SURFANDMORE

Valldalen

2011-03-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

Getting ready.
Lunchbreak. 700 vertical meters down !

Top of valldalen northwesterly facing flank.

Scenic...

Nice Colouir through the forest. Telemark style.

Actually there was a sketchy ice-fall at the bottom. If it had been much worse it could have been a problem. not a easy terrain at the exit of the run.

Another nice trip to the mountain. 4 Hours of powder slaying at the resort on sunday. A trip to a area we havent boarded before on monday. really big and cool cruising bowl,but unfortunlately the snow was kind of bad,and the hike out long..

Hunnedalen

2011-02-26T00:41:00.000-08:00

Tor Erik leading the way on his splitboard. way more efficient uphill than my snowshoes.

Opposite side of the hunnedalen valley. looks like its worth a hike !

T.E checking his line. It looks good !

A classic frontside turn by T.E !

Tor Erik and me decided to check out Hunnedalen Canyon the other week. Its only an hour drive from town,and our closest mountain area with good snowboarding. Theres even some really serious colouirs here as the sides of the valley is really steep. We found a more moderate,but still superfun bowl. Unfortunlately the snow was variable. it went from pow to crust within meters.. Still we were happy. we will definetively be back here soon. this time of year its even possible to do a quick one after work !

Side Off @ Y

2010-10-30T02:30:00.001-07:00

Pedro on his new quatro KT. seems to work fine !

Arnstein goes for air !

It gets glassy here. actually it can hold a wall much bigger than this !

This time of Year Y works once in a while. its a super nice point break, that holds big swell and often has a nice angle of the wind. This day it was kind of light slightly side off ! the waves were increasing in size,and just before dark.it actually became a classic day with solid overhead sets !

Jæren Wave 2010

2010-10-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sigurd in a high tabletop
Inge hits the lip.

Peter with the days most stylish turn ?

1. Ørjan Jensen
2. Thomas Wessel Svensson
3. Sigurd Espeland

Happy campers !

The Legendary Jæren Wave competition were on this weekend. This year comp. were the 25 th ! changing and kind of bad forecasts meant that there werent that many competitors this year. The day started without wind,but a nice swell provided some of us with some glassy surf after the registration. At around one oclock the wind started to fill in and during the warm up it was actually quite solid 5.3 wind with some 1 meter sets. pure sideshore. Of course in my heat the wind completely dropped to nothing and i spent the whole heat semi submerged or in the waterstart position. as i hit the shore the wind instantly went up to 20-22 knots again. bummed for a while but then it was decided to run the two first heats one more time. Had a bit more success and it was actually a split between me and another sailor (Peter) about who were the second sailor advancing. Got to sail a 5 min man to man heat to decide and apparently that was close as well, but since i cant jump and Peter throws forwards he got through. anyway pretty stoked that i was able to not completly make a fool of myself against better sailors ! Sailing in a competitions were fun as well. probably sailed about 10 % better than normal on the adrenalin rush ! Anyway everybody was having fun and mostly doing good. aerials,Tabletops,and forwards and stylish cutbacks were going down !

Windy sideshore @ X

2010-10-21T13:14:00.001-07:00

Peter with his signature one handed top turn. they were actually a necessity as the wind was 35 knots and he was on a 4.7..
Frank Nilsen top turns

Myself in a windy topturn on the flatter downwindpeak

Another bigger day here. nuking sideshore winds and some occasional close to logo sets. didnt take photos for more than 5 minutes. it was too much fun sailing ! got on a couple of bigger set waves but the wind was so strong that committing to a bottomturn felt too scary.. i was actually fully powered on my 4.0 and 79 liter board. being about 100kgs with the 6 mil suit means it was windy ! thats 21 liters of negative volume. actually it felt like sailing on a piace of cork.. maybe i will try to swap for a slightly bigger board.. anyway those lucky enough to skip work the following morning scored again ! its conditions every day now. its just pick and choose ;)

Volcom Codfish 2010

2010-10-17T02:10:00.000-07:00

This guy were doing some aggressive topturns.

Midface backside turn.

Nice athmosphere at the beach ! Volcom sponsored drinks and a huge pile of pizzas for the spectators as well !

The judges.

The annual Volcom Codfish is on this weekend. went out to Bore to check it out. very similar conditions as last year. it was ok conditions in the beginning,but then a onshore breeze filled in and messed it up. watched the three first heats and went up to Sele to check the surf. didnt look good anymore so i didnt go out. after surfing and windsurfing A LOT in September my arm is pretty shot again.. and next week theres some big days on the forecast ! better rest for that..

Rock & Refsnes

2010-10-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

Kilen in action

Peter tries a aerial on the inside section

Lone surfer at Point Perfect. Just downwind for the windsurfers.

More good days here on the west coast lately. the pictures are from Refsnes on Saturday. showed up early afternoon,and the wind looked funky,but the swell was up at Point Perfect. paddled out and had a fun session. its a good spot for my level. easy take off even when it has some size. a little bit flat as well,making it ideal for longboards. after a while i figured it would be nice to try some windsurfing. went out as the wind relly kicked in. Gusty 10-35 + knots of side off wind is a bit of a struggle.. however th waves were small so no problems with wipe outs. sailed as long as my weary arms could handle. got a couple of multiple turns waves out of it. all in all a good day !

Big day @ X !

2010-09-27T08:54:00.000-07:00

Peter does a aerial over Kilen. Acording to Peter K dropped in on his wave ;)

Dag is not afraid of heights..

Nice shoulder on this one !

Hansi in the pocket !

Scored a bigger day at X on friday. 4.7/5.3 and solid overhead in the best sets. sideshore and later in the evening side off ! Really cool that we get these bigger days once in a while ! this spot actually reminds me a bit of Maui. Raw powerfull waves that really jack up on the main peak. if you mess up breakage,swimming or injuries might occur ;) got some solid tumbles in the washing machine.. Sondre actually dislocated his shoulder ! as usual i got a bit defensive, could have charged more. also had bad timing. its kind of difficult to judge the waves here. well next time maybe everything comes together. at least i survived the wipe outs hope i remember that next time its big ;)

West coast weekend

2010-09-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Nice Conditions at Kvasheim pointbreak.Unfortunlately the wind dropped shortly after i sailed out should have been there a couple of hours earlier.. First time i sailed here,wont be the last though !

Kitesurfer going in deep..

Peter in a textbook aerial !

Frank on a nice one. friday afternoon 25-4o knots sideshore. some logo sets and heavy rain. typical norwegian wavesailing weather !

Been a decent start to the our main season,autumn, here in Norwaii. at least if you own a surfboard as well. been out most days in September so far. actually feels good with a couple of days of water now. back and neck is hurtin from all the paddlin.. seems like there is a high quality swell coming in the weekend ! hopefully there will be som wind as well before it gets too cold here.

Peniche,Portugal

2010-08-22T13:02:00.001-07:00

High Performance surfing, with sunset over the cliff in Peniche

My new girlfriend andd me ! shes 7.4 from portugal and got som nice curves ;)

Traveling buddy tor-Erik going DTL

baleal by night. peniche town in the background !

Indulging in some Serrano ham ! from this balcony we could check most of the spots in Baleal !

Sunset surf !

Tor-Erik waxing up his new Superfish !

Just got back from a 6 days trip to Peniche portugal ! as usual consistent conditions ! not much beats portugal when it comes to summer surf in Europe ( and windsurf). Huge atlantic coastline with the nice ocean smell in the air ! just fly in to Lisboa,pick up a cheap rental and hit the surf ! definitively not my last trip there. This was my third actually.

Quality summer swell !

2010-07-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

Is it legit or a drop in ?

