Day 103. Reisajavri to Njivlovuopmi
Posted by: James on April 13, 2009Distance 25km | Time 9hrs | Ascent 390m | Descent 450m
It had been a warm night with the temperature hovering around zero all night. By the time I had eaten breakfast, packed down the tent it was already 0800. I should have been leaving much earlier to catch the best of the frozen snow and firmer conditions.
It must have been a bit colder than zero in the night as the snow was frozen. I headed west for a km back to a tarn and then started northwards through the birch forest. Generally my skis stayed above the surface and I rarely broke through. I was still off the map so was just going on instinct for about 5 km. I could see bare white mountains in the distance about 5 km away so just had to get across the valley floor of patchy frozen marsh and thin birch woods, all still quite hard luckily.
I got to the far side of this valley floor and met the vast ice meander of the frozen Cieknaljokka stream. The stream seem to be flowing underneath the ice and then seeping onto the surface where it froze. Many streams do this with the result that the whole stream bed is a mass of thick ice. Just after the stream were a number of reindeer fences to cross.
My first goal was the old closed mine at Bidjovagge. There was a road here and I was hoping it might also be a scooter track. I started up the snowy slopes of Albbasoaivi. It was a relief to be on firm snow at last. I would endeavour to keep above the treeline today at most costs. The climb was nice and I had a great with down to the wooded lowlands which surrounded Reisajavri lake.
After an easy hour of climbing in glorious hot sunny weather I came the the road. It was completely invisible, if it was there at all as the mine was now derelict. However there was a scooter track here going in the correct direction I hoped as they are not marked on the map. They are official scooter tracks however marked by branches stuck in the snow. I naively hoped it was going to Masi.
I followed the scooter track north up to the small mine building and then beyond. Unfortunately the scooter tracks now veered north west up the prominent ridge line while I wanted to go north east. With reluctance I had to leave the tracks, on which there were no scooters during two hours I followed them, and headed across open mountainside north east into a valley.
On the map this valley had little forest. In reality it was covered in patches of birch forest and between these were willow scrub. I made for the southern spur of a mountain called Sieddas. To get here the going was good as I followed a shallow stream bed down. When I reached the main valley where the Njivlojokka river flowed it was different though.
The sun had softened the already loose snow in the birch forest and scrub willow thickets. The latter were especially difficult. There were moose droppings everywhere. I did not want to be in moose country on a day like this I wanted to be in reindeer country. These woods and thickets were full of ptarmigan.
From the prominent southern tip of Sieiddas hill I crossed into a valley region called Njivlovuopmi. It was probably a lake, which was then filled by a silt delta, and now was a flood plain through which the river meandered. Crossing Njivlovuopmi was very hard. The soft sugar snow seemed to have no bottom. The tangle of willow thicket constantly snagged my skis. I fell a few times because branches under me collapsed and it was a laborious job to stand up again. I had to use the rucksack as a firm base on which to push otherwise my arms disappeared up to the armpits.
It took nearly 2 hard hours to go 2 km. In the end I reached the river Njivlojokka and followed its firm ice making much better progress. There were two huts marked on the map by the small tarn at the north end of the three Cuovzajavrrit tarns. I would make for them and if they were open sleep in them. Although it was only 1700 it was a waste of time and effort to continue.
I got to the northernmost lake by where the huts should have been, but they had vanished. After double checking coordinates I put the tent up. As soon as I had finished the tent the weather turned and a sleet shower came in. This would just melt things further. I was quite worried. The sleet soon piled up thick outside and started to freeze.
After the dehydrated dinner I tried to write but my eyes would not let me so I had to crash out about 2000. It was still quite light.
It had been a frustrating and hard day. I had worked hard but only had 25 km to show for it. I had been overconfident that the lack of woods on the map would mean the firm, plain sailing, snow of the bare 600 plus metre mountain sides. The birch woods were a desperate place to be when the temperatures were warming up a bit. I really needed a freeze.