– It is a nice feeling when Sognefjellsvegen opens. We have now been doing this for a few years, says bulldozer driver Terje Weka.
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Sognefjellsvegen is the highest mountain pass road in Northern Europe.
In all the years since he was old enough, Terje Weka has plowed snow on the 15 kilometers of road that lies on the Sogn side.
From Fortun in Luster to the middle of the mountain.
– There is a lot of work. We run the machines and there is some pressure. Everything should work, says the 54-year-old.
He was first interviewed by NRK.
Together with his son Vegard Weka and snowmobile driver Mathias Samnøy, Terje Weka made sure that the road over Sognefjellet could open on Friday morning after having been closed since mid-November.
As Terje Weka’s father did for many years before his son took over the snow removal.
The snowplow driver estimates that the snowdrift edges on Sognefjellet this year are six meters at the highest.
- This is what it looks like on Sognefjellsvegen:
– From the time we stop plowing on 15 November, the road snows again and it builds up with snow and ice. Friday before Palm Sunday, we break five kilometers of the road so that people get up on the mountain at Easter, says Weka.
He often uses a large, old machine that is as old as himself.
–– It has been updated with a new modern front and cabin, but the ground itself is from 1968. It is completely unique. It is extremely expensive equipment. The last snow thrower I bought cost 2.5 million kroner, he says.
–Sognefjellsvegen is currently closed at night. It will probably be until 17 May.
– If there is some snow and wind, we have to be careful. It has been such nice weather now while we have plowed, says Weka.
He is currently busy paving the 32-kilometer-long Tindevegen from Turtagrø to Øvre Årdal, which will open on 5 May.
– We have plowed through the snow, now it’s about getting the plow in the bank. The road is not as high as Sognefjellet, so the plow edges are a maximum of four meters, says Weka.
- This is what it looks like on Tindevegen:
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