

Because we were climbing the summit and hiking back to the train station in one day, we had set a deadline that morning: we would turn around at 10:30am no matter what. We couldn't miss our train home! With thirty minutes before the deadline, many poles to go, and progress slowed by snow, Meghan and Andy decided to drop back and let Rolf and Tyler make a dash for the top. After splitting up, Rolf and Tyler took off nearly running to reach the summit in 20 minutes. A radio tower, built by the Norwegian Army several decades ago, "graced" the summit. In addition, there was a variety of other military and building equipment strewn haphazardly over the rocks. Not the most picturesque summit, but Rolf and Tyler did get some amazing views of the surrounding landscape during short breaks in the clouds. Rolf and Tyler at the summit.

Tyler taking a photograph next to the stone base of the radio tower. Check out the rime frost coating the rocks - it was cold!

Looking down the summit. In this view down the summit, you can see the river valley and lake where we started that morning.

Dovrefjell 2 - Dinner in an Outhouse

When we reached the base of Snøhetta a few hours later it was STILL raining. Not just a light rain - a full-on downpour. There was no shelter to be found anywhere except for two cabins nearby for rent. But since we had no money we took shelter in the unlocked woodshed/outhouse instead!Inside, it was cold and smelled a little foul, but it was dry and we were very thankful for that! We even found a spare door to use as a makeshift table. During a brief lull in the rain, we made an attempt to hike another mile, but the wind had us on our heels and was only getting worse. Hastily, we set up our tents and played cards for the rest of the evening, listening to the drum of the rain and hoping our tents wouldn't get blown away.

We woke the next morning to silence - it had stopped raining and the wind had died down! The photo above is the view from our campsite to the cabins and woodshed/outhouse where we ate dinner the night before. As you can see, we didn't make it very far after dinner!

After a quick breakfast, we began the long climb up Snøhetta in the bright morning sun.

After a short climb, we reached a plateau with our first real view of the mountain. In the photo above, Meghan is pointing at the summit hidden in cloud.

As the trail dwindled, our hike became a scramble over rocks. Luckily, there was a series of metal poles guiding us to the top. After an hour of climbing past pole after pole after pole, it looked like we had reached the final pole only to discover another long line of poles over the next ridge - they seemed never-ending!

Dovrefjell 1 - Do I See a Musk Ox?

In early September, we embarked on a 2-day hike in Dovrefjell National Park to climb Mount Snøhetta ("hood of snow") with fellow Fulbrights, Tyler and Andy. The park is located in the central mountain range of Norway and home to Norway's only population of musk ox, imported in the 1930's from Greenland. We took a Saturday morning train south from Trondheim 125 miles (1.5 hours) to Kongsvoll station to begin our hike. The trail began at the confluence of two large river valleys and then ascended through a scrub forest and over an elevated field of heather (shown in the photo below). As we were crossing the field, Meghan spotted black shapes ahead. "Hey guys", Meghan said, "are those people, or is that a musk ox?"

On closer inspection, we saw that it was indeed a musk ox. But not just one, it was an entire herd of musk oxen, inconveniently browsing directly on our trail! Musk oxen are unaggressive unless you get too close, so we decided to head off trail and make a wide circle around the herd. This would not have been difficult, except for the thick, deep, and very wet heather.

After our long detour around the herd, we began hiking up a river valley that would lead us to the base of Snøhetta. Along the way, we saw a few more scattered musk oxen, but they were thankfully grazing on the opposite bank of the river. Phew!

In one section of the trail, the ground became very sandy and we walked right over a sand dune! Next time we'll bring our swimsuits and a volleyball.

Then, it began to rain.

NTNU in Winter

While we've been having a lot of fun in Norway, we have also been doing a lot of work. This blog is devoted to the place where we spend most of our time: campus! Rolf is a Fulbright exchange student at NTNU in Trondheim - the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. NTNU is home to 20,000 students, with over half studying technology-related subjects or the natural sciences. There are also about 850 international students on campus (including us!). It is a 1.5 mile walk (about 20-25 minutes) from our apartment to the NTNU campus - through downtown, past the Nidaros Cathedral, across the River Nidelva, and up a steep hill. In the photo above is a view of the main building on campus which overlooks downtown Trondheim and the fjord. The rest of the campus is located behind this building. This is the central courtyard behind the main building, but most of the buildings on campus are located in a large block beyond this courtyard. During Christmas break when the photo above was taken, the only people we saw on campus were a handful of professors, some janitorial staff, and other international students. Now that spring semester has begun, the campus is alive with students again. The tall tower in the photo above is where the Architecture Department and the Center for Zero Emissions Buildings (where Rolf works!) are located. For his Fulbright research project, Rolf is studying advanced exterior wall systems for energy-efficient residential construction in cold climates.

Rolf shares an office with several other Architecture graduate students from a smorgasbord of countries: Kenya, Tibet, China, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Peru - quite the international workplace! Rolf's cubicle is the one with the red backpack on top of the filing cabinet in the photo above.

While Meghan has no official appointment at NTNU, she was offered office space in the Biotechnology Department by one of her advisor's colleagues. She is very grateful for a place to work outside of the apartment! Both of the graduate students in her office are Norwegian and currently on maternity leave. While in Norway, Meghan is writing part of her dissertation on how hydrology and forest type affect the quality of dissolved organic carbon exported from peatland watersheds.