Ski and Paddle Norway 2009

Distance 31km | Time 11hrs | Ascent 460m | Descent 630m

I was up at 0600. I was excited about today and Reisadalen. However it was misty weather and almost windstill. As I had breakfast and packed the mist started to burn off and then return. It seemed to be clearing up though. The temperature was plus one and this was really more worrying.

I set off at 0800 and skied to the north side of Jorba Cierte, a rounded mountain on the Finnish Norwegian border. The conditions were good, as there must have been a frost last night which firmed up the snows surface. After a couple of km there was a reindeer fence which pretty much ran along the border. This would have separated one Lapp community from another regarding grazing. They did not always follow international borders between Norway and Sweden but perhaps it was stricter with Finland due to its Soviet history.

Once round the north of Jorba Cierte I continued east over the gentle south ridge of Sagge Cierte where it was very misty again. Once I descended down the east side of this ridge the visibility improved again and I had a good view over the plateau. This plateau was cut by two deep canyons. I had to cross both.

There was a nice ski across the Njallalahku plateau for about 8 km to bring me to the edge of the first canyon, called Njallaavzi. By now it was 1130 and the firm snow was softening. I peered into the canyon which was 100 metres deep with apprehension. In a worst case scenario I would be able to descend but not ascend and be stuck in the bottom until there was a good freeze.

I had been warned that the snow in Reisadalen was very loose as the winds did not penetrate the canyon depths and the snow was full of air. Sometimes it was impossible to ski through this type of snow as one skis just end up vertical in front of you. Then you have to take them off a wade through it.

The descent was easy enough as though very steep I was sinking in up to my knees as I traversed down the steep side. Across the canyon my ascent route looked horrