#8: Glacier climb

 We had a slightly warmer night of -25°C and together with a sun drenched campsite our start to the day was pretty lux. The lower part of the valley was a frozen lake over which we skittered before reaching snow again. We followed a pretty creek bed for a km before starting the 7km climb of Kokkbreen (glacier). Reindalen slowly receded behind us as the mountains ahead began to grow. The scenery was truly epic, this alpine wilderness is stunningly beautiful in every direction. Our lunch position was perfect with a light breeze in our backs and the sun in our faces. We could have lingered for hours but 2 hours of climbing still lay ahead. Mardi’s chosen route up the glacier was impeccable and we arrived in high spirits at the pass above Møysalbreen (glacier). The view to the north revealed an endless vista of mountains. Our hoped-for toboggan down the glacier wasn’t to be as the surface snow was quite deep and slow. We got a couple of small runs in, the last one taking us all the way to our camp at the base of the glacier. This was undoubtedly our most spectacular day that included the crux of the expedition - returning back over the pass into the Adventdalen valley system. I’m tenting with Isa tonight, our capable Swedish intern who grew up active in the outdoors and became a world orienteering champion. Eric Photo of our climb up Kokkbreen