Tromsø (Taking Trips to Make Friends to Take Trips With): June 29th - July 5th, 2023

Waiting for us in Tromsø were our friends Ellie and Cristobal. Ellie is actually from Wales in the UK, but Susan met her while they were both teaching English in Punta Arenas, Chile; Ellie met her husband Cristobal there as well, and somehow they've now moved about as far away from the southern tip of Chile as you can get on a globe. They were out working when we arrived but left us a key to get in and an adorable welcome message, which worked out really well because it gave us time to clean up a little. When you haven't seen someone for 7 years you probably don't want your smell to be the first thing they notice!

Life's too short for bad maps

Susan on the bridge outside Tromsø

There were no shortage of things to do, and unfortunately dealing with the fallout of our lost luggage was still at the top of the list. So our first day in town started with byzantine phone calls to the airlines (Susan's favorite), and then a shopping spree (Susan's second favorite :p). But it helped that Tromsø a) is by far the largest city in pretty much the northern two-thirds of Norway, and b) has a healthy population of people who do crazy stuff in the local mountains. Which means we actually found some things we needed, like a rope (That bit's pretty important to climbing) and proper shoes for Susan! Something to fill in the rather large gap between sandals and Gore-Tex hiking boots. They started as a nice, sparkling white, but didn't stay that way for long. I looked more and more for a kickstand but to no avail.

We did all these errands riding around on bikes, so Ellie and Cristobal also took the chance to give us a really nice tour of the city. Pro tip - get an e-bike, because Tromsø is full of roads that go up hills at about 45-degree angles. In the winter it would probably be a good place to practice self-arrest with an ice axe. In between the shopping we squeezed in some time at the local beach, and got a first-hand lesson in why the shore was so busy but the water itself was so empty. It might have been a rare hot day in Tromsø, but that water was cold! It took me a couple tries back-and-forth to get up to my neck, but Susan was having fun and hopped right in. We ended the day by attending a film festival screening summer projects made by students at the local university and then going back to have a home cooked meal and good drinks with friends.

At the beach in Tromsø

Ellie grants Susan a bit of e-bike powers to get up one of Tromso's steep hills

Having done a bunch of "responsible adult stuff" on the first day (if you can call it that, since it's all in the service of a vacation), and equipped with a shiny new rope, our second day in Tromsø was for climbing! Ellie and Cristobal drove us out (how convenient to not have to pedal everywhere!) to the island of Kvaløya. Cristobal and I oohed and awed at Blåmannen, with its gently overhanging 1000-foot north face, before we started on our way to climb at Lillebaugen, a peak with much shorter and more moderate (though very scenic) climbs. The approach was anything but, though! We'd already noted how much Norwegians prefer to go straight up hill, and that goes double for trails. Add the fact that they don't "build" a lot of formal trails (they all just get worn in from use) and you end up somewhere half-way between climbing a tree and scrambling up a cliff.

Hiking up to the climbing

Views back down to the ocean during the approach

The most dangerous part of the whole day came at the base of the cliff, before we even started climbing - I was scrambling down from where we stashed our food and dislodged a back-pack-sized boulder, pretty much pulling it down on top of me. According to witnesses I looked quite cartoonish bounding down the hill while the rock chased me, threatening to snap my legs off at the knees, but luckily at some point I had the good sense to run sideways and escape. I got away with only some scrapes and holes in my pants, although the boulder rolled over Cristobal's pack and absolutely destroyed his climbing helmet, but thankfully Ellie's nice camera was spared.

Looking up towards the climbing at Lillebaugen

Time to climb! Susan started up our line on the left while Cristobal began a harder route to the right. I think Susan must have been having a lot of fun because I had to radio her that she was almost out of rope - save some climbing for me! After three pitches of enjoyable and easy climbing (with no more rolling death blocks!) we reached the top of the cliff; our first Norwegian multi-pitch and trad climbing and some good info as we still got a feel for their grading system. Cristobal and Ellie topped out soon after, we rappelled down, and like on any good day of climbing the ropes got stuck, but Cristobal pulled out a few tricks and we managed to leave with the rope we'd bought literally the day before.

Susan and I at the top of the climb

Cristobal belays Ellie up the last bit of their climb

It turns out that us and our friends are old, because after climbing we spent the entire following day stretching, napping, and watching videos.

BUT, that set us up to have more fun sea kayaking the next day. If you're interested in rocks or water, Norway has you covered. Ellie drove us down to Sommarøya, and after swearing to the guy at the shop that she wouldn't let us drown he sent us in the ocean with dry-suits and boats (you have to have a certification to rent watercraft in Norway, and luckily Ellie's cert covered us too). Susan and I were in a tandem and Ellie had a single. The sky shone sapphire, the water shimmered clear and emerald, and we had a great time paddling around little islands, accidentally scaring birds, eating seaweed, and exploring tidepools. We headed back home for dinner; eating out in Norway is really expensive, but the silver lining is that you get a lot of time to enjoy preparing and eating meals with friends.

Looking across the ocean, kayaking around Sommarøya

Susan in the back of the kayak, because she's much better at steering the boat than me

The three of us together!

Taking a beach break on one of the many little islands

Having fun exploring around more little islands

Dramatic Kayak Photo

Hermit crab in a tidepool

Me in the front of the boat, trusting Susan won't run us into the rocks

At this point we were starting our fifth day in Tromsø, and even though it was so nice staying with Ellie and Cristobal it seemed like time to be wrapping things up. We wanted to do a little bit more climbing (a "half-day", if there is such a thing for me and Susan), but somehow ended up with another list of to-do's and errands to take care of before leaving town. I think we spent MORE time on KLM's website and phone line, trying to figure out which path in their labyrinth of kind but ill-informed customer service reps led us to recouping the now $1000 we'd spent replacing that bag. On the other hand, on our last stop of the day, in one last sporting goods store, I found a kick stand that fit my bike! The woman at the bike shop said it was the strongest one they had, but I'd certainly put it to the test... We continued to look a little homeless as I installed it in the mall's parking lot (but at least I had a coffee).

That night we went out for drinks and dinner, in what was supposed to be a celebration of Ellie passing a taxi-driving exam. New regulations meant that in order for her to drive vehicles as a guide for northern lights tours, she had to be qualified as a taxi driver. Unfortunately, other regulations meant that there were no properly registered cars available for her to take the exam with, even though she had the exact car that would have been used with the exam; Norwegians can be sticklers for rules.

My bike standing tall, all by itself! How convenient!

So, after 6 nights in Tromsø, filled with good food and strong coffee, we said our farewells and got on the bikes at the early morning hour of 11 AM to start a full day of riding. I think between the midnight sun and being on holiday, Susan and I had lost all sense of time.