Nice Lines all day !

Nice inside section here.

Incoming set...

Of course all norwegian waves are A frames ;)

This shady bunch of cows tried to cut of my retreat to the car. had to make a quick sprint and jump over an electric fence that at this moment is the only thing between me and certain death..

Norwaiis gold coast just got hit by a high quality swell with a 5 feet 14 sec peak yeasterday. this is a bit uncommon in summer but higly welcomed of course. a bad arm kept me out of the water but today i chansed it and went out. actually the swell was quite solid today as well ! hope my arm heals fast as there seems to be plenty action this summer and autumn with its deep lows are approaching fast !

Kitesurfin da waves,Norwaii

2010-06-30T09:43:00.000-07:00

Oskar sprays !

If these photos were taken 30 mins later the light would have been even better ! just love the saturated warm colors and pinkish hue we get in the evenings ! should pay more attention to the light in my photos.

Tor Erik is lining up with a bigger set ! He is one of the kitesurfing pioneers in Norwaii. he is extremely picky with he conditions and basically only kites when its sunny and waves ;) still he somethings left in his muscle memory ;)

Martin "strapless surfy style" !

These pictures are from 19.06. when all the windsurfers had left Sele 3 of my kitesurfing buddies showed up. they went out with their 8 meters and ripped the waves. it might not look like it from the photos but a lot of people were a bit let down by the wind especially. those that chose to go out further south actually scored logo high 4.7.. a bit bummed i missed out on that,but still it was a nice day out at the beach !

Anyhow im considering taking up light wind kiting now. i have a 6.7 shortboard that i might be able to mount straps on and use as a kiteboard. some of the wave oriented kiters actually use more or less stock surf shortboards. will look a bit into this. anyway i can use the kite in winter on snow.

Some shows

2010-06-22T08:22:00.001-07:00

John olav Nilsen & Gjengen is one of Norways top rock bands now. they debuted last year and quickly got popular. songs about being young,drunk,broken love,being from a suburb and so on. these photos were taken with my surf lens a 300 mm F4. used a monopod and fired away from the gallery. one in 30-40 shots were usable.

jaga jazzist.

One of Norways more iconic rock guitarists Petter Baarlie. here with Valentourettes

Hypertext from Haugesund. if i remember correctly these photos were taken with my old manual Yashica 135 2.8 lens. picked it up for 35 euros with a canon adapter. it performs niceis fast and i really love the 135 mm perspective !

Singer/songwriter Æ

Swedish rock legend Thåstrøm.

From 12 points Jazzfestival

Wavy Weekend !

2010-06-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

Enjoying myself ! another 4.0 DTL day. photo sigurd klippenberg

Martin starting his ride

Frank always gets air !

Andreas is eying up the lip. not bad for a freestyler !

Dag sprays. Friday evening. the best part of the weekend !

Table top

Sigurd bottomturns on a good sized one

oskar does good in the waves also

Another fun weekend here on the west side. not quite as epic as forecasted,but those that scored Friday should be happy ! sailed owerpowered 4.0 in good sized waves friday evening ! Really good times over here now. im on the lookout for a bigger freeStyle/ride board now to get out even more. lets pray that the big high pressures dont come down on us this summer !

Summer & Sun in da waves

2010-06-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

P.Ø starts his ride

Kilen has found some flat water inside the point to spock his quad. Sele is a multitasking spot !

Erik T does his waveride nr. 6754 at Sele. if you dont catch waves. just shadow erik. he knows where they are..

Last photos is of me. thanks to tormod for taking them. despite being knackered from an heavy week at work i got a few fun ones !

Woot ? is it possible too top turn with a single fin ;)

The good wind from the north keeps coming the western coast of Norway. had my first session in my 3 mil summer suit as well. INCREDIBLE nice to shed the "winter fur" ;) Today i actually DID NOT sail !! too much sailing lately and resting a bit before what could be a new big weekend. stay tuned !

Homespot action

2010-06-13T01:36:00.000-07:00

Some sets had a FUN size !

Not sure what Peter was trying here. from the beach it looked like a backie attempt of the lip ?

On some of the waves you had to look up from the ground to spot the lip :) love that feeling !

Nice little aerial !

A big wind forecast got the norwegian wavesailors exited. lot of speculations about where to go. i ended up at our bread and butter spot Sele 20 mins from my flat. pretty good decision i think. almost head high and i 3.7-4.2 winds !

Windy roadtrip

2010-05-27T10:33:00.001-07:00

Nice little aerial !

Small wave,big spray !

The waves grew bigger

Lista has something for everyone. freestyle inside the harbour and waves on the outside

Gotta love spring/early summer in Norwaii when everything starts to turn green and colourful !

Drove the surfmobile down to Lista again this weekend. scored some really good conditions ! sailed 5.8 and 90 l on saturday. sunday the wind kicked in big time. 4.0/4.7 on my small board.

Monday turned out to epic ! from early afternoon it was full power 4.0 with building waves ! early evening the waves increased even more and i scored a really good session in chest/head sideshore up to 3 turns a wave ! everything fell together, the sail was perfect,got a wave almost every time i sailed in. evening sun and big rolling sea swell to jibe on out the back ! man i love that place when it works !

It was a big turnout of sailors probably close to 30 guys and girls and everyone was having a blast ! some had their first sessions after a horribly unwindy 6 months for the east coast sailors.

its gonna be quiet for a few days now. actually i need that. been sailing pretty consistently for 2 and a half months now !

Windy times # 2

2010-05-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Einar driving his Quad through a bottom turn. summer time sized waves.. the day after was a tiny bit bigger.
Stian got his vulcans sorted.

Not the worst place to be waiting for wind ! downtown Borhaug, surf city

Andreas launching inside Borhaug harbour. for freestyle this is probably as good as it gets. world class wave breaks in the area as well..

Rigging down at pisserenna after a good session !

Been a good May month so far. sailed every other day and it looks like its gonna be windy for a week now ! spent a few days down at Lista this weekend. Scored a couple of days with fun smallish wavesailing ! Sunday was the best with waves up to chest high and i was actually getting the feeling i was wave sailing on some of them ! gotta be happy whith what we get this time of year ! windy today as well but i might just rest.. Its good times right now appartment is full of wet gear spread around. the car is messy,clothes smell of neoprene and the muscles are sore ! keep it coming :)

Windy times

2010-05-04T12:12:00.001-07:00

Erik destroys da lip

Peter in a textbook Side On bottumturn

We just had a 4 day spell with Northwest winds here. Our favourite direction in Summer. it just accelerates down the Norwegian west coast and behaves like the wind in more well know spots with "Trades" Saturday had the biggest waves and the strongest winds. 3.4-4.5. The temperature in the air and water is at the moment sub double digits in Celsius.. Feeling a bit surfed out at the moment actually. Its gonna be quiet for a few days now, but the weekend could amount to something ! Pray for windsurf !

Last days on Maui

2010-04-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

Boujma in a high stalled forward

This is a big wave. JP shows whos the boss

I remember Mark Angulo going for his mutants a couple of years ago. he didnt land that many then. now hes doing them consistenly (landed this) and also clew first. saw him land one up at middles where he got this incredible lift rotated perfectly and landed fully planing back on the face with a bang that could be heard all the way up on the cliff !

Yes,once in a while its actually nice to do something other than windsurfing. One of Mauis many waterfalls.

The rocks at Hookipa has seen a lot of trashed gear over the years..

