The Svartisen Glacier Austerdalsisen, Glomfjord

On the way to the starting point there is a regular sign "P Svartisen". If you actually arrive there, you have to realize that the parking lot is closed and there is no boat. You can park on the street beforehand, but expect a few campers there. The way from the "parking lot" on the street to the jetty is about 2km on a gravel road. From there it is about 4km along the lake and then another 3km to the tongue. We were there by bike, which is highly recommended for the distance to the jetty. At the jetty was / is a campsite that has closed. Everything looks pretty run down. Will he open again? The path along the lake is overgrown and extremely (!) muddy. One wades rather than hikes. We are by no means fans of the Touriboot, but in retrospect we would have taken the boat (if it were going). When you reach the end of the lake, the path becomes dry and rocky. You are in a beautiful glacier landscape with rushing water and a great glacial lake. There is a small shelter within sight of the tongue. Well, anyone who has ever seen a glacier will be a little disappointed. It's still nice, but in my opinion not worth the effort and the terrible mud path. You can stomp it back...

The road to Austerdalsisen was not easy. We tripped over fallen logs and branches, jumped over streams (we later crossed them)… never giving up on the goal. Only our trekking shoes and a third of our calves, which were mercilessly drowned by the local swamps, gave way. The forest ended and the terrain changed. We started (about another 3 km to the destination) to climb the rocky surface. On the left side we passed massive rapids and waterfalls flowing from the glacial lake. We realized how small and powerless we were against the forces of nature… and we still didn't know what was coming next in this untouched wilderness. We continued (jumped) along the red-colored rock formations… an unreal landscape that was once covered by a glacier. We reached Austerdalsvatnet lake. Here the tongue of the glacier was shown to us in its full beauty. We reached the Austerdalsisen slide. I cannot describe the feeling we experienced. The gentlemen pulled out a Tulamorka (bleeeee, I don't normally drink it) and scraped some ice from the glacier into the shots. We tapped and looked down at the huge, multi-colored mass with complete humility.