NEDAE2023
NEDA Experience is eveything you as a mountain/ultra/trail runner can dream of encapsulated in a weekend in one of the most spectacular places on planet earth, namely Romsdal, Norway. You'll be running and scrambling on epic trails and ridges together with some of the best athletes in the world and with people that know the area extremely well. It's a trail running workshop where you'll learn more in one weekend than your local guru can teach you in ten years.
Schedule
The schedule below is a detailed description of the program at NEDA Experience 2023. In four days we'll be running approx 80 km / 50 miles with approx 5000m / 16 400 ft elevation gain. You don't have to join all the runs, and there are several exits along the way if you want to make the runs shorter. If the weather isn't ideal we have plan B options. Changes to the schedule will be done up until the event.
Thursday: Arrival and evening run to Moanebba
: Bus from Åndalsnes Station to Villa Vengetind
Our bus driver will pick everyone arriving with the 16:15 train at the station and drive you to our base camp, Villa Vengetind in Isfjorden - 15 minutes drive.
: Evening run to Moanebba
We will kickstart the camp by taking an easy jog up to the local mountain right behind Villa Vengetind, Moanebba. Approx 10km, 700m d+. Start/stop: Villa Vengetind.
Required gear: Headlamp
: Supper
Friday: Bispen, Kongen and lecture by Blaise Dubois
: Breakfast
: Bus to Isterdalen
: Run to Bispen (Mt. Bishop) and optionally Kongen (The King) via Kløvstien
We will follow this GPS track and run from the bottom of the famous Trollstigen in Isteralen up to lake Bispevatnet and continue up to Bispen / Mt. Bishop. From there we will split into two groups where one group goes back down Trollstigen and the other group continues to the next mountain in sight; Kongen. This is a bit more extreme, so only the ones comfortable with heights and exposed terrain will do this one. It's a 10km run with 1000 vertical meters to Bispen and 400 meters of elevation gain and a couple of kilomers extra if you do Kongen as well. It's a fairly runnable start, and gets gradually steeper towards the summit. Some scrambling.
: Bus back til base camp
: Lunch
: Mountain yoga with Lise Fredrikke
: Lecture by Blaise Dubois
: Dinner/supper
Friday: Long run and lecture by Blaise Dubois
: Breakfast
: Buss to Åfarnes
: Longrun from Åfarnes back to Isfjorden
We will follow this GPS track which takes us from Åfarnes to Øvre Kavli in Isfjorden via Skorgedalsbu and Måsvassbu. This is a really nice 35km trail with 1500 meters of elevation gain on the legendary Romsdalsstien. It will take us 4-5 hours to complete the run, and we'll get some amazing views along the way. It involves no scrambling or exposed ridges. Refreshments will be provided at the Måsvassbu cabin after approximately 20 km. Our bus driver will pick us up at Øvre Kavli and drive us back to base camp.
Saturday: Run to Bispen, lecture and evening scramble
: Lecture by Jon Albon and Henriette Albon
Jon Albon and his wife Henriette Albon will do a lecture on training principles for mountain ultra trail runners. Jon is a multiple trail running and sky running world champion and a North Face athlete, and Henriette is a decorated runner sponsored by Arc'teryx. They have been coaching athletes for many years, and they even have their own trainin app - the Albon App available in the App Store. These guys know what they are talking about.
: Bus to the evening scramble
: Evening scramble
Route hasn't been set yet. But the plan is to do an exposed ridge during sunset.
: Bus back to base camp
: Supper
Sunday: Run to Saufonnholet and lunch at Sødalhuset
: Breakfast
: Bus to Dalsbygda
: Run to Saufonnholet
We will end the camp with one of the nicest trails in the area. We will follow this GPS track and do a 15 km loop to the so called Saufonnholet. This is a hidden gem of a trail with super nice trails, chains and ladders on the right side of a waterfall and amazing views. Approx 1000 meters gain.
: Bus back to base camp
Pack your bags, grab an oat bar and get ready to say goodbye
: Bus to Åndalsnes
: Lunch at Sødalhuset
Sødalhuset is a cafe and coffee shop in Åndalsnes. It's right by the centrail station, so we can hang out here until your bus or train leaves. Sødalhuset specialises in organic locally grown food and offers the best food and coffee experience in town.
: Train towards Dombås / Oslo
People
Organising an event like this isn't a one man's job. These are the people you'll meet:
Hans Kristian Smedsrød
Role: Lead organiser and guide
Hans Kristian (@hanserino) is a former professional ultra trail runner and podcast host living in Romsdal.
Lise Fredrikke Engdahl
Role: Yoga instructor and organiser
Lise Fredrikke (@lise_fredrikke) is a runner, climber, outdoors enthusiast and yoga instructor living in Romsdal.