Had to take two days of the water 4 days ago. My right arm was shot.grabbing things and lifting a waterbottle hurted. Think it was a good decision cause the last two days i could sail for hours perfectly powered on my 4.7 with side/side off head high waves. racing down the line and scoring 5-6 turns a wave :)

Was a expensive last day however as i catapulted through my sail. went to the hot shop and traded it for a used one and back on the water in 30 minutes :) After the last session i went to the check in and got robbed by Delta. 600 US !! 1 board 4 sails 2 masts and a boom. packed in 2 bags. 300 pr bag (piece) One of the bags were 2 sails rolled together in a sail bag. the answer to my reasoning were "its all about pieces now,its a la carte,its very expensive,can i have your credit card" Man,if you plan to use Delta,travel light.. I wont travel with them again..

Maui Weekly 5 #

2010-04-18T23:16:00.001-07:00

Crazy photoshoot action at hookipa Today. it hasnt been Photoweather for a week and all the teams were eager to get shots of the 2011 gear. a lot of guys went on the rocks as well. a friend ended up breaking his mast in 3 pieces and had to pick out a big rock from his board !

A picture to show the weather on the nort shore the last week. onshore,cloudy and crap waves. a bit like Norway actually ;) this day however i sailed sunny southshore fully powered on a 4.7 !

Some southshore atmosphere !

A telltale sign that the south is working. the smoke from the sugar factory heading straight down the valley.

Kiter on the west side. too light to windsurf there this day.

Big swell at Hookipa ! a welcome sight after a period of semi flatness !

Something for 2011 ?

Been a bit up and down with the windsurfing last week. mostly Kihei bump and jump and small waves.Cloudy and onshore on the north shore. Got a session in bigger waves at Lowers yeasterday,and the wind has switched back to sideshore with a swell to match ! unfortunlately my arm is really sore. hope it only needs some rest,so i took a day of the water today. sat for 3 hours watching the action at Hookipa and working on the suntan.

as most will know theres some problems with the airtraffic to and in Europe. inconvenient as im flying back home in 3 days.. Im kind of hoping i can change my ticket for free and wait it out here on Maui.

Maui Weekly # 4

2010-04-12T00:32:00.000-07:00

Timo forwards at maui sunset

Ripping surfer girl !

Timo can rotate backwards as well.

Nothing wrong with the rigging facilities at Maui Sunset !

Want a single fin or twin or quad ? Fanatic got it for 2011 !

The guys from new Zealand thats staying at Rainbows now.

Ricardo rips at lanes !

Above picture is Junko from japan. she rocks !

Been a little bit of everything this week. Sailed Lowers,Uppers and kihei. been wanting to sail Hookipa,but the wind has just been to light when ive been there to check it out. too bad as theres been some nice waves there. the light offshore winds keep them glassy i guess. Hookipa is also a wave magnet and picks up the most waves when the swell is smaller.

I had a cool private lesson session with Matt pritchard the other day. i wondered what we should focus on (most would probably choose wave sailing) i considered this but i can do a crappy version of bottom and top turns so i actually chose Tacking which i basically cant do on a wave board at all. I sailed with Matt shadowing me for 10 minutes and he meant we should focus on tacks,outside jibes,jumps and waveriding. we sailede uppers where all this is possible. Matt is a good coach and he sees everything you do wrong. actually my tacks and the other stuff improved during the two hours ! it was also a very good push to try to get out of the bad habits ! wish i could afford to always have a couch !

Today i was hanging out waiting for the wind to kick in at hookipa. it never did, so i drove over to maui sunset which had powered 4,7 and small ramps ! a 10-12 knot breeze with some north in it usually means that it gets funneled through the valley.

The forecast for the next few days is a bit weird, but knowing this Island is a big wind machine im predicting that there will be sailing somewhere !

Maui weekly #3

2010-04-05T23:21:00.000-07:00

Kai Lenny and his boss having a photoshoot ( and a blast) at lanes

Rainbows everyday here. sometimes you see them in the spray on the wave in front of you as youre dropping down a beauty !

A GPS company supplied a few sailors with Gps and the goal was to get as high as possible ! not sure who won,but Camille Juban and Levi Siver did their best !

This was a huge day. Jason Polakow went out at Hookipa and big wave sailed in the Channel between Lanes and Hookipa. usually a "safe" passage out.. this day a few guys sailed Jaws. actually went down there to check but it must have been the wrong time of day.

Had some big swell at Lowers a week ago that slowly faded out. luckily theres been a big windswell thats kept the reefs from going totally flat. been sailing lowers and Kuau this week. sailing is slowly improving and i have now sailed something like 17 days in a row.. could probably use a break but when its windy and waves what can you do ;)

Quatro Tempo twin 84 test

2010-04-01T00:53:00.001-07:00

pictures from a nice bigger day at lowers. the place i sailed the most on maui. regarded as one of the best spots anywhere to learn sideshore waveriding !

Did a unscientific test of a Quatro Tempo twin board today (fast rocker "onshore" twin" . kind of windy 4.7 and some overhead sets. on the beach it felt a bit heavy but this isnt really noticeable while sailing it. its almost the same volume as the quad i tested a couple of days ago. but it felt slightly less boyant. early planing was no problem and in a straight line it felt just like a single fin ! very good upwind performance as well. almost as good as the quad. On the face it was quite fast going down the line but in some situations it felt borderline stiff. its snappy of the top. but it feels like it turns more on the tail than the rails. not quite as smooth carving feel as the quad. all in all i found it a good board. very easy to sail !

Btw. the evening session today was magic. from 5 it was only 7-8 people out. and the wind mellowed down to perfectly powered 4.7 ! ¨rode wave after wave into the sunset !

I talked to the guys at Hi tech about my session on the quad and how i felt it a bit slow on the face. what they told me is to set the mast foot slightly further forward and also lean really forward into the bottomturns. in my session i noticed this myself. the times i got really forward the board really shined ! or the speed will be yin & yang as John put it :)

Maui Weekly # 2

2010-03-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

Mark Angulo doing his thing at Hookipa!

Commited topturn !

This is a tweaked aerial !

Mid wave 360. he landed this perfectly back on the wave !

Robby in a backwinded bottomturn at Lanes !

Kinda high..

Honolua bay. its got several tubing peaks that link together in big swells,making this one of the best right hand spots in the world. This day "Da cave" was firing. difficult to find a good angle though..

Enjoying non stop windsurfing action here now. its blowing 5.3 or 4.7 every day.. sailed Lowers/Kuau/Kihei this week. mostly its been really good wavesailing. not being a very good wavesailor i always need a few days to get going and finding the balance in the bottomturns. its coming more together now and ive even banged my board into the lip a couple of times !

Today i was sailing lowers testing a Quatro quad board. on the first few runs it didnt really feel that good. kind of slow both straight lining and on the face. lowers is kind of a slow wave on smaller days though. the wind went a bit crazy so i waited it out and went out late afternoon. got more used to the board. still kind of slow (or feeling slow) but it really flies upwind ! the wind swung a bit more side off and the waves got more glassy. got a few nice ones,and the board started to work better on the face. not really fast going in to the turn but it keeps speed really well in the topturn and its really easy to link turns ! couldnt stop sailing and left the water totally exhausted and happy at sunset !would like to test the board a bit more !

Tomorrow theres gonna be a huge swell at possibly warning levels (kind of Jaws level) with absolutely nuking winds to go.. actually theres forecasted nuking winds for the foreseeable future !

Maui Weekly # 1

2010-03-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Beatiful Southshore left

What Kihei looks like with a advisory level south swell ! starboard tack side off !

Hookipa

The hawaiian way of taking the dog for a walk.. fun stand up surf at lowers !

Kuau first day i was here. mast and a half ! just a few guys out. i was sailing Lowers. solid logo there.

