We started our trip with a visit to Oslo. Stef and I debated over the joining tourist bus but we did it and loved it. We saw the Vigeland Sculpture garden, HolmenKollen ski Museum, The Polar Vessel Fram and Thor Heyerdale's Kon Tiki Museum. It was great, but I wish I had more time in that ski Museum. We also had some time to walk around beautiful downtown Oslo.

The next day we met our crew in Tromso. The Polar Girl would be our home for the next week ! By using this boat and the knowledge of the ski guides we had endless ski tour options. My favorite was when the boat dropped us on one side of the Fjord and picked us at a completely different area. One day the boat traveled 6 hours so we could meet again on the other side of a glaciated area. It was like having 2 cars but without the complications. Can't forget to mention that the Polar Girl had a wonderful Sauna and outdoor shower !

We went with mostly an Italian group. As I learned last month while at the Scufonda, the Italians are super friendly and it was easy to find to new friends. We had 3 Italians guides Mauro Girardi, Paulo Tassi, Andrea Mutti and one Australian guide John Falkiner. They run a great guide service called White Planet . John now lives in Verbier and is a guru of telemark. When he skis it is truly poetry in motion. We mostly stayed close to John on our ski descents and he had some great tips to improve our skiing. I learned how to lightly lift my front ski to carve the crust. Cool !

You can't be too sure with the weather in Norway but we had plenty of sunshine. The snow was great too. Powder on the top 1/2 of the mountain with corn at the bottom 1/2, between was that crust that really showed who knew how to ski. Of course John skied the crust like it was powder !

I highly recommend Norway and a trip to the Fjords even if you don't plan to do ski tours. Actually few Norwegians do ski tours to the peaks. They tend to stay on the flats. This made the tours to 900-1200 meter peaks seem even more special. I knew we were the only ones up there. Still you don't need to climb a peak to find that isolated feeling in Norway. Few people live there and the unspoiled nature is everywhere.

After our tour we stayed a night in Tromso, a cool college town and had a nice dinner with Knut at Skarvens. A nice way to end a great trip ! I've never been so far North and I'm sure it won't be my last visit to Norway. The only bad thing about Norway is that beer isn't cheap !

Enjoy the photos, hope it inspires a visit ! As you'll see I had the music going when I constructed it .

To join the next White Planet trip check out their site - http://www.thewhiteplanet.it/