Dear fellows!
In the following you can read my short trip-report about Daniel’s and mine trip in
Day 0, 4th of April 2008, Friday
Early in the morning, or lets say, in the middle of the night I jumped out of bed to get to the
After having a small chat to the other guy in the compartment (it was a sleeping car), I fell asleep quite fast.
Day 1, 5th of April, Saturday
After having a reasonably good sleep I woke up at 6. 30 again, next day. And guess - it was snowing. Overnight we came from spring-like weather into deep winter. And I liked it! Daniel was supposed to join the train in Boden at about
Shortly after we were departing from Boden, I heard someone opening the wagon doors very load, followed with a scream of “Marko”. I knew, it was Daniel and jumped out of my compartment and we hugged us and we both were happy. I settled to the second class carriage, where we were talking about the last opened questions. After a 19 hours train drive we finally arrived in Abisko.
We were very surprised of the poor snow conditions there, as there were maybe just around 30 cm of snow. At the
The first problem of each trip appears at the very first steps. It is to find the start point. We knew, we had to come somehow to the huge lake - Torneträsk, which we planned to cross. The direct way to the lake was hindered by a river. So we followed a crosscountry track. After few minutes we knew that it wasn’t the right way. So we crossed the train tracks and came to the main road were we walked on for several kms. We hitchhiked a car which drove us for about 8 km. At that point we put our feet on the lake.
I didn’t mention the heavy backpacks yet. I had a 65 L backpack which harboured all my stuff including my civil clothing and 10 kg of food. I estimate the weight of my backpack to about 33 kg. Daniel’s backpack was of course also very heavy, but he was lucky as he travelled already with his hiking clothes.
The conditions on the lake weren’t inviting. We had a strong wind over the right shoulder (from SE), it was very cloudy and we walked more or less on ice. We couldn’t bear with a compass as there were no point to bear. So we were totally dependent on Daniel’s GPS. As we arrived at the other end of the lake, there were just 2 km left, with 250 m gain in altitude to come to our first hut “Lappjordhytta”. These final 2 km were leading through birch forrest with countless small but steep hills. These hills were too steep for our skis so we had to walk them up without skis. It was a pain, because at almost every step we were knee-deep in snow. We required 2.5 hours for these last 2 km and without GPS we would have never found the hut, as it was perfectly hidden in the forrest and in the clouds.
Arriving at the hut the first thing to do was to make a fire, melt snow and of course, dinner… Later in the evening a group of five finish skiers arrived at the hut. They started their journey in Kilpisjärvi, our aim. They seemed to be very experienced and told us that they hardly found the hut, with GPS of course. They told us that they had terrible storm up on the high plateau, which Daniel and I intended to cross next day.
The Fins gave us a good hint to improve the performance of our skis, as we didn’t have any skins for them (so, I want to warn all people out there: never go to
Day 2, 6th of April 2008, Sunday
The weather in the morning was very bad. Over night about 30 cm of snow were falling. We had very bad visibility. The norm-pressure was 1003 hPa, indicating the bad weather. Besides all facts indicating not to leave the hut we decided to try to walk to the next hut, 27 km far away. The Fins were surprised about our decision, as they knew that the 500 m in altitude are quite hard anyway. But, on the other hand we didn’t want to rest already on our 2nd day. We thought, this might bring us in real time pressure! We fixed a point 9 km far away, which we wanted to reach in 4 hours, at about 1 pm. If we wouldn’t be able to do so, we would have to turn, because otherwise we would run out of time and wouldn’t reach the next hut before night.
After few meters of walk up the slope we happily recognized that the rope-modified skis enormously improved the performance of the skis. We actually also recognized that the temperature was decreasing with each meter gain in altitude. Additionally also the wind increased with altitude. But we couldn’t improve as fast as we expected and as we wished to do. The deep snow, strong wind and zero visibility made it very hard to walk up the slope. We estimate that the wind up at 900 m reached about 30 m/s, so strong that we had to lean against it. Of course the wind was blowing exactly against us. Absolutely exhausted we reached the fixed point at 3 pm, 2 hours later than desired. We walked just at a speed of 1.5 km/h. So we had to choose a difficult but right decision – we turned and walked back. It was simply just not possible to walk the remaining 18 km in the next 6 hours; even 10 hours wouldn’t be enough. Frustrated and very tired and broken we arrived at the hut where we started the day at 6 pm. There were 2 parties in the hut, asking about the conditions up there, where we have been. The “Norwegian” party told us that they wanted to walk last day to this hut, but turned back on the lake due to bad conditions. We knew, if they did so yesterday, they would never even tried what we have done today.
Already thinking of quitting the trip, our motivation was on all time zero. We didn’t know what to do, going to Oulu and making some trips in Finish national parks was one option - an option without passion. With just doubts we fell asleep this night!
Day 3, 7th of April, Monday
In the morning the weather seemed to become better. Daniel and me agreed to try it once again. Besides this, Daniel held contact to the Norwegian fellows. They were waiting to get a call to get information about upcoming weather conditions. As they got it, they said that the wind would be strong, but calm down during the next days. They decided to walk to the next hut and Daniel and I joined them and were very happy of doing so, as we would have more breaks in between making the tracks in the snow, which changed significantly over night due to strong wind.