Finally back on da island ! as usual its been great so far. Windsurfing almost every day and just relaxing and enjoying the perfect climate. The hawaiin islands have been bombarded with swell this winter and it just seems to continue. plenty of swells on the horizon for the north shore and the south shore is beeing hit by and advisory level south swell at the moment. even Thousand Peaks had solid overhead waves ! The weather on the north shore has been a bit weird with clouds and showers and light winds. luckily Kihei has deliwered and we even had a fun wave sailing day there on the south swell ! resting day today since i have a wound on my knee i got the first day. it feels like it needs some time out of water. from tuesday/wednesday it looks like there will be a good tradewind pattern. Pray for windsurf !

Fjols til Fjells # 2

2010-02-10T07:02:00.001-08:00

Another succesfull trip to the mountains last weekend. freeriding in half decent powder at the resort on Saturday. used my local knowledge to find some small lines and patches of untracked snow. a bit worried that its getting more and more crowded at my resort of choice..

Well good thing i have gotten into hiking with my snowshoes. this winter ive had so many good days and its still early for that kind of mountainering ! wasnt sure where to go on saturday,so i kept it simple. just hiked the face next to the hotel.good choice as the snow was not bad at all ! also my new gear for the winter is working nicely. used my New Rome Anthem all mountain board this weekend and its a worthy replacement of my beaten up old Burton Custom (classic model! !)

Decided to try a directional stance after riding duck for 3-4 years. after almost killing myself in the forest i quickly changed back again !

Seems there a small dump early next week as well. all is good !

Fjols til fjells !

2010-01-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

Otto in forestpowder. B/W weather on Friday..

Venke enjoys the POW !

From our snowsearch on Sunday. we had to abort one hike,cause the place was destroyed by th wind. instead we found this spot. kind of a natural halfpipe actually. from our starting point up on the hill we saw the face were we should have been. next time !

Just got to love the powder filled mountains,so much fun to be had !

Deep & Steep !

2009-12-31T08:14:00.000-08:00

Our playground the last few days !

Oskar gets first tracks

Simon gets airborne ! he did the obligatory "telemark" landing as well !

Caroline gets air as well !

3 days in a row with sun and powder ! will remember these days for a while ! thanks to the Haukeli powder hookers crew for the company ! the best people to hang out with !

Powder to the people !

2009-12-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

Simon missed his line a bit.. he was aiming for the snowfield to the left.

Power turn !

More of the same here ! sun and powder ! battling a touch of cold at the moment,but when its this good i just have to get out there ! not too often we get this stable conditions. most people are crammed together at the resorts but fresh untracked lines awaits those who knows where to go ;)

POW WOW !

2009-12-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

Its all about earning your turns ;) 2 hours hike to the summit

Guiding

This is the top part of the face. we decented through the small colour in the upper right part of the picture

Montain safety. Simon is checking the snowpack.

Simon cruising

Caroline is in there somewhere ! actually this place has a bit of magic. it was windy for days from several directions. this usually fucks up the snowpack immideately,but here it was like it had been now wind for days ?

Simon drops

Soft landing !

Beautiful flank,soft afternoon light and a classy turn !

In the mountains at the moment. came up here a bit later than planned due to car problems,so i missed a couple of classic days. still good here though and its gonna be more of the same tomorrow ! luckily us Haukeli Powder Hookers have this place pretty dialled in now !

Hardcore wintersurf

2009-12-20T08:14:00.001-08:00

Punchy swell !

This wave is a A- Frame. absolutely one of the best waves around here !

Lunch !

-3 degrees. 20-30 knots of wind...

This guy suddenly appeared out of the heavy snowdrift.

I have seen this sight before. at Maui North shore ;)

Punchy swell and heavy offshore wind today ! we just had about 20 inches of fresh snow here and since its only flat fields around here the strong winds caused some heavy snowdrift ! the blurry images is actually because of that. i think visibilty where i was shooting went down to about 30 yards in periods.. I stayed ashore today. covered in more or less all the winter clothing i have ;)

Winters first snowboard trip !

2009-12-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

My house for the weekend. cool but cold building ;)

Its kind of an mountain hostel. staying is super cheap but anyone can show up and stay as well (several bunks) these friendly people just needed to borrow the kitchen, and we did some tour planning.

Unreal sunset on Saturday ! wood fired bathub and sauna at Haukeliseter !

The next world champ ? The resort on saturday. Sun and powder. the way it should be.

Conditions on Sunday wasnt that good. tracked snow and flat light. hiked a peak to get a untracked line. the board im carrying is a K2 Gyrator. a board with rocker (prebent like a surfboard) worked very well in powder !

Concerts Lately

2009-11-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

Moddi with band

Hanna von Bergen

Petru Popa

Bjørn Alterhaug Quintet

Detektivbyrån

Some of the shows i have photographed at Folken lately. I know that i might publish too much concert photos but its cool for me to scroll back in the blogs archive once in a while to see what i have been up to with camera.

Plenty of surf these days so there probably wont be long before there some surfphotos to post !

had a nice paddlesurf session at Sele today. uncrowded and glassy smallish waves.

More action at Spot Y

2009-11-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Top three photos are from today. not super big waves. not enough light for my 300mm F4 so i took out my new 17-50 2.8 zoom.

The B/W photos below are from the session on the 17.november. the ugly conversion from color kind of exspresses the feel of the conditions !

Had a short session after work today. Windsurfing here is a challenge now. shifting forecasts,not a lot of daylight after work,gloves,underarm cramping up and cold and rough seas.. conditions are good though ! tomorrow might be interresting close to 21 feet swell at 10 sec ! gonna check out a new spot,well at least new for those conditions !

Spot Y

2009-11-17T13:08:00.001-08:00

Epic forecast for Norwaiis Gold coast (Jæren) this week. actually theres been a lot of good windsurf/surf days lately. Spot Y`s beautiful lefthander seems to be the place ! today is was kind of regretting that i didnt bring my surfboard out to the coast. as the wind dropped early afertnoon. apparently the early birds had mythical tales of strong side off winds (we had to make do with a kind of light sideshore..)

However i rigged my 5.3 and went out. was underpowered and wasnt able to do much. cool to be out there though the ocean was kind of going up and down.. cool to see one part be several meters taller than another part etc.. well give me 1-2 ms more and ill show you !

BTW i think JOMPA the swedish surfbum needs some help.. he broke his only mast and trashed a sail today,his boom is fucked up and his harness is held together with downhaul rope.. he might be interrested in some second hand stuff !

The sequence is Erik Tobiassen. watch and learn..

Surf !

2009-11-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

Martin is looking to get tubed this winter !

Norways new hope in Rock played here on Saturday ! John olav Nilsen & Gjengen. Theyre good !

Have to be satisfied with this weekend ! Freeriding with my 5.3 on Friday and Saturday. decent surf today. well at least until i paddled out and it dropped.. nice photoshoot though ! good to spend some time at the coast again. been a lot of work commitment lately. Planning a long christmas vacation. looking forward to that !

De Lillos @ Folken

2009-11-07T01:19:00.000-08:00

One of the "Dinosaur" bands of Norwegian rock played Folken the other day. theyre recent records have been really boring,but live they were better ! as long as they did their more rock oriented songs. would be cool to see Lars side project "the Young Neils" visit Folken though. A Neil Young cover band !

W.A.S.P @ Folken

2009-10-28T11:28:00.001-07:00

Blackie Lawless and WASP played Folken last night. These guys were huge in the traditional heavy scene in the eighties,and they have kept it going. actually they sounded surprisingly fresh.not bad if you like the genre. im glad that "Grunge" came along and kicked heavys butt in the early nineties though..

