Day 107. Mollesjohka to Stiipanavzi
Posted by: James on April 17, 2009Distance 32km | Time 8.5hrs | Ascent 350m | Descent 390m
Two guests at the lodge, and also Per who owned the lodge, told me there was an open cabin owned by the military about halfway to Skoganvarre. This was great news as Skoganvarre was about 60 km and t would be best to break it up. The cabin was at Stiipanavzi about 30 km away. This meant I did not have to leave at 0400 but at a normal time.
So I got up at 0730 for the breakfast at 0800. It was a simple breakfast with newly baked bread. It was quite a social affair with the group of about 10 lively ladies and the 3 other groups. By coincidence one of the lively ladies was from near Otta and had seen my newspaper article from a month ago. They were a very nice bunch.
The weather was trying to put a damper on things. It was snowing heavily and blowing a force 5 or 6. Miserable really. At 0930 the owner o the lodge, Per, appeared. He looked a real Lapp in his reindeer trousers and fur hat. He was going to Ravnastua lodge with some things and would also make a trail for the lively ladies and another group to follow to the junction with the official scooter trail. They all set off around 1000.
I was a bit more undecided as my route was across open moorland with no shelter and featureless to navigate in. If the weather turned really nasty I would have to dig a snowhole but there was generally too little snow for this. I dithered as a few snow showers came and went. Eventually at 1100 I decided to go. It was as late as I could comfortably leave if I wanted to get to Stiipanavzi cabin.
The weather was still windy when I left but the forecast was it would ease during the day. Initially I followed the tracks of the lively ladies who in turn were following the tracks made by Per’s scooter. These tracks went across moorland with willow scrub poking out of the snow. The snow was compact but must have been less than a metre deep. After some 6 km of this undulating route across moorland and frozen lakes with the odd snow shower and force 5 wind against me I eventually reached the official scooter track to Ravnastua lodge. I was just going to cross it and continue north east. However I met Per returning on his scooter.
Per said there was a emergency shelter some 5 km down this official scooter track. I thought I would head for it and put my windproof salopettes on. It was a fast ski to this shelter as the wind was now partially behind me. I crossed the three lakes as directed and the shelter was in a bay on the third lake. It was old, simple and somewhat dirty inside with grime and coffee residue. There was one filthy mattress on one of the 4 sleeping platforms. It was cold inside but I dressed here and ate some chocolate.
While I was here a couple of scooters turned up. One was driving up fuel to a depot for reindeer herders and the other was an old wizened Lapp of about 70 years at least. The latter spoke no Norwegian. The younger said the weather would get worse this afternoon.
The wind was still strong outside, indeed I think it had increased to a force 6. It was 20 km to Stiipanavzi cabin but I was going virtually straight into the wind. I wondered if I should turn back after I had gone a km as it was bitterly cold and my extremities and face were getting chilled. I put more gloves on pulled my hood right down and continued.
It took a good 5 hours before I was approaching Stiipanavzi cabin. The journey was quite tedious. The only thing that changed was the amount of bad weather. The wind continued as force 5 or 6 for the whole distance. It brought some snow showers with it, each one lasting for about half an hour. The flat landscape, strewn with boulders and glacial erratics disappeared during these showers. I frequently had to use the GPS to find out where I was as there were no features to orientate myself with.
During the snow showers I had to remove my glasses as they got so covered in snow I could see nothing. Then I really had to pull my hood down look to the ground to avoid my face getting plastered in snow. Between the showers however the sun tried to return. In the sunny periods the light showed up every detail and contrast in the landscape and snow where even the most minute ridges and imperfections were highlighted. It was a very crisp Arctic light.
Soon I was just 2 km from the cabin. I could see the dark canyon of Stiipanavzi which was filled with birch trees. This canyon cut into the flat undulating landscape deeply and drained it. They were a feature of Finnmarksvidda. I had recently crossed one 6 days previously and they were a nightmare. Deep loose snow and steep sides.
The cabin was sited just at the lip of this canyon. It was owned by the military. It was easy to descend the few hundred metres to the shelf it was perched on and surrounded in birch trees. I skied down to it and was nicely surprised as how good condition it was in. Inside it was quite nice with 4 beds and a wood stove. Initially I did not see any wood and then found a whole sack of it. Within an hour I had it quite cosy. This cabin seemed to get a bit of the scooter traffic and there were a lot of coffee spillages and empty vodka bottles around which would take the shine of in in some years.
It was 1930 where I reached the cabin and I was not settled and warm until 2100. After my dehydrated meal I set about the blog. I did not finish until midnight though. Even at midnight there was a small glow in the northern sky where the sun was resting just below the horizon.
It was hard day with the wind sapping my energy. However it was really just what I needed. It was a full return to winter after the scare of spring some days ago. The temperatures must have been down to minus 10 and plenty of new snow had fallen. The cabin at Stiipanavzi was perfect and finding the wood was enough for me to forgive the coffee spilling scooter drivers who must have brought it here.