It was just partially cloudy, but the wind was still very strong. Nevertheless we were much faster than the last day. Of course better visible conditions contributed to this, as did the wind-compacted snow. For the firs 9 km we required just 4 hours, 2 hours faster than the day before. And of course the fact that we were five people made it much easier for making the track. After 10 hard hours we arrived at the hut, where a school class apparently had a kind of outdoor-lesson. They had some dinner left, reindeer meet, which was eaten then by us. Quite tired, but very happy I fell asleep on the ground of the hut, in mind that the next day wont be demanding at all.
Day 4, 8th of April, Tuesday
We got up very early, to avoid trouble with the kids which were also sleeping in the hut. Thus we left the hut already at
Day 5, 9th of April, Wednesday
We started again quite early, as the day was expected to become very hard and long. Right in the morning we had to gain 400 meters in altitude to reach a high-plateau. The first few meters were leading through a birch forest, but shortly after we passed it we were in the middle of being challenged by this long slope, of modest steepness. We had again wind blowing against us, it couldn’t be the way around. We estimated the wind strength at about 20 m/s. This slope seemed to be endless. Almost on the top three hikers passed us. They were coming from the other direction (from Kilpisjärvi). They were German and besides Daniel and me the only guys hiking with backpacks. Latest at this point it was clear to me, why no one is walking in the same direction as we were – because of the wind. We had no indications that someone was walking in our direction (followed due to book entries in huts), but we met three parties going in the other direction.
Arriving on the top, Daniel and I “unroped” our skis, as it was going slightly downwards. We have seen the hut already about 4 km ahead of us. Somehow the feeling was good to know that it can’t last long anymore to reach it, on the other hand it seemed like the hut isn’t coming closer.
After we reached the hut, Daniel and I were starting to think about to continue to Kilpisjärvi, and not to exit the hike in Dividal, from where we would go to Tromso. It would take ages until we would come to
Later in the evening a couple arrived at the hut. The woman was coughing. As Daniel’s cough hasn’t been gone at this time, his cough immediately worsened again. I was worried about his cough and also about the fact that he could also infect me… We soon went to bed, to get up early again…
Day 6, 10th of April, Thursday
Our aim for this day was Havgahytta, a Swedish hut with just two beds. As we didn’t want other people to occupy them, we started, as mentioned, very early, to arrive there at
Day 7, 11th of April, Friday
We started the day already at
Day 8, 12th of April, Saturday
The coldest morning - -20°C. Another long and demanding day was ahead of us, so we again started very early, this time at
The weather became worse again. Sky was covered with clouds. But luckily the wind stayed calm. It was very hard to bear, so we walk in a kind of zigzag lines and made some additional km, as we wouldn’t have enough to walk! Snow wasn’t nice to walk on, so it once again made the story quite hard and painful. We had our break in the last Swedish hut before arriving in
A young finish girl arrived later. She was an elf from Santa Claus. Of course I had to ask her quite many questions about working for Santa Claus. I’m sure she felt like being in a cross-examination.
As I forgot to put my shoes from the ground, a mouse filled my right shoe with food. Next morning, when I stepped into them, I was wondering about the strange fit of the shoe…
Day 9, 13th of April, Sunday
Our alarm rang at
We left at
Finally arriving at the very end of the marked path, we just had to find a way up to the main road. We did so and there we were at “Kilpisjärven Retkeilykeskus”. It was an amazing feeling, although quite tired, to be there. We both enjoyed to be finally back in civilization. In this restaurant we had a huge breakfast buffet. Of course I had finish makara for breakfast.
We left Kilpisjärvi at
We both were very happy that we successfully completed our tour and looked forward to spend some nice, relaxing days in
Conclusion
The trip was far more demanding than previously expected. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to prepare myself for this trip, mentally and physically. Therefore I want to thank Daniel for his effort to plan this trip so well!!!
So, for the ones who read this and might intend to go hiking in
If you consider taking a longer hike during wintertime in
Once again I was quite desperate of the wind. Not just the strength, but the continuity it blows is what might be very depressing. I wore almost the entire time a balaclava to protect myself from strong wind – especially the lungs. Going there, you should be aware that you might have wind the whole day blowing. So, don’t be surprised, if it happens!
We underestimated the impact of weather conditions to come forth. In case of a snowstorm don’t try to walk farther, as it is just too demanding and too dangerous. If weather conditions don’t permit it, don’t hesitate to wait and rest one day.
Eat as much as you can for breakfast and dinner, as they are usually the only real meals you eat. For me it was very hard to eat a huge breakfast and I literally had to stuff it into my body, but it was of great importance to do so, as this is the energy supply for almost the whole day (besides eating some bars during walking). And for dinner, take yourself time. I have to say that I liked the expedition food very much. It has just advantages. So, in my next trips I will for sure omit pasta but instead take the expedition food in pouches. Don’t forget to drink much and to take in increased amounts of vitamins.
In bad weather conditions a GPS very helpful and maybe it is also vitally important. Many stories have been told already about GPS saving lives of hikers in bad weather conditions. Although I am not a fan of highly sophisticated technology in the wilderness, it is nonetheless good to know that in case of emergency you still have a system, which can provide you “safety”.
Don’t be so naïve of following snowmobile tracks. You might think they go into the right direction. Don’t trust your gut feeling, but rather check on map the real orientation and in case of slight deviation leave them. It will safe you time and energy.
The one very comfortable thing going hiking in
So, there might be still some things not being mentioned. But, as I learned, sometimes you have to make mistakes by yourself to learn. But, on the other hand, you can trust me, sometimes it’s also better to take someone’s advice.
Planning for the next tour began already…
Hope, you enjoyed our posts and pictures we have made. Thanx for being interested in our trip!
Wish you fellows all the best.
Moi moi,
Marko.
