Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 33km | Time 9hrs | Ascent 920m | Descent 700m

I got up as I planned at 0700. The father and son fishermen followed soon afterwards. Breakfast again was a slow social affair and I did not get packed and away until 0900. It was another beautiful day and from the cabin there was a spectacular view across Dividalen to Anjavassdalen.

The two fishermen were were knowledgeable about the area and gave me a few tips. They also gave me some food. They had been good company and I enjoyed my stay in the cabin with them.

Following their advice I followed their tracks for a couple of km up through the birch forest, meandering through the trees. Then their tracks and many others headed east up into Julosvaggi valley. I followed them and soon was above the treeline heading into a bright rolling landscape of shallow hills.

As I climbed the benign sunny weather changed to breezy and overcast. There was a very bitter chill to the breeze and I had to wrap up well. A good hour and a half after leaving the cabin I reached Beassetjarvi lake. This is where the father and son had been camped fishing.

There were a couple of tents on the ice a short distance away so I detoured over to them for a chat. They were from south Norway and were up here to fish. They had managed to get quite a few over some days. This lake only contained trout and they fished with baited lines which the left. Each line was on a small rod with a bell on it to alert them to a bite.

I skied across the lake, over the south east ridge of Jerta and then headed down to a wide and open valley. The valley was covered in small lakes which were interconnected. In the winter snow however it was difficult to make out the lakes. There was a hill opposite called Mielggat which I was to skirt to the east of. It was so insignificant I had difficulty finding it. It looked more on the map.

I crossed down to the valley and headed across and then followed the stream bed up beside Mielggat. It was a easy but sustained climb for almost 3 km. En route the weather misted over and I could virtually see nothing. I tried to find my location but my GPS was set up for Norwegian maps and I was not using a Swedish one with a different grid system so could not pin point my location. I continued assuming I was where I thought I was.

As I was climbing up the valley to the west of Vanasvarri I got the occasional glimpse of surrounding landscape which confirmed I was on the right course. As I neared the top of this windy saddle the weather opened up a bit more for the level couple of kilometers at the saddle. Then when I reached the start of the descent it cleared significantly and I could see sunshine on the opposite side of the valley where I was heading down to.

The descent was initially very nice until it reached a small lake. From here there was some terrible sastrugi formations which were very slow to ski across. I had to be careful not to break a ski in this terrain.

Once over the lake I followed the stream bed down to the main valley. I was wary of 3 contour lines on the map which seemed to indicate there was a steep rampart across the whole descent and the stream bed was the only weak point. This was not the case and I could have descended anywhere. The stream was quite exciting however with good snow on the huge drifts on the west side.

I saw some cabins about 4 km to the west. I looked on the map and saw they were Daertahytta. I could easily have gone via them and saved myself the problems of the climb over the saddle in the poor visibility I had. I would have been some 4 km longer, but quicker for sure.

Once in the valley the snow conditions were superb again. A firm base with a couple of cm loose powder snow on top. Silky conditions. I skied east for three km until I reached Stor Rosta lake. Just before it I came across some very new scooter tracks.

I followed the scooter tracks over a small spur as they veered to the north and then saw the cabins some 2 km ahead. It was a short ski to reach them. The scooter whose tracks I had been following was one of the park wardens and he had just brought a load of wood to this cabin.

There were also 3 skiers and just one free bed. The skier who greeted me was about 60 and clearly a bit drunk. His two companions, a couple, were not and told him to behave. I was wary of sharing with him but there was no option.

As it transpired the drunk skier was called Ivar. He was quite unique. He was a 62 year old who was previously in the special forces. He had climbed the Troll Wall some 30 years ago, been storm bound on the Eiger, kayaked round Spitsburgen and spent many months each year camping and fishing remote spots. He did nothing by half measures including drink and needed adrenaline or alcohol coursing through his veins. Remarkably he had retrained as a dentist and practiced this when not in the outdoors. He had kayaked much of the route I was planning.

His friends Paula and Auscar were extremely nice and served me a meal of moose meat balls. It was delicious. Ivar not wanting to be outdone on the hospitality stakes poured me an enormous cognac and Baileys mix, a whole glass really, then a beer and then another glass of cognac. They were extremely nice friendly and good company. Ivar drank too much in the end. He was going to live life to the full even if it killed him.

I didn’t write as there was no opportunity. It would have been rude in the small cabin after the hospitality I received. Despite Ivar being drunk he was very good company and his friends humoured him and kept him in check. We all crashed out around 2300.

It had been quite a hard day. The ski was long the conditions were difficult. However it was a nice surprise to arrive at the cabin and be served a nice meal and then be plied with a metrosexual cocktail while being entertained by a full on outdoor nutcase!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.