Experience shows that bacon and porridge form a great stand-by for a camp breakfast. First-rate sides of Yorkshire bacon and good oatmeal can be bought in the three above-named cities. As tinned meats, useful as they are, have their limitations, it is well to purchase a leg or two of mutton whenever possible. There is no doubt at all that one can climb infinitely better when fortified by fresh, rather than by tinned, meats. A trout-rod, and the ability to use it efficiently, is often most serviceable anywhere in Norway, and in the Lofotens a few sea-fishing appliances frequently add a welcome change to camp meals. One result of the great cod fishery in the Far North is that excellent French and Spanish wines are procurable at the posting stations at reasonable prices in Arctic Norway. Speaking generally, the farther north one goes the more comfortable are the steamers, and certainly the more interesting is the company met with. Ashore, the hospitality which many of us have met with leaves behind most happy memories.
With regard to the equipment requisite, generally speaking what is suitable for Switzerland is fit for Norway. It must, however, be taken for granted that, except in Christiania, and possibly to some extent now in Bergen, no alpine nails, ice-axes, goggles, alpine rope, etc., are procurable. If extra boots are not taken, it is also very desirable to take an ample supply of spare nails or screws. With these much can be added to the security of a party, by fitting up a casual porter or two with nails of a kind which he has probably never seen before. He may at first object, but in the course of the first day on the snows he will heartily approve, unless he may happen to come upon the—not uncommon—highly polished roches moutonnées of gneiss.
No longer is it necessary to take tents into Jotunheim or elsewhere in Central Norway, as comfortable inns and mountain huts are to be found here, there and everywhere. In Arctic Norway it is otherwise. In many places not only are tents a luxury but also a necessity, unless mountaineers have the use of a yacht where they can sleep, or unless they charter a small steamboat. Even then it is advisable to have tents, as now and then the question of safe anchorage is a difficult one. Nowadays the well-to-do merchants in Lofoten, and also on the mainland, very often possess motor-boats, which can be hired to take mountaineers to remote fjords together with their tents.
In Scandinavia it is a safe maxim to hold that the farther north one goes the more numerous are the mosquitoes. Hence mosquito nets should always be taken north of Throndhjem. Mosquitoes, fortunately, are not always in evidence even in hot summers.
Guides.
The question of guides is a difficult one. At least 90 per cent of the best climbing in Norway has been done without them, solely because they were non-existent when most needed. There are a few excellent men, experienced alike on difficult glaciers, on steep snow slopes and on rocks of the Chamonix Aiguille type, but their number is very limited. Several are to be met with in various places in the Jotun Fjelde, which include the Horungtinder.
In the neighbourhood of the Justedals-brae, which is by far the largest snow field in Continental Europe, and over 400 square miles in extent, there are naturally a few good icemen able and willing to tackle the very complex glacier problems. They can be found at Fjaerland, in the valley of Justedal, at Stryn, Olden and Loen, and probably also by now in Stardal and Jölster.
At or near Öie on the Hjörund Fjord, two or three very fair guides may be found for the Söndmöre Alps. These men have been trained more or less by British mountaineers. The same may be said for Romsdal, Eikisdal, as well as for Sundal in Nordmöre, where in the adjacent Troldheim are a few fine glaciers and interesting peaks of gneiss. At the same time, it is true that in every mountain valley in Central Norway there is at least one excellent cragsman to be found, who is invariably called to rescue crag-fast sheep or goats. These men, shod in snaukopper, or soft-soled shoes, climb fearlessly on the smooth glaciated crags of gneiss, and make excellent guides so far as rock climbing is concerned.
In Norway, which is at the same time the most democratic and the most conservative country in Europe, the guides and porters are often much better educated than their fellows in Switzerland, and know how to read a map intelligently. They are frequently landowners on a moderate scale, and consider that they confer a favour by acting as guides. They will not use the prefix ‘Mr.’ or ‘Herr’; and why should they? Frequently they can trace their ancestry back to the Viking Age, and even occasionally to the “Early Kings of Norway.” Though generally very nice fellows, they are fully conscious of the monetary value of their services, i.e. when they are really capable men. They have not yet learned to carry as much as the Swiss. As the summer is short, there is more than enough work to occupy the whole manhood of any particular district on the land without question of mountains. This condition has become of late years much aggravated by the enormous emigration to Canada and the United States.
Within the Arctic circle, amongst the hundred and twenty miles of aiguilles of gabbro and granite in the Lofoten Islands, there are no real mountain guides. This is the case, too, on the whole mainland of Norway within the magic circle, whether it be amongst the aiguilles of Lyngen Fjord or the weird truncated pyramids of gneiss along the coast, though even here a few good cragsmen are to be found.