Motorpsycho @ Folken

2009-10-23T11:36:00.001-07:00

Motorpsycho played Folken the other day. their a Norwegian Prog/Psychedelia/Grunge band thats been playing for 20 years now. I used to listen a lot to these guys about ten years ago. theyre a no compromise band and actually released their 20th anniversary album on vinyl only !

The show was really good. they played really tight supercool heavy rock music ! incredible smooth sound. volume and production were perfect. less vocal than i remembered,but the vocalist cant really sing so.. just kidding Bob Dylan cant sing either but his songs are amazing non the less. have to check out motorpsychos newer work now !

More Volcom Codfish

2009-10-21T13:24:00.001-07:00

Heres some more Pictures from the Codfish. Not too often i get to shoot good surfers in half decent conditions and perfect light here in Norway.

Had to take a day of the water today as well. surfed or windsurfed everyday since friday. the thick suit and temperature takes its toll on the paddling muscles. Ill probably go surfing tomorrow. there is a windforecast but its kind of really offshore at the interresting spots so i think the conditions will favour paddlesurfing. probably throw the windsurf onto the car just in case !

Spot X & Volcom Codfish

2009-10-18T09:37:00.001-07:00

Been a really goodweekend for Windsurf & Surf here in Stavanger. Friday we sailed a place called spot X in sideshore 3.7 -4.2 and over head high waves in some sets ! Saturday and Sunday we had good waves. The Volcom Codfish competition were on at Bore on Saturday. Not sure who won but there were people from Portugal and Hawaii doing the contest. Took some pictures of the surfers and beachlife. Looks good for both wind and waves this week as well ! All good in other words !

Sideshore Superfun at Sele

2009-10-12T13:00:00.001-07:00

Erik T. is on another level,pulling aerials,while us mortals are struggling to keep up the speed through the turn !

Spray were thrown up today :)

was able to leave work early today. due to some misunderstandings a lot of people turned up and my boss wondered if i would like to leave early, knowing there was some wind and swell on the forecast i wasted no time getting out to the coast ! Sele delivered steady 5.3 winds and some good waves. got a couple of turns that at least felt fast ! the winddirection was very nice today. more or less straight north = sideshore ! nice way to start the week !

Oh yeah, i had epic surfing at Sele on Sunday as well. almost head and superglassy. were a few people out as usual,so i checked out the lefthander. Had some progress taking of to the left !

I was a king @ Folken

2009-10-10T03:39:00.001-07:00

More female rock guitarists ! This girl rocks ! She is also lead singer/guitarist in Harrys Gym that played later !

Frode Strømstad has all the rock moves dialed in !

Triple concert at folken yeastrday I was a king/Bygdin/Harrys Gym. Actually some of the members play in each others band. wasnt "working" for folken so i just shot i was a king,and concentrated on drinking beer.. I was a king is hugely influenced by Teenage Fanclub/Dinosaur Jr and the bands on the Creation label. their show was a bit "slow" they didnt get much response from the audience which kind of wasnt with the bands. well still a nice evening !

Theres some wind on the forecast for Tomorrow. hopefully there will be som sailing !

Petter Wettre @ Grottene

2009-10-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

The soup Jazz Lady !

Wednesday is Jazzday at Grottene with Blå Trå. This time Petter Wettre played. one of Norways best saxophone players in the Coltrane tradition (the coolest jazz style !) He had a workshop in stavanger earlier in the day,and picked out a few guys that would play with him during the concert.

By the way, the Blå trå shows cost 50 NOK the get in, 30 if youre a student, and you get soup ! very cheap culture experience,also there was a open mic show upstairs at folken, some of the artist that i have seen there is REALLY talented check it out next time. the open mics are free as well !

Big Low & Jæren Wave

2009-10-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

this weekend we got hit with a big low. strong wind and big waves. unfortunlately the wind has been a bit onshore and the swell a bit stormy(40 knots on Sunday). anyway it was enough to arrange the Jæren wave contest. its been arranged for well over 20 years, and its the biggest wave event in Norway. i contemplated signin up for it, but i have to admit i chickened out.. too tempting with long weekend breakfasts and i would probably only get to sail one heat pr. day..) i have a lot of respect for the guys that go out and rip here in the big autumn/winter lows. usually its strong gusty winds,rain,hail and stormy swells..

i sailed a bit less exposed spot this weekend,but it was not super good. the wind was up and down,and i broke one 5.3 and a nice one year old 90 % rdm,while rigging ! was stupid enough to insert the bottom part upside down..

I tested sailing with my 6mm surf suit today and it worked a treat ! super warm and comfy. last year i had problems with my cramping up my arms,but it must have been the gloves that was the problem. will test it a bit more.i only took pictures for a something like 30 mins from the contest if anyone is wondering were that big aerial or the final heat pictures are ;)

Pinhole Photography

2009-09-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Selfportraits. Iso 1600 30 sec. could have used lower ISO but wasnt able to figure out the long exposure settings.

" Productphoto" of my two new sticks for winter ! The board to the right is a rocker board, made for powder. Cant wait to take it out on a deep day !

The Pinhole lens

This is the stuff i used to make it

Made my own Pinhole lens the other day. its one of the oldest photo techniques,also known as Camera Obscura.you can buy film based Pinhole cameras, but its also possible to make your own for a digital. Cut out a piece of cardboard rougly the diameter of the lensmount. try to find the center and cut out a 1*1 cm hole. cut out a piece of soda can thats a bit bigger than1*1 and sand it down a bit to make it thinner. use a small needle to punch a hole in the soda can aluminium. the thinner the sharper the lens ! Tape the aluminium "optics" to the cardboard. Tape the lens to camera body ! put it in manual and expect long shutters ! mine seems to be about the same focal as a 35mm.

also check out this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura

Healingforce & Jamsessesion at Grottene

2009-09-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

The concept "Blå Trå" have opened again at Grottene. Its a really good concept with low cover charge and free soup ! First Healing Force played a completely acoustic set,and later there was a jam session. they played accoustic which means that the cameras shutter will sound a bit loud. Had to time the photos with more up tempo songs.. It was a seated show as well so i couldnt really move a round in front of the stage either. Dont want to mess up the athmosphere too much ! The light was almost non existant,but at least it was constant.. used Manual and ISO 3200 with 1.8 aperture. this was enough to get a shutter of 1/50. Underexposed.. messed around a bit in postprocessing to try to make the dull photos a bit more interresting,and to try and learn something. feel free to comment !

Micropops & Superfamily @ Folken

2009-09-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

Got to shoot another show at Folken Yeasterday.spending the morning with Breakfast,coffe and postprocessing ! planned a early morning surf adventure as there is a good swell forecast,but got reports from the coast that the waves were non existant(actually we had 5 days in a row wih 10-12 sec. swell !)well a prolonged Sunday breakfast isnt that bad either !
The pictures from the show turned out to be a bit dull with the usual smoke/noise filter and bad color redention however i always shoot in RAW format and work with postprocessing. If you have a DSLR i would recomend that you use RAW. lots of room to tweak white balance,and you get picture files thats more robust to tweaking than JPG . Did the usual converting to B/W which is a lifesaver for dull concert photos. applied some different color filters to the pictures which definitively enhanced them ! all the above pictures were "developed" with DPP a program that comes FREE with ALL Canon DSLRs ! a good program to for RAW converting and postprocessing. it does all the basics. check it out if you dont already use a similar program ! I would say its three rules for good picture quality.
1. Use good optics ! fixed focals gives most "bang for the buck"
2.Shoot in RAW !
3. Learn a basic postprocessing program. the free ones like Picasa and DPP are a start.

Sele delivers Da Goods !

