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Pulled Pastrami from food truck

An active few weeks over here in Scandinavia, last weekend I made my way around the Stockholm half marathon and last night I returned from a few days in Finse, Norway, where I've been studying the moraines around my glacier, Midtdalsbreen.
When not 'running and walking in Sweden and Norway' I've been eating and drinking my way around the city of Stockholm (and doing a spot of work in between). A couple of weeks back, Jan, a friend from Poland, received his Swedish citizenship so we celebrated in Polish style with vodka and pickles on a rock overlooking the city's skyline. 
Start of the Stockholms Halvmaraton, taken by Yan Ma


The following evening was Martim's birthday so a group of us PhDs met up at Trädgården, an outdoor club under a large road bridge with ping pong tables, boules and a dance floor adorned with large glowing jellyfish. Sunday was far more chilled with a trip to the food truck festival where Yan Ma and I tucked into pulled pastrami followed by a generous scoop of raspberry and mint ice cream. 



Unfortunately, a 20 km practice run followed by a weekend of dancing left me hobbling back and forth to university for the best part of the following week with a rather painful foot, it wasn't looking promising for the Stockholm Halvmaraton!

 Luckily, by Saturday morning I'd lost my limp so decided I'd attempt the run and am incredibly glad
Pre-run with Yan Ma and Sonia

I did. I made it around the 21 km in just under 2 hours and had a fantastic time in the process. Each time the pain in my foot started to creep back in another food station appeared, turning my attention to boxes of raisins or slippery chunks of banana instead. The run was all around the city centre so plenty of supporters turned out to cheer us on and the sun even showed its face for the occasion. I was supported by Yan Ma and Sonia, two other PhDs from my department who joined me for a much desired burger after the race. 
At the finishing line


 Early on Tuesday morning I joined my supervisor Benny at Stockholm airport for our flight to Oslo then train to Finse where we would be staying in the research station. We had a 4 hour wait in Oslo so took a walk around the city, over to the Royal Palace and up and over the opera house with a stop for lunch along the way. Despite this long layover we managed to forget to pick up some milk for the trip; unlike our last trip to Finse we were self catered this time so no milk meant cheese sandwiches for breakfast and lunch each day with a mountain quick and easy tomato pasta for dinner to warm us up after a day in the field. 



Ice collapse at the margin of Midtdalsbreen



Setting out from Finse, double rainbow

Overall, a very successful trip with contrasting seasons on each of the days. Wednesday was surprisingly clear allowing us to hike up to the glacier, Midtdalsbreen, via a range of moraines which I logged on the GPS ready for geophysical surveys next spring. I was able to make use of my new crampons as we had to cross the glacier to reach some interesting landforms and an area of very impressive ice collapse. 


View from hummocky moraine site






 Thursday was a whole different picture weather-wise. A snow storm had swept through over night and the tail-end of this was still hanging around until midday so we delayed the start to our hike up to some hummocky moraines. The landscape had been transformed by a blanket of snow making walking a little tricky at points as we couldn't see where our feet were landing. 



Same view one day later

Thick drifts were piled against the moraines we were hoping to study, one of which Benny stumbled in to! We decided to call it a day when the wind picked up and the snow started to set in again so hiked the 6 km back down to the research centre to dry out and warm up. 
By Friday morning the snow was falling thick and fast again, making the 3km walk to the station a bit of a mission, especially as I was full of cold by this point. After a full day of travelling I was glad to fall into bed back here in Stockholm last night having had a great but full on few days in the Norwegian mountains.


Taking it a lot slower today, currently waiting for my dough to prove so I can try out my first loaf of bread in my little oven, lets hope it rises to the occasion!
Midtdalsbreen is the glacier on the right, Blaisen is on the left
Walking across Midtdalsbreen to a large controlled moraine
Benny testing out the snow depth.. it was deep!


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