Today was a beautiful day, with nary a cloud in the sky. A typical crisp, clear autumn day where one could see for miles and miles. So I went for a flight up towards the Jotunheimen mountains, where I hiked last year. Some of you may remember the thread I posted with pics and all The air was completely still, even up in the mountains, and the flight was just stunningly beautiful, so I have to share this with you

The snow is steadily creeping southwards from the mountains towards the low-lying parts of Norway, but one still has to fly North of here for an hour or more at C172 speeds to find complete snow cover.

Approaching the steep rocky bits


Mandatory mug shot










This is the lake along which I walked the first day of our hike last year


Looking NW, one can see Galdhøpiggen, Norway's highest mountain at 8100ft AMSL


The Memuru glacier, which is the white snowy area at the center of this pic:


Low clouds looking west


Lake Gjende, from last year's hike, situated smack in the middle of what in my opinion is Norway's most beautiful area for hiking


Glacial silt gives the lake its distinctive turquoise tint


Same glacier as before, from a different angle










In the centre of this pic is Besseggen ridge, which separates Lake Bessvatn from Lake Gjende. The altitude difference between the two is about 1400ft.




One thing to watch out for in mountain flying is errors in indicated vs true altitude due to temperature differences. At 9000ft indicated, QNH set at 1022mb, I was just barely above this next peak, which is shown at 7400ft on the charts. The standard temperature at sea level, for which all altimeters are calibrated, is +15 degrees Celsius, dropping at approximately 2 degrees per 1000ft. This means that at 9000ft, the ISA temp is -3 degrees. Outside temperature today at 9000ft was -11 degrees Celsius. The rule of thumb says that your height changes by 4% for every 10 degrees of deviation. 8 degrees of deviation like today, therefore makes the altimeter overread by approximately 350ft. This can lead to some dangerous situations if one is not aware of this.


I eventually had to stop fooling around gazing in awe at the scenery, and start heading back to the lowlands and home. I will definitely visit the mountains again, and maybe go scouting for some good hiking routes

Looks like that was a Cessna 172.

Beautiful shots. Thanks for them.

Beautiful shots Semmern. Do you take some sort of minimalist survival kit with you when you fly in those types of areas? It looks pretty darn rugged and inhospitable!



BeachAV8R

Yep. You have probably seen the inside of one a good many times lately



I always bring a backpack with some survival stuff on longer flights over uninhabitated areas..a xenon flashlight, dried food, one of those aluminium foil rescue blanket jobbies, a simple medkit, water, signalling mirror and a couple of flares, and some other stuff.

It IS pretty damn inhospitable, and the distances are vast. It took me a couple of minutes to fly the same distance I spent three and a half hours walking, and that was simple terrain, along the shore of Lake Gjende!

Superb shots, especially the one showing the altitude difference between the lakes. Let's have a front page link to this thread...

I agree, your shots belong there to. Awesome Shots Semmern. Looks like the first snows have have just arrived. Its snowing here to tonight. And more coming Sunday night.

Wow semmern, those are some of the best FSX screenshots ever! What scenery pack is that?

Seriously, beautiful beautiful mountain images. Are you going to have the best ones printed, framed and placed on your walls at home?

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Yikes! you don't carry a personal locater beacon?

That was the first thing I packed when flying or chartering here in remote places in BC.

I think you were flying over Hoth Semmern! Actually, that part of Empire Strikes Back was indeed shot in Norway.

And you didn't tell me!

*Sobs*