2009-09-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Went down to Sele on Saturday and was greeted with a miserable sight,bit of rain and really onshore. waited in the car for about 20 mins and then the sun broke through,the wind kicked in sideshore ,and the waves started to look interresting ! actually the conditions exeeded the forecast,which unfortunlately doesnt happen too often around here. Went out with 5.3 but got overpowered almost instantly. rigged down to 4.7 and were fully powered ! the waves had a bit punch today,got a few but it was kind of one of those days were your timing feels a bit off. However im not complaining, even getting washed felt good ! been to little of that this summer..

The picture quality could have been better if i had turned of ALL the concert photo settings. forget to reset the exposurecompensation heavily underexposed pictures with a bit of focus problems. postprocessing helps though..

Casiokids @ Folken

2009-09-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

The Nu music festival is on in Stavanger now. lots of things going on on different scenes here in Stavanger ! Casiokids played Folken yeasterday. its a Norwegian Electronica act from Bergen/Stavanger thats popular in Norway right now. i think their a bit overrated,theres a lot of good bands in this genre in Norway so their up against some stiff competition ! however the audience really liked the show and there were lots of dancing and happy faces to be seen !

on the surf side theres a good wind forecast for the weekend ! might go down to Lista tomorrow, will follow the forecast.

Freestyle Kitesurfing

2009-09-06T00:58:00.000-07:00

After Sailing and shooting yeasterday at Sele i met up with a couple of my kitesurfing buddies at Sola beach. i had promised the guys a photoshoot. after they were finished with their kitesurfing lessons they hit the water and charged hard ! the lightning conditions were a bit challenging with the setting sun in front of us. i Also got a bit surprised with the speed they get in the rotating wakestyle tricks, difficult to follow up with the focus ! almost a bit like trying to keep focus on birds in flight ! i experimented a bit with BW and Sepia conversions in Postprocessing. turned out kind of cool i think ! Spent most of the day at the beach,what could be better !

Radical Action @ Sele !!

2009-09-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Cool day at Sele again ! Fully powered 5.3. the waves almost had some size tody,but they were a bit sloppy for some reason. maybe cause high tide. Still fun conditions !

Rock @ Grottene

2009-09-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Above two pictures is Rune E With Band

Patricks..

Royal Oil

AKKS had a kick off show at Grottene in the basement at Folken Yeasterday. 3 Local Bands were Playing. Royal oil opened,theyre really young,and havent developed their own style yet i guess. Next Act Patricks Played Loud Grungy/punky Hardrock that really impressed me. ithey could rival some of the more known bands in that genre ! Last act out were Rune Eilertsen with band. More mellow rock than the previous two bands. had to leave after a cuple of tracks though. Folken/Grottene have just opened after the Summer, and theres a few things happening there in the near future. Theres also a music festival staring here in stavanger in the next few days,NU Music ! definitively worth checking out some of the bands !

Kings Of The Fjord !

2009-08-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Drove over to the East Coast this weekend,since there was a forecast for Surf i brought my gear and spent a few hours at larkollen Saturday and Sunday. Its kind of the main venue for the Oslo Sailors and its a cool spot ! theres flat water on the inside and a wide fjord further out for freeriding. theres a couple of wave breaks and even a semi mythical offshore reef that gets sideshore conditions in the deepest of automn lows..

Sunday evening were spent at Rockefeller watching my old heroes Dinosaur Jr ! a really cool concert,and Rockefellers audience have probably never before been exposed to more loud fuzz guitar and "traktorbass".. my ears are still not working properly !

Salmon Fishing !

2009-08-23T04:36:00.000-07:00

Surfless weekend, so i decided to try one of the local Salmon rivers. Bjerkreimselva were kind to the fishers and a lot of Salmon was pulled up ! i only got one small, but this river houses up to 30 pounders so you can get some big fish here ! its a really beautiful and easy to acess/fish river as well. not too expensive to get a fishing licence either.

Theres even a chance of wind this evening,hmm not sure if im up for it tough..

BigBang @ Folken

2009-08-21T13:44:00.001-07:00

BigBang played Stavanger again last night. They must like it here i think its their third visit here in a year ! Maybe its because the leader Øystein Greni likes to surf ? the gig was a student party thats part of Fadder 09. a kind of get to know each other week, that seems to involve some binge drinking.. the athmosphere were really happy !

They used a lot of smoke on stage, which i find to be bad news for photos,but it was fun beeing there with the camera again !

Sideshore at Sele !

2009-08-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Erik throws a forward !

Erik is usually seen lurking around the point hunting waves with his evo 62 and 3.7. I was on a 5.3 today.. eriks biggest sail is a 4.7 !

Sondre is a competent sailor. He always goes big ! he does competetive racing as well

Sele gave us the usual mix of quite strong winds and small waves today. i went from underpowered to fully powered on my 5.3. I was out with my new (used) Goya 90 L 08 today. i have used the board for a couple of sessions on im quite pleased. it has a tad more float than my old 85L which helps in slow transitions and schlogging. it gets on the plane fast and feels a bit faster and lively than my stolen Da Curve 85 06. often here the waves are small and you have to use the wind and boardspeed to get some speed in the turns. i try to approach the waves going downwind with speed on these smaller days. i had some problems with railtripping doing so today, but im not sure if its the boards fault though __;)

anyway i hope it will be a good solutions a my big wave board. will use this board for travelling to DTL spots as Maui/chile. Hopefully it will hit Hawaiian waters this November !

Chile 2007/08

2009-08-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

One of the Swiss guys ripping Topocalma

Above pictures is from Punta de Lobos. not an unnormal size !

Windsurfing La Puntilla !

Sunset at Pichilemu surf Hostal !

Myself at Topocalma

Killian going big ! all windsurf pics by Jen V. Meteren

Bottom picture is Playa Topocalma

Not much to report surfingwise here on Norways west coast. the autumn lows havent arrived yet. i decided to post some pictures from my trip to Chile in winter of 07/08. Chiles must have some of the best and consistent surf in the world.. the conditions the pictures show were nothing out of the ordinary ! Unfortunlately the wind was kind of bad, and i only sailed abot 40 % of the days. might have scored some more sailing but i was sick from foodpoisoning/chilean bugs for about 2 weeks. also the surf was a bit too big for me on a ordinary surfboard !

However i scored some epic sessions at Playa Topocalma ! its among the best spots ive ever sailed. its situated inside a huge private Hacienda and they only let a few people in every day(keeps the crowd down. i have actually sailed there alone !).once inside you drive through to most beautiful scenery,before parking in the shade of a small forest sheltered from the wind. you rig and walk 15 yards to the bank of a perfect flatwater lagoon with waist high water and sideshore wind. here its possible to warm up and check your rigging before you hit Topocalmas perfectly peeling hollow fast point break waves with strong side off winds !

Travelling Chile can be challenging, but there are rewards.. i will definitively go back,preferably when my surfings gotten better.

Lista Pisserenna Sun Side DTL !

2009-07-26T03:32:00.000-07:00

Enjoying myself ! these photos are taken by Sigurd Klippenberg. hes a blogger too ! check it out here http://www.wavesandpowder.blogspot.com/ !

thomas wessel is a good rider. he actually threw a Goiter later in the afternoon !

Markus turning. Pisserenna is a rocky spot. keeps the kiters away !

Jørgen throwing up some spray

The weather was warm for a change !

Sigurd going DTL

Julys been a really bad month for windsurfing as usual. However there was a really good windforecast for Lista this Saturday. Lista is a really good area for windsurfing, and its usually pretty consistent and strong winds there. luckily its only 2 and a half hours drive from my place,so its doable as a daytrip. in the summer the northwest wind there acts a little as the wind in Maui or pozo. it gets a thermal kick and geograpichal acceleration and a 15 knots forecast can turn into 4.7 sailing.

