skip to main |
skip to sidebar
So from the town of Alta there is a very large mountain that can be seen. It has a very steep peak, and on the top has 2 buildings. In the late 1800's a family of 17 lived up on the very top. They had a tunnel built between the 2 buildings because it would get too stormy to walk outside.
From 1900 to 1930 it was used as a northern lights observatory. In 1944 the buildings were burnt down by the Germans, only the stone walls remained. The climb was over 9 km, but very steep. And as we neared the top the snow was very deep. That night 2 boys made this finnebif (er something) it had mushrooms and reindeer meat over rice! It was incredibly tasty! It was kind of a shame the sky was very cloudy so we were unable to see the northern lights. It was a beautiful cabin, lots of bunk beds, and was kept very warm by a wood burning stove. After the decent we stopped and explored the remains of this old coal mine, then to this old church.
Alright so a few weeks back, our class biked out onto the Finnmark Plateau to see the Sami mark and butcher there reindeer.
It was big family affair. Sami of all ages were present. Even the smallest of children had long knives attached to their belts. I learned that even if they have other jobs they must be present during these events. 
We arrived just as they were finishing up for the day, so when they all left we set up our tent by this small lake. That night it was incredibly cold, when we woke up out tents were covered in snow! As soon as we finished breakfast some Sami boy came to us with his dirt bike, and informed us that they wouldn't be doing anything with the reindeer for at least 4 days. So we biked around a little bit then headed home. So my dream of riding a reindeer was slipping away. The hills were covered with reindeer! 
As we'd bike they'd run right in front of us. Oh and they make the strangest noise, its like a really low bellow/ pig snort. It is quite scary when they are in big groups the sound is so loud! Oh and they all have antlers; males, females, babies. How the Sami mark their reindeer is they carve the name of the owner into the antler. One person is only allowed to own a certain number of reindeer, so every member of the family each owns some.
The next week the international student group took a bunch of us to this dam in the Alta river. We got to walk under this mountain to get to where we could walk out on the dam. I guess there was alot of controversy over the building of the dam. It interrupts the reindeer route, and also the quality of salmon in the river. There was a big protest before it was built they had to bring 30% of Norway's police force, over 400 officers came to arrest these people. My outdoor life teacher was in on the rejection of the dam. And now it doesn't even provide very much energy.
But it was found later and brought into town. So we hunted as one large group.We started target shooting by setting up magazine pictures in the tress. I was so terrible at this I missed every target. Later the next day we hung small bottles, and i hit those! Then on the last day we through up bottles full of snow, and i hit those too! 
Watch out Saskatchewan gophers! On the last night we were given the option to sleep outside in a gapahuk, just one tarp tied onto 2 trees. So only 5 of us crazies did it. Oh and this night the northern lights were incredible! They weren't an extremely bright green. But they stretched from the far east to the far west! Actually lighting up the sky! ps. as i am writing this it is dark: 3.30pm
This is me with my two teachers Kolbjorn and Daniel.
