Advice on Northern Norway in August

[davidmaltby]

I'm planning on heading out to Norway in August with a few folk. Have been out before but both times in June. Would ideally like to head quite far north (i.e. significantly above Trondheim, possibly even as far as Narvik and maybe drop over the border into Sweden.)
Will the north be going in August?
I would love to go scout all these areas, but time will be a bit of a limiting factor so if anyone had advice on some areas with lots of good stuff? and areas to avoid searching
and some tips on runs that are stand-outs and definitely worth exploring that would be awesome.

thanks for the advice!

David

[Tuomas]

In the north you have two locations where there is lots of good boating around: Hattfjelldalen and Saltfjellet north of Mo I Rana.

Both locations have runs which run late to the season and some runs which need a bit of rain to get going late in the season.

Good resources for some of the runs in the both locations can be found:
http://guttakrutt.org/?page_id=14
http://www.norww.com/

[MattC]

There is lots of good stuff near to Hattfjelldal.

Here are some notes that were going to make an article but we never quite got around to sorting it:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1NVYzK_u ... y=CNuOu-oL

NB. We only attempted to paddle the lower section of the Susna which happens to be pretty challenging. You may have seen footage from the upper section last summer where there is a great looking drop to paddle. Also, the Store Fiplingdalselva looks as though it has a great section (Simon W had some photos on his blog / website I think), but we didn't paddle it as it looked pretty high from the take out bridge when we were there.

Matt

[DanH]

Northern Norway is full of gems. Tore's guide on http://www.norww.com is a good place to start, but there is so much more and it doesn't take that much finding once you are in the right area. I've been up there a couple of times in August and there has still been water around. There are online gauges you can check to determine water levels before you make the long drive and believe me, it is a very long drive! The furthest north we went an hour or so past the Arctic Circle.

I've run the Fiplingdalselva a couple of times and its a great run, there is little Northern Norway section in my film and it show's a few of the runs in Tore's guide and a few random ones we found:

[Simon Westgarth]

A great destination, we've been 4 times and would happy go again. Much of the best stuff is around Hattfjelldalen, see http://simonwestgarth.wordpress.com/201 ... erry-tour/ for some images....



August is a good month, less flies and more manageable levels most times I have been.

[Tuomas]

Yes, videos...

This is mostly north of the above mentioned areas, near Tromsö and south from there all the way down to Saltfjellet:



Upper-upper Lönsdalen, Lower Lönsdalen and Upper Rana canyon late in the autumn in very low water conditions:



Here's some of the best bit around Hattfjelldalen:



Mölheimbekken, a curious short and steep run that was mentioned in Simon's post:

[Simon Westgarth]

Yes, videos...Mölheimbekken, a curious short and steep run that was mentioned in Simon's post:

Mölheimbekken, is a must, fun and worth the hike in again and again.

[davidmaltby]

Fantastic.
Thanks for all the advice everyone...all looks awesome. I am now ridiculously excited with 5 months to go...oops

Will be much easier heading there with an idea of what areas and some runs to get started on.

[DanH]

Yes, videos...Mölheimbekken, a curious short and steep run that was mentioned in Simon's post:

Mölheimbekken, is a must, fun and worth the hike in again and again.

The Mölheimbekken does look good. I went and looked at it with CallumS on Simon's recommendation, but when we got there it was at least 2-3ft higher than in the video above. At that level, it would have been a rather more serious undertaking, it was completely continuous with no real chance of stopping. I think Callum may have been keen, but I ran away scared! :-)

Nice place to camp by the lake it flows in to though!

[Tuomas]

The Mölheimbekken does look good. I went and looked at it with CallumS on Simon's recommendation, but when we got there it was at least 2-3ft higher than in the video above. At that level, it would have been a rather more serious undertaking, it was completely continuous with no real chance of stopping. I think Callum may have been keen, but I ran away scared! :-)

Been there too... It does not look too inviting when too high :)

[davidmaltby]

thanks for all the help and advice so far! its fantastic to be able to get advice from folk with some experience of the area, and it always makes me smile how open paddlers are at helping out!

ive been reading through the online guides etc. they mostly seem to comment that late june/early july is best.
Will august be pushing it a bit or is it just a case of going to the right rivers? Also does it work on the system of the further north the later the rivers run, or is this far to general a rule?

the rivers suggested so far all look awesome. Will they generally be running later? I suppose what im trying to figure out in general is will there still be plenty of choice in August? We will only have a few weeks so hunting for days for rivers with juice in would be a bit of a waste of time.

Also wondering if anyone can help with the norwegian snow pack? reading there seems to be lots of chat on areas running depending on snow pack from winter. I found this site http://www.senorge.no/index.html?p=senorgeny&st=snow which seems to have a rediculous amount of info, but actually converting that info into something relevant to planning a boating trip is beyond me. can anyone help?

and last question...for now! is there any good place to get advice on rivers in Sweeden and finnland? and are they likely to be worth a visit in August?

appreciate any bits of info going!

[Tuomas]

ive been reading through the online guides etc. they mostly seem to comment that late june/early july is best.
Will august be pushing it a bit or is it just a case of going to the right rivers? Also does it work on the system of the further north the later the rivers run, or is this far to general a rule?

There will be plenty of rivers to run in august. We went last summer early July and mostly everything was too high then. Of course years are different, but all the bigger rivers run usually late in the summer.

Please take note of this when paddling Vefsna and it's tributaries! http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/foru ... 3&t=102166

Also wondering if anyone can help with the norwegian snow pack? reading there seems to be lots of chat on areas running depending on snow pack from winter. I found this site http://www.senorge.no/index.html?p=senorgeny&st=snow which seems to have a rediculous amount of info, but actually converting that info into something relevant to planning a boating trip is beyond me. can anyone help?

According to the site there seems to be less than average snow pack in the Hattfjelldalen and Saltfjellet. It can have some effect or not... Depends on the weather pattern.

and last question...for now! is there any good place to get advice on rivers in Sweeden and finnland? and are they likely to be worth a visit in August?

In Sweden there is Gaustaälven near the Norwegian border and Kultsjöån little bit further that can be worth a visit in late summer.





Further in Sweden there are some big volume rivers that have some rapids with playspots even late in the summer.