With a swell its Norways Cabo Verde and Lista can throw up Starboard tack sideshore point break, over mast high perfection !

Yeasterday a good crew showed up and enjoyed 4.2-4.7 sideshorewinds,and despite a bad swell forecast in the afternoon, the ocean actually started to produce some really fun 3 foot faces !

Studio Fun !

2009-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Im member of a photoclub here in Stavanger and today some of us had the chance to borrow a photo studio fully equipped with flashes and studio gear. it was a really good learning experience for me, as i dont know much about lightning and the use of flashes. got a couple of half decent portrait shots.

Big thanks to andre for letting us use his studio ! You can check it out here http://www.studio88.no/ !

4.7 Side On at Sele with new board !

2009-07-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

The swedes can waveride as well !
Usual Swedish freestyle position

Erik is a really good sailor and surfer. Hes been spending a lot of time in WA, but handles starboard tack as well. he always uses 1m2 smaller sail than everybody else.

Sailed a spot called Sele today. its our "bread &butter" north west spot. its a point break with usually smaller but well formed waves. needs a ground swell to work well,but even on smaller windswell days its possible to practise some turning in mellow conditions. i was out on my new board today after some idiots stole my trusty 06 Da curve 85.. got a used 08 79 l now, and despite being a size smaller it seems to handle lighter winds quite well ( typical of the Da Curves)
my old board worked well in waves,but would stall and loose speed very easily if not pushed by a good wave (or good sailor) the 79 l seems to keep up speed much better in the turns, even if its smaller. it kind of floats on the rail through the turn ! seems to be snappier as well. quite happy with the new board, but i will be on the lookout for somethingh between 85-90 L as well.

Never Summer !

2009-06-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

Decent nr. 1 skiers right top bowl

Top part decent 2. skiers left top bowl upper part

bottom part decent 2

In Norway you can Snowboard year round. theres 3 summerski resorts and if youre willing to drive to some of the alpine ranges like Jotunheimen etc. theres Glaciers and permanently snowcowered colouirs for Randonne. my closest high mountain area Haukelifjell offers good summer boarding and after good snow winters theres good riding on offer until mid July. longer if youre willing to trek further in to the Mountains. this year its unfortunlately almost over due to heavy snowmelt. did have a good trip the other day though. this peak is called "Stavsnuten"

4.0 Sun and Sideshore !

2009-06-06T02:14:00.000-07:00

We just had 3 days in a row with 4.0 sun and sideshore ! the waves have been bigger at Sele,but it was fun and the good guys made the most of the conditions ! even the Norwegian born PWA sailor Ørjan Jensen turned up ! only downside were the temperature.. this wind blows down from the North and even in my 5mm i got a bit cold after a couple of hours. some guys were even wearing gloves.. still not much beats blasting over open sea fully powered on a small sail :)

Hayseed Dixie at Folken

2009-05-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hayseed Dixie from the US played folken on thursday. they play Hillbilly,redneck,banjo covers of classic rock tunes. The highlight of the show was their brilliant banjo cover of the Norwegian rock classic To Fulle Menn ! Performed with totally understandable lyrics !

Turbonegro & Kvelertak at Folken

2009-05-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

Really cool rock & roll show at Folken the other day ! my old heroes Turbonegro were playing. i have followed this band since they released theyre first 7 inch about 1990.. Turbonegro have kind of stopped realising good albums now but they have a good back catalog of "DeathPunk" classics ! the local band Kvelertak were warming up and they gave everything ! the light were better during their set as well. when Turbo entered the Stage they pumped out a lot of smoke which is bad news for photos.. anyway check out
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fpaalrype%2Fsets%2F72157618333329781%2F&h=ef2eb4fe20779a891655ea209443254c for some classic "rock Poses" !

Kosmonaut at Folken

2009-05-09T08:17:00.001-07:00

Took some photos for Folken the other day. its a jazz festival there at the moment. the band is Kosmonaut and they were playing in Grottene which is a really cool,intimate scene in Folkens basement. they also have a jazz conserts there about once a week, a string of shows called Blå Trå. its cheap to get in and lots of good bands !

Two days at the coast

2009-05-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Pictures above is from today. we had the the strange combination of beatiful weather and good surf ! from the forecast it looks like were gonna have a week with either surf or windsurf ! its so nice to be outdoors now as well. its daylight until about 22.30 and you can stay out until you get tired instead of cold !

Above pictures is from Saturday. Martin and i went out to the coast expecting great conditions due to the really good forecast. for some reason all the spots that should have been firing were really crap.probably because of a unormal high tide and a light onshore breeze. we checked every spot we knew of,and stumbled onto this wave that none of us had surfed or heard about before ! the conditions really improved during the evening,and just before dark,there were some reallly high performance waves coming through ! i just got punished,byt i stayed out for a couple of hours. Martin probably did four ! the swell these two days have reminded me that i still cant say i have learned to surf. didnt have much succes, but its still fun trying !

Surfin Weekend

2009-05-01T13:13:00.000-07:00

Whats better than a whole weekend filled with surf :) Today we had strong southerly winds and nice sunshine. its getting warmer in the water as well,and its probably well over 10 celsius now. scored 2 hours with 4.7 at a spot called X today. it is a point break, but today it was flat water on the innside for freestyle and nice ramps for some bump and jump on the outside. tomorrow a high quality long period swell will arrive. its gonna stay good for a couple of days,peaking late tommorrow with 15 seconds and 5 feet ! no wind with the swell,but plenty of good paddlesurfing !

Gaustatoppen

2009-04-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Gaustatoppen is one of my favourite mountains. this comes into wiev as you round a corner just before Rjukan. looks a lot bigger in real life !

Close up of the east face. the red line was our route down.

met Tron at the bottom and we stayed together. hes a really fit 50 year old. had a hard time following him both up and down !

The hike up.. close to 3000 vertical feet. actually the building on the top is part of a lift that goes up to the top inside the mountain. i think its a old military instalment. its open to public a few weekends late spring. took a couple of years ago. theres actually also big barrels of cognac stored in the top building ! apparently its labeled and sold as Gaustatoppen cognac.. theres also a tourist cabin to the left of the tower. parts of it is not locked in winter.

not sure how to delete double posted pics..

Tron is inspecting our route down

the beautiful west flank

This is the main Colouir on the west flank. its more exposed to the sun and has softer snow than the normal route down the east flank. only problem is that either you have to do a huge walk out at the bottom or climb back up again, which actually is the fastest way..

Nice wiev !

Trons first turn !

the snow was a bit hard.

Welcome to the mountains !

2009-04-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

My gear on top of Sveigen Colouir. wasnt able to get anybody out due to light drizzle and fog. anyhow i scored 800 feet of premium steep slush ! first time descent for me. this colouir is 35-20 degrees steep and starts where you park the car.

Linn eager to push on. Ålebu cross country course.

Otto paddling

Luckily otto remembered to bring "klister" this stuff is a life saver going uphill. prevents the two steps forward one step backwrds phenonomen..

Took a trip up to the mountains. the forecast was for sunny weather, but it turned a little grim.. of course as long as i can see were im going and the snow is soft im happy !

Easter Surfin !

2009-04-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

Enjoying my Easter holiday at the moment. decided to skip the mountains for the ocean, at least for the first part of the vacation. windsurfed yesterday and today i surfed one of my favourite spots here in fun conditions ! tomorrow and saturday the forecast is for strong winds !