Jon Albon
Role: Speaker
Jon (@jonalbon)is a North Face athlete, multiple trail running world champ, sky running world champ, OCR champ and overall badass living in Romsdal.
Henriette Albon
Role: Speaker
Henriette (@henriettealbon)is an Arc'teryx athlete with multiple trail running world championship participations and solid performances in sky races and major ultra trail races all over the world. Also living in Romsdal.
Blaise Dubois
Role: Speaker and participator
Blaise (@blaise_dubois) is an ultratrail runner and expert physiotherapist from Quebec City, Montreal. When he doesn't run he is traveling the world giving lectures to health professionals about running injury prevention. He has been digging deep into this topic since he graduated from the Université Laval physiotherapy program in 1998. Since then he has been specialising in stress fractures, an he is one of the leading experts in this field. He has worked with some of the best runners out there.
Ida Nilsson
Role: Guide / runner
Ida (@idanilssi) is a Craft athlete with a mind blowing running CV. Her latest results includes a 7th place finish at Western States Endurance Run 2023 and a 2nd place finish at the trail world championship 80km in Thailand 2022.
Askild Vatnbakk Larsen
Role: Guide / coach
Askild (@askildvatnbakk) is a very experienced and decorated mountain ultra trail runner. He is a professional coach, he has a masters degree in sports physiology and has his own column in Runner's World.
Felipe Hefler
Role: Back-of-the-packer runner and guide
Felipe (@hefler) has been doing sky races since 2016 and consideres himself as a mid pack/back of the pack runner. Originally from Brazil he now lives in Oslo. Super nice dude.
Tor-Erling Vik
Role: Bus driver
Tor-Erling will be driving us to- and from the trail. We couldn't do this without him. Give it up for Tor-Erling!
Accommodation
We'll be staying in the heart of Isfjorden (The Ice Fjord) at the guest house Villa Vengetind. There are 20 beds and enough free space to do yoga, eat, and have lectures.
Address: Dalsbygdvegen 477, 6320 Isfjorden
Villa Vengetind
This is our base camp
Room with a view!
Sponsors
Arc'teryx
Arc'teryx is handing out a trail running kit to each participant. Thank you Arc'teryx!!!
Moonlight Mountain Gear
Moonlight will lend the runners a BAD800 headlamp and give them a 30% discount if they want to keep it. Sweet deal!
Piteraq Åndalsnes
Piteraq is an outdoor sports shop specialising in climbing and ultratrail gear. They offer up to 40% on everything you need at the camp.
Urkraft
Urkraft is a Norwegian producer of oat products. They will provide us with oats for beakfast, energy bars for our long runs, and oat milk for our coffee.
Rema 1000 Åndalsnes
Rema 1000 will sponsor the event with cofee, fruits and other basics for breakfast. Epic!!!
Safety
NEDA Experience is an event for runners capable of doing long days in the mountains. Experience from doing ultra trail / sky races is not required, but it's a big advantage. If you aren't experienced yet, you'll certainly level up a bunch here! We will do our best to keep you safe (fixed ropes where it is needed for instance), but it is up to you to make the right choises in the so called variables. We cannot control the weather, and alpine terrain like we have in Romsdal can be quite unforgiving if you don't stay on trail and keep your mind sharp.
Jon Albon belaying
From a run on Vengetind in 2022. Because of UTMB the week before the event he will not join our runs, but he will give a lecture!
Are you coming?
Sign up here! (3 spots left) Price: 7499,- / EUR 670,- . External site After you've signed up you'll be invited to a private Facebook group so you can get to know the other participants and organisers before the event.
Gear
As a NEDA Experience participant you'll need most of the gear otherwise required at a classic ultra trail and sky race.
[NB! If there's something you don't have, or if you forget to pack something, our local running/climbing shop Piteraq Åndalsnes have everything you need. They're kind enough to give us 40% off on pretty much everything in the shop. Thank you Piteraq!
- Running pack with a minimum of 5 liters capacity
- Emergency Bivy
- Trail running shoes with a solid grip
- Headlamp
- Rain jacket
- Waterproof pants suitable for running
- First aid kit
- Smartphone
- Water bottles with a total of 1L capacity
- GPS watch
Getting here
We recommend all participants to travel to Åndalsnes as green as possible. Getting to Åndalsnes by train is really simple: take the train to Dombås, and the next train to Åndalsnes. From Oslo it takes approx. 5 hours and 30 minutes, and from Trondheim it takes approx 4 hours and 15 minutes.
Train:
Use VY's route planner and find the train which arrives in Åndalsnes 16:03 Thursday September 7th.
Pictures
We'll be running through the courses throughout the summer. Photos will be dumped into this Google Photos album. Here are some of them:
Contact
Need more info about the event? Contact the organiser, Hans Kristian Smedsrød.
Email: alvorpodcast@gmail.com
Phone: +47 928 41 558