From summit to fjord: Sailing and skiing in the Sunnmøre Alps

The task couldn't have been more difficult for Slartibartfast. In Douglas Adams' science fiction trilogy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," the designer faced the Herculean task of fitting thousands of kilometers of coastline into a small country. Because the Earth wasn't floating around in the universe, but rather designed by Slartibartfast on a computer, he kept drawing until he had finished Norway. The result, according to Adams, is a spectacular landscape of mountains and fjords. He calls this paradise "Nordic Magic." Partly rugged, then again gentle, cramped, and elsewhere surprisingly expansive. No wonder Slartibartfast received an award for Norway as the most beautiful country on Earth.

So when Tobi Heinle, head of the Garmisch mountain school "Moun2," called to ask if I wanted to go ski touring in Norway, it was a no-brainer. Of course! What else would I do? Tobi, who also works as an instructor for the German Ski Instructors Association, told me we were flying to the Sunnmøre Alps. Huh? Where? Lofoten, okay, I'd heard of that. But the Sunnmøre Alps? It was new territory for the 34-year-old as well, since he usually guides well-to-do people safely down the powder slopes in Arlberg or Chamonix. Tobi said, however, that the area, compared to the Lofoten or the Lyngen Alps, which he described as very gentle, was for good skiers. He said that when you look at the peaks from a boat there, you feel like you're standing in front of the east face of the Watzmann.

So I did some research first. The Sunnmøre Alps are a paradise for easily accessible outdoor adventures , writes Jan Christian Vestre in a tourism brochure. But it's only in winter, according to the current Norwegian Minister of Health, that the area on the North Sea coast truly comes alive. With rugged peaks rising up to 1,700 meters, the potential for "breathtaking descents from the summits to the fjords" is unparalleled. Vestre, just 38 years old, promises pure bliss on deep-snow tours – and all this on the most beautiful (white) playground in the world. In the end, I think he's absolutely right.

Our ski trip was organized by Mikael Forselius and Herbert Horelt. Horelt, from the Allgäu region of Germany, is the head of the Norwegian outdoor manufacturer Devold, which offers the finest merino clothing. Forselius is the head of the tour operator "62 Degrees North" and a man of few words. He doesn't want a glitzy, superficial crowd like those in Kitzbühel on the Sunnmøre. After all, Norway is a country with calm, friendly people. "For us, luxury isn't gold and glitter. Our luxury is nature," says Forselius. I think he's right.

"There's no better powder skiing area than Sunnmøre." The three-time freeride world champion from Oslo especially likes it there because she can go ski touring well into June.

Perfect for skiing on firn snow! "Even by Norwegian standards, this is a dramatic area where fjords plunge into the depths and mountain ranges rise so high they threaten to block out the sun," says National Geographic. The magazine declared the area the "hottest travel destination" in Scandinavia .

And so, on a Sunday, a group of eight German ski tourers arrived in Ålesund , a port city on Norway's west coast, full of anticipation. Our first destination: the Storfjord Hotel , which, according to our tour operator, is an absolute "slow-life refuge." Tobi, our guide from the Allgäu region, who looks as healthy as the little boy on the Büble beer from Kempten, first explained to us amateur skiers how an ultralight binding works. How we can quickly remove the skins if it suddenly storms up on the summit. "The better you know your equipment," explained the 6'3" (1.91 m) tall Büble, "the sooner you can enjoy your tour the next day."

Beforehand, we fortify ourselves with a Norwegian beer or two, served to us in the whirlpool overlooking the Storfjord . Then comes a delicious five-course meal. Even the renowned Times is raving about the hotel. "The interior of the boutique retreat seduces with candles and fireplaces," the British newspaper writes. The atmosphere in the nouveau-rustic rooms is as warm as a hug, with handcrafted block walls and muted colors, according to Times journalist Kelly Walker, who recently named the hotel one of the best in all of Norway.

Tobi, however, doesn't pay quite as much attention to the tweed blankets. For him, safety is paramount in the tense avalanche situation. He explains his risk management strategy, why he uses apps like Varson Windy,Yr, the 3D terrain app Fatmap, and Garmin. The navigation manufacturer has developed an emergency call app that doesn't require a mobile phone signal. One click – and Tobi could request help for us via satellite.

After breakfast, we head straight to the Stranda Ski Resort . We familiarize ourselves with the equipment during the first few runs, and then we're finally allowed to hit the backcountry. It's just as Tobi predicted: pure powder! We follow our Arlberg skier. To our left and right, there's whooping and neighing like a group of young horses being let out into the paddock for the first time. In other words, the group of old guys is behaving like little kids. "Guys," Tobi reminds us again and again, "please remember that we're not skiing in the mountains near Munich." We're skiing on open slopes, laden with thousands of tons of snow. That's why he checks our avalanche transceivers before every day of skiing. If one of us gets caught in an avalanche, the others can locate him and then dig him out. That's why we all carry a transceiver, probe, and shovel in our backpacks. The skiing is a dream. Just imagine walking 1500 meters down Sunnmøre to the sea in one go – and your thighs will burn all day.

In such cases, drinking is important. We do just that when we arrive on our sailboat, Wyvern , with which we'll be sailing from fjord to fjord in true "Sail & Ski" style over the next few days. We have a few beers. And because the cod stew, whose fish was first preserved in salt, is already very salty, we have another beer just to be on the safe side—safety first, after all. Or so Tobi says.

The next day we get up a bit later. The weather isn't perfect anyway. Nevertheless, we set off towards Skarasalen . It's a mix of sunshine and snow, snow and sunshine, sunshine and snow.

After what felt like three million weather changes, we're standing on Skarasalen, a 1540-meter-high mountain. Because a dark layer of clouds is heading our way, Tobi wants to get down quickly. He wants to head straight to Skår , where our skipper is already waiting for us. Besides, we have a hot tub appointment. Specifically, in Trandal at Christian Gaard's, a charming restaurant perched on a hillside overlooking the Hjørundfjord . Before enjoying the venison stew, we warm up in the hot wooden tub and share the day's heroic tales. Of course, everyone had pulled off an even better turn, chosen an even more spectacular line.

The next morning, some of the heroes are no longer heroes. Some complain of muscle cramps, others say they haven't done this much exercise in ages. So we let a local farmer with an Allgäu tractor drive us a few hundred meters uphill. Then Tobi, Phil from the German Alpine Club (DAV), and I trudge towards Sylvkallen , a 1310-meter-high mountain overlooking the Hjørundfjord .

After a three-and-a-half-hour climb, I don't feel like I'm at over 1,000 meters, but rather as if I'm standing on an eight-thousander. No people, no noise. Nothing. Just mountains. Just fjords. I feel like I'm in heaven. As we cross a slope the size of ten football fields, I do start to feel a little uneasy. I think about the many avalanche accidents this ski season. "Don't worry," says Tobi. "Avalanches usually only release on slopes of around 30 degrees or more." In the areas where it gets a bit tricky, Phil and I are to move up at intervals of 20 or 25 meters to prevent too much pressure from building up on the slope. After four hours, we reach the top. A spectacular and unique winter wonderland unfolds below and beside us.

We felt like we were in paradise—or rather, in Norway—as we checked into the Hotel Union Øye after the best day of skiing of my life. Breathtaking mountain peaks flanked the hotel, nestled at the foot of an idyllic valley, rising vertically into the sky on either side. I wasn't the only one captivated by this grand hotel; Kaiser Wilhelm II and Queen Maud had also been when they took a break at this more than 140-year-old establishment. It underwent a complete renovation last year. No other hotel "celebrates the Nordic lifestyle quite like the Hotel Union Øye," writes Forbes magazine.

While Kaiser Wilhelm was still holding highbrow lectures in the fjord village, all we want to know is what's for dinner and where the best snow will be tomorrow. Because that's the foundation for being able to trek up the 1,336-meter-high Heimste Blahornet the next day. The area is reminiscent of a mix of the world's best ski resorts. The first third has slopes as open and expansive as the glacier area around the Klein Matterhorn in Zermatt, the middle section is reminiscent of the Seiser Alm in the Dolomites, and the lower and final section, with its many birch trees, evokes the Japanese freeride area of ​​Hokkaido. It's unbelievable. Once again we chuckle, once again we yodel, once again we carve down the slopes like Vikings.

Normally, a bad habit of mine, I check my emails in the elevator, look at Instagram to see where everyone else is skiing. Here, in the heart of this Norwegian natural wonder, everything is different. We chat now and then on the way up. Otherwise, everyone is as if at a meditation retreat, absorbing every moment of the breathtaking landscape. Tobi taught us this. In the winter months, he's always out with the elite at the hottest ski resorts in the Alps; in the summer, he's on the Alp Pradaschier, a mountain hut in Graubünden. Tobi and his 210 cattle, which he tends to. Why does he do it? For three reasons. "A young person from the Allgäu region has to go up to the Alps," says the man from Kempten. Secondly, it's a good contrast between the glamorous Arlberg and the down-to-earth hut life. Last but not least, you're focused on yourself; nothing distracts you.

It worked for us too. Completely satisfied and inspired, we begin our journey home on our sailboat, where we spent two nights. We stand on the deck, sailing towards Ålesund. We spent seven days together, seven days feeling like we were in another world. You can say what you like about Slartibartfast, the designer in the novel "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." But he couldn't have invented a more galactic place than Norway—especially Sunnmøre. And that's despite the fact that his task couldn't have been more difficult.