Hiking the Lofoten alone in winter?

13 comments

1. Are you experienced with winter mountain hiking in subzero temperatures? Can you use touring ski or snowshoes? do you know how to move on ice and snow, safety first? and you know how to deal with bad weather? are you fit enough to move quickly while carrying all your gear? Do you know how to stay alive and safe in the winter outdoors? f the answer to any of these questions is no, I would wait for the summer and not risk to become an article in a newspaper or worse. Stuff can become very real very quickly and nature doesnt care about your pictures.

2. Winter and hiking don’t mix.

3. It’s all connected to avalanche terrain, so you need to have the skills to make your own decisions about it.

4. I can’t say about that specific hike, but in general, I’d say no, it’s not recommended. But no matter the time of the year, there some rules we recommend to follow:
   – Use bright color clothing, so in case of a rescue, it’s easier to find you.
   – Check the weather forecast for the exact location and the time of the hike: the weather here changes a lot. I recommend you specially yr.no, the public weather service with very good warnings of the storms coming soon.
   – Use appropriate clothing and shoes for the hike, recommended to be weather proof and warm.
   – Tell somebody else where are you going to hike, when do you start and when do you plan to come back. 

   Every year somebody dies in these mountains because they don’t inform themselves and suffer from the syndrome “I came all the way here and today is my only chance, so I have to do it no matter what”. Be careful. 

5. If you dont know what you are doing. Dont.

6. Please be so kind as to use the right equipment when you go hiking in our mountains, so that our helicopters don’t have to pick you up just because you haven’t done your research beforehand.

7. >Are the hikes rather safe?

   No.

8. Find a guide or wait for summer. I suspect you lack the experience needed. Hiking in high terrains during winter is no joke.

9. Many people die/are rescued every year because of this. I myself was stupid enough to do it alone in early spring, never again.
   Unless you really know what you are doing don’t. And if you know what you are doing you probably know that you need at least someone by your side.

   Then again, Lufoten is still beautiful in winter. If there’s sun and clear skies you will see some majestic scenery. And if the night is clear you most probably see Auroras.

10. To anyone reading this: the OP is following some viral Instagram reels and tiktoks of influencers posting clips encouraging people to hike Segla and Hesten in Senja in the winter. Now every idiot wants to do it. The link they posted is a dead one and clearly is for Senja which they think is on the Lofoten Islands. So they’re geographically challenged right away. The OP clearly believes Senja is part of Lofoten.

    It’s irresponsible and too many people do this and get themselves in trouble and then if they’re lucky, the rescuers can save them and most of their fingers and tip of their nose.

    The thing people never, ever, ever understand is if they are being rescued, they are not being rescued in isolation. The rescuers are also now in the same situation, now with a person that is essentially dead weight and might need treatment, plus technical dangers (ie: helicopters in unstable conditions). Norwegian rescue patrols have been trying to get stupid tourists to stop doing stupid shit for their instagram pics because this is absolutely what the OP is trying to do and not for anything professional. The reason why Senja popped up is because the social networks are now pumping out influencer stories of people hiking Segla and Hesten in the winter, so now we all have to deal with a bunch of numbskulls going there and getting in trouble.

    This is the link they posted just in case they try to delete it and claim something else:
    [https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/hiking-trail/senja/hesten/56038007/#caml=ahl,2wtts2,bhurzn,0,0&dm=1](https://www.outdooractive.com/en/route/hiking-trail/senja/hesten/56038007/#caml=ahl,2wtts2,bhurzn,0,0&dm=1)

    It clearly has Senja and Hesten in the URL and it’s a dead link anyhow,

11. No. Don’t hike in Lofoten during winter. Please don’t be inconsiderate just because you want to get good pics. Stop trying to become burden for Lofoten locals. Tourist cars on the ditch every winter time are already waste alot of resources.

12. More people die in the Lofoten mountains yearly than in death valley.

    If you’re not highly experienced with winter mountain hiking, don’t even think about it.

13. It’s extremely dangerous. Tourists die while hiking there, even in easier conditions. Do not do it. Simple as that.

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