Jannicke Øien

Hello! My name is
Jannicke Øien and I work as a wilderness guide together with Lars Monsen. In
addition to climbing high mountains abroad, I also enjoy walking long distances
with my dog Ravn in the summer, and like to include river paddling with a packraft
for parts of the journey. In autumn I head up to the high mountains where
grouse hunting with my dog is the highlight of the year.

"I've just quit my
job as a nurse to be a full-time adventurer, so right now I'm a bit little
scared, but at the same time very ambitious and excited for the time ahead!"

I am restless and
have a strong drive to get out. Otherwise, I'm very simple and don't need
anything big in my bag when I'm out on a trip. I have more nights under the
open sky than in a tent, but always have a tarp as a backup with me.

They will probably
say I am very thoughtful, but also restless and rootless. I have a body
language that is easy to read so it always shows if I'm not feeling well or if
I am worried about something.

Trine Rein. She is
a tough lady who never gives up. I have seen her face adversity time and time
again, but she always stands with her head held high. Such rock-hard and strong
ladies impress me!

A typical week for me involves mountaineering,
rock climbing, swimming, cycling, running, cross-country skiing, grouse hunting
with my dog, fishing, river paddling and rafting. I am extremely active and
like busy days without too much of a routine. My father's side were travellers
and I have probably received a triple dose of restlessness from these restless
people.

This is impossible to answer, but I think I
enjoy long summer walks best, especially when the colours in autumn start to
show

Right now I am on
a mountain near Femunden. Here, my boyfriend and I have slept in a tent for a
few nights and had nice days of ice fishing, kiting and mountain skiing
together with our dog Ravn.

On Svalbard! It is the middle of winter now, and
it would have been so much fun to cross Svalbard with cross-country skis. I was
on the verge of moving to Svalbard a year ago, and I think I will live there
for a year or two in the future.

I cope with bad
weather very well. I am a practical person who easily comes up with new
solutions when some of my hiking equipment needs a repair on a trip. I am also
very adaptable and positive.

I'm bad at taking
breaks and eating between camps, which makes the trip extremely tough and
sluggish towards the end of the day.
I am also extremely restless in camp and lack the 'calmness' many people have on a trip, I immediately want to move on to the next camp.
I wish I wasn't so restless and
I try to be better at enjoying the moments.

No, I want to see
and experience everything and am very curious about what the future holds. I am
always ready for new adventures and feel the world becomes more and more
wonderful with each trip.

Most trips are
quite painfree. But one night I woke up under the tarp to a toad sitting on my
face. I was terrified and sat up, which resulted in the toad falling into the
sleeping bag. Extremely disgusting situation, and you can hear me
hyperventilating when I tell what happened on film. But fun to think about in
retrospect.

Yes, but not for
myself. I was going on a hunting trip in the high mountains with some friends
to a cabin we have not been to before. According to the description, it was 8km
to walk to the cabin on a footpath and there was no mobile coverage in the area.
Rain had been announced and at the parking lot everyone agreed that I, who was
the fastest, should go ahead and warm up the cabin until the others arrived.

We started early
from the car park and after a few hours I realized something was wrong. I was
going to walk a stretch of 8km, and hadn't found the cabin after 3.5 hours!
Darkness descended, the storm set in and I had to cross several large rivers
which were uncomfortable even for me who is used to rivers. The path was
indistinct and not marked, but after 4 hours I found a sign with the name of
the cabin and an arrow. This was the first confirmation that I was going the
right way.

After 5 hours I
find the cabin and lock myself in. It is now 22:00 in the evening and I am
getting scared for my friends. It's stormy outside and I'm completely
exhausted. They were three adults with a lot of hiking experience and had
everything they needed for a night out with them in their backpacks, so I made
a quick decision to stay in the cabin. Going out alone in the storm and
crossing the rivers could be more dangerous than trusting them to manage. I
made a fire in the cabin, cooked some food for myself, lit a candle that I left
on the windowsill and went to bed. Warm and full but with a lump in the
stomach. I was laying there for a long time looking at the light on the
windowsill and I tried to listen for sounds before finally drifting off to sleep.

The next morning,
I woke up early to the arrival of the others. They had reached the first river
and decided it was too dangerous to cross in the dark. They had then set up
camp and spent the night under a large tree, lit a fire, cooked hot food and
kept each other warm. They actually had a nice night, but at the same time they
were also scared and had a lump in their stomach when they realized I had
crossed the river alone and were afraid for me.

I did the right
thing in the situation, but was frightened that such a simple trip could end
with me arriving at the cabin alone. The biggest mistake was that we did not
have a map with us, nor had we checked the map thoroughly enough before we
started the trip. It turned out that the tour description was wrong, and the
tour was 14km in tough terrain!

It's about not taking things so seriously and
being able to laugh at myself, and any missteps I make along the way. Take a
deep breath.

Nature.
I have enormous respect for nature, the mountains and the animals. I'm just visiting
and have to adapt to their areas. I am also quite superstitious when it comes
to nature.

The beautiful nature but also the feeling of
pushing yourself, both in terms of physical limits but also mentally. I also
like to be challenged in solving puzzles where I have to think a little extra
to progress on the trip, for example finding a way through demanding terrain or
when the equipment needs a repair.

Yes very. I am
extremely careful about picking up both my own and other people's trash on my
trip, and I care about not leaving a trace behind. Something I learned from
Lars Monsen.

  "Yes" 😉

For me, the choice
was easy. Alfa delivers good quality and has a large selection of shoes and
boots. They have good shoes for demanding conditions that I know I can trust in
terms of quality. They also focus on sustainability and are a brand I am proud
to use.

I took them to Aconcagua
this winter and am extremely satisfied. I went with them all the way up to C2,
which is located at 5500m. They had no pressure points, cushioned well and my
legs didn't hurt for a single day. For each acclimatization trip where we climb
a few hundred meters in altitude before returning to camp again, I used the
shoes as 'skis' where I slid down the gravel back to camp. The shoes impressed
me and withstood the brutal use.