Day 18. Krossvatn weather and rest day
Posted by: James on January 18, 2009Distance 0km | Time 0hrs | Ascent 0m | Descent 0m
Sometimes when one makes a decision to have a weather day doubts creep in. I am sure I could ski in that or the visibility does not seem that bad now are typical thoughts. Today there would be no doubts. I looked out of the window into the darkness and could sense the vigour of the weather. Even the hut shook from time to time. I went back to bed knowing I would stay there.
I eventually got up at 0900 when day fully broke. It was a spectacular day outside. The wind screamed and spindrift hurled itself in the hut. I had to got out, so got fully dressed complete with goggles. I had a small wind meter. It was a steady 20 metres/second with one gust at 29 metre/second. Double these figures to get knots/hour. The spindrift was sandblasting my exposed nose and cheeks as it was whizzing across the plateau in search of a cornice to settle behind.
On the trip to the outhouse I was frequently buffeted by the storm winds. With a large rucksack on I would have got pushed around. The visibility was down to just 10 metres, and that was where there was a reference feature like a hut or boulder. On looking back to the main cabin, half vanished in the driving spindrift, it was plastered in snow.
Back in the main cabin with another sack of wood, I settled in for the day. I would not be going out again. I reread some of the books finding some new chapters and read another book on recent Norwegian mountaineers like Arne Randers Heen, the remarkable Arne Naess, and Hero of Telemark and Royal mountain guide Claus Helberg.
The weather forecast seemed to indicate the weather would ease over the next day, but today it seems the whole of southern Norway seems to be taking a battering. Certainly by the evening the wind had abated to a gale or kuling.
On reading one book and what I wrote previously on Day 11 it seems I was somewhat inaccurate about Heiberg and his hunting venture. Although Heiberg did create a huge hunting reserve and thereby help preserve the endangered Setersheiene wild reindeer herd he was ruthless at exterminating any other predator of reindeer and ptarmigan. Wolverine and fox were poisoned, snared or trapped mercilessly, and every owl, including snowy and eagle, and all eagles, falcons and hawks were also piosoned or snared. So perhaps I was wrong when I said a lot of his management practices were benevolent.
I settled down to another cosy candlelit evening in front of the fire. Without these cabins my trip would be totally different. In the cabins I could recuperate, dry out and stretch out, both mentally and physically. Without the cabins I would only have a tent or snow hole where clothing would get damp with condensation and contact with snow, and boots would freeze stiff with frost. Life would be cramped and spent in a sleeping bag waiting for the next break. Later in the trip I will have to rely more on the tent where cabins are more sparses. But now I can enjoy their peaceful, timber ambience.
As the evening drew on the wind abated more and more. The temperature thoughout the blizzard and then storm of the last 3 days was only about minus 5. I felt confident I could make a break for it tomorrow.