Ingenting at Folken

2009-04-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ingenting played folken yesterday. its a local band that has a lot of songs of beer and women :) i found it difficult to get good photos cause they used a lot of smoke and that combined with a really high ISO setting is a recipe for blurry,noisy pictures. luckily black and white is a good format for concert photos, and a B/W conversion hides some of the noise. the lead singer also had a completely white dress that probably fooled my camera to underexpose a bit in some photos. i filled a 4 GB card and managed to scrape together a few half decent shots.

Rock n Roll at Folken !

2009-03-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

Had the chance to take some photos at our local club Folken. Big bang and dyssleksi teatret were playing. The show was sold out and the gig were great from both bands ! the light were even decent for photos. hard to hold the camera still tough due to the floor bouncing up and with about a foot..

Big Bang is one of Norways most popular rock bands,theyre playing solid classic trio based rock with good lyrics. Big bang has a local warm up band at every gig on their tour of Norway, the best act wins a record contract !

Surfs Up !

2009-03-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today the swell fore1cast was really good and i was looking forward to some quality surf ! however i have struggled a bit with a persistent spring flu and it just got worse during work. i realised that i probably wouldnt be able to get in the water but i went out to the coast anyway (working 10 mins from the spots rules !) the swell was solid, and it will probably be some leftovers tomorrow. the weather will be a bit worse though. at the moment its snowing.. hopefully i will get rid of this bug. i need to practise my shortboard surfing !

Windsurfing Premiere

2009-03-22T11:55:00.001-07:00

had my first windsurfing session of the season today ! it was at a spot called Sola and it was sunny with a steady 18-22 knts breeze. it was flat but still fun. The sail was perfectly rigged,the harness lines spot on and the first jibe of the season was a dry one ! my hands didnt cramp up to much either from wearing gloves. i use open palm Np gloves with one or two layers of "doctors" gloves under (vinyl gloves) Hopefully this season will be a windy and wavy one !

Nightkite Jamsession !

2009-03-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

At haukeliseter you can kite 24/7 ! the wind kicked in and the most eager kiters went out at midnight ! i decided to try and shoot some pictures. considering it was snowing a little and i only had a worklamp and the cameras built in flash im quite happy with the result ! i also had to use wide open aperture and the highest iso setting. had to work a little in Photoshop though. Of course it always helps to have Oskar as "model" ! oskar and Caroline did some crazy kiteloops further out in the darkness,but i wasnt able to catch any on the memory card.

Røldal

2009-03-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

Sun and Powder in Røldal today ! Lots of people but i got some good lines ! Pictures show Markus a.k.a "Lillklimpen"

Norwaii !

2009-03-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

Went out to the coast after work today. the surf was a bit better than i expected so i decided to take some photos. thanks to a vicious bug i have spent a couple of days flat out on the couch and im still struggling a little bit, so i didnt have the energy to paddle out myself.. conditions were good at a lot of spots thanks to the westerly swell and offshore wind. there was probably good wave windsurfing (side) a few miles south of this spot as well,as the land bends a little and the wind fills in. since i returned from hawaii i have only surfed a handful of times.. i could blame short days,the cold,lots of work and maybe laziness :) anyhow i have to get out more now. good thing its starting to warm up here eventually !

Sunny Powder Sunday

2009-02-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

This is the face i hiked on sunday. nothing wrong with the weather !

Caroline rigging up

Caroline and Victor crossing paths. only had my 50mm lens so no close up actions shots this time

Caroline cruising out in the beatiful snow

Yeasterday was a classic day ! blue skies and about 30-40 cms of fresh snow ! i decided to spend some time kiting as there was a little breeze. i can kite from A to B but i have always struggled a bit in deep snow, and unfortunlately i had a 2 hour struggle with the kite lines and bottomless snowpack. after crashing my kite in the head of an innocent bystander that got a little upset, i gave it up.. kind of bad cause it was probably one of the best kite days of the season so far ! went hiking with my Snowboard instead so it was all good in the end !

Powder Pumping !

2009-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Victor cruising through the forest on his Rhino chasers,Telemark style. actually this place is in the county of Telemark. a place with proud skiing traditions. you can read a little more about telemark skiing here http://www.sondrenorheim.com/

Andreas in the deep of it !

Im Spending the weekend in the mountains and were having beautiful winter conditions here now. lots of fresh powder and cold temperatures ! we went to Haukeli today and had good riding in about a foot of powder. the visibility on the top face wasnt the best, but it was good and fun forest riding ! after a couple of hours one of the lifts were closed,and the queue at the bottom just got too long. went and hiked a face in knee deep powder instead. the snow was so deep and fluffy i had too straight line it to keep momentum. if these conditions continue i have to get a bigger and wider board !

Pudderpløying i Haukelifjell

2009-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

Martin jumps everything. im guessing that if he finds a 15-20 footer with a soft landing his gonna do it. Note his choise of headwear..

Oskar is probably having vision problems here :) Common problem in steep & deep POW

The South and Southeast parts of Norway have recieved huge amounts of snow the last week ! some parts had about 4 feet of snowfall ! the forecast was for the weather to clear up today Sunday. There was no way i was gonna miss a powderfilled bluebird day.. So i did the usual thing. wax the board,pack the car,load the coffeemaker and set the alarmclock to 04.50 ! after a 5 hour drive (with stops for a ferry and nap) i met up with two members of Haukeli Powder Hookers Crew ! namely Oskar and Martin. theyre sensible people and know the golden rule of be there before the lifts open ! Today i Rode from 10.00 to 15.30 with just two quick stops for water and chocolate ! The riding was totally epic. A foot of dry POW and SUN !

Rock N Roalden !

2009-01-09T14:53:00.000-08:00

Simon loves mountains. it affects his driving here. his looking more out of the window than on the road..

This is the top part of todays riding area.

Victor

Myself. not the best picture quality today. we had some focusing
problems

Victor learned Telemark in record time last winter !

Unknown skier came flying by.

Happy campers...

Komlekoma !

"komle" the food of champions !

????

Today the Roalden area opened, and it had some nice soft snow. we found a really good off piste area with some nice small faces and forests. really good fun ! for the evening session we went to a resort we hadnt been to and it had a lot of potential ! really impressed with the riding on offer here. in the evening we had clear skies and a full moon. the wiev of the mountains were amazing ! really cool to go off piste in semi darkness !

Day 4

2009-01-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

Oskar changed from telemark (free heel) to Snowboard. hes the stylemaster anyhow !

Martin mid rotation.

Martin meets snow. how is it possible to land like that :)

Simon tweaks !

Weve been a little spoiled with the snowconditions so far on this trip. this morning the forecast was for baltic temperatures and 20 cm of snow during the day. in the morning i put some wax on my board that would have worked in Siberia to get a good glide in the bottomless pow. to our surprise there was mild weather and a light drizzle at the resort. we got so disapointed that we just left without even getting out of the car.. after an hour planning at the cabin we decided to go back and check out the top lift. i rewaxed my board as well. luckily the conditions were better than we thought,at least for a couple of hours. we had wet a layer of about 10cms of wet fun snow to play with. we built a small kicker and the other guys even dropped some cliffs. my legs unfortunlately wasnt up for anything radical today, but i managed to ride the face switch stance top to bottom (not too steep) after a while it turned to drizzle again and then rain.. the others are doing the evening session now. Luckily Victor is well again,and he is out skiing as well.

Pudder til Pungen !

2009-01-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

Oscar cruising. this spot had a little less snow than the rest of the resort , but it was untracked. i timed the opening of the top lift and got first tracks ! the rest of the crew came an hour later :)

Nothing wrong with the mountains here !

20 cm of fresh POW. first tracks ! 4.5 hours of powder riding today.only bad news is that victor is still sick after 3 days.