Day 100. Kilpisjarvi to Kuonjarjoki
Posted by: James on April 10, 2009Distance 22km | Time 7hrs | Ascent 500m | Descent 120m
The breakfast at the hotel was early and so by 0830 I had finished it. It was the other redeeming feature of the hotel. The first being the wireless internet. However I then dithered for a while before setting off on the next stage to Masi. I reckoned this would take about 6 days. I eventually left Kilpisjarvi at 1030 after doing a bit more shopping. It was not a moment too soon as it was a culturally bankrupt place.
The temperature was around plus one so I used the new red wax I bought. This gripped the snow well and prevented my skis sliding back. The ski and scooter trail left from just behind the shop. Luckily there were not that many scooters on it as it was a pay as you go scooter track.
The route left the buzz of Kilpisjarvi behind as it headed up through the birch forest for a km to a small lake called Cahkaljavri. I crossed the lake with more skiers about that scooters. There was the odd skier coming back into civilization with a large sledge.
At the far end of the lake I missed the turning to Saarijarvi cabin. It was much earlier than my map indicated apparently, and I therefore assumed it did not exist as a winter route. So I carried on along the scooter track for another 3 km having spotted a route through a valley to the cabin at Saarijarvi.
This scooter track was deserted. The warm misty weather was maybe keeping the drivers at home still. About an hour after I left the small lake I was just considering to go up the small side valley to cut over to the cabin when I saw some skiers coming towards me.
For skiers they seemed to be moving quite fast so I assumed the level bit they were on was actually downhill in some sort of optical illusion in the mist. As they approached I saw a familiar movement which was not skiing but cycling. I could hardly believe it.
As it transpired they were 7 cyclists including Jan Kopka. They were Chech cycling enthusiasts. Jan Kopka arranged the tours on a bicycle and frame he designed with huge wide tyres. They were struggling a bit in this soft wet snow but apparently when it was harder or frozen they could easily do 50 km in a day. I was fascinated. I must say the Chechs are right up there with the French when it comes to innovative sports. They lie in equal second place after the New Zealander’s who are the cutting edge of crazy with bungy jumping and surfing in large rapids. I am not sure if this snow cycling will catch on but Jan Kopka deserves all the success if it does as each bike cost about 5000 euros.
After chatting with them for a good half hour I started up the valley. I was delighted to see that there was actually a marked trail going up here were I wanted to go, as off the route the snow was difficult. I was using a 1:50000 map for this area as opposed to the 1:100000 for the last month and was delighted at how fast I was moving across the paper.
In no time I was at the top of the saddle and on my way down the other side. When I thought the cabin at Saarijarvi should be about 2 km away I rounded a corner to see it was just a 300 metres ahead.
These Finnish cabins in this area are either free and quite rustic but with wood and gas or you can hire them. Often the free and the bit to hire are in the same cabin as different rooms. It was a good system. There were some older Finns staying in the more salubrious hire part who were just returning from a trip up Halti, Finland’s highest mountain at a mere 1300 odd metres.
In the free part were a few groups of Norwegian skiers who were having lunch. I started chatting with them. They were fascinated with my journey and were able to offer me some good tips. They left after an hour and I left to do the remaining 10 km to Kuonjarjoki.
These 10 km were fast. The red wax was gripping the snow well as I pushed up a 4 km gentle rise. The landscape was rounded and quite featureless. Indeed in the mist it was really quite drab. Nothing like the spectacular mountains of Norway and Northern Sweden.
At the top of this shallow incline was a gentle descent for 2 km to the cabin with its two tier status. The free part had a Dutch couple who were living in Norway, and some 6 young Finnish female students. All were nice but naturally I gravitated towards the Dutch for conversation.
It was a sociable evening at the expense of the blog. I waited until everybody else had gone to bed at a very early hour and then wrote for a good hour eventually crashing at 2300.
It had been an OK day. One of the high points was leaving Kilpisjarvi. The skiing was quite good and certainly easy. It was quite a sociable day with the Norwegians at the first cabin and the Dutch at the second and the eccentric Chechs. The weather was like the landscape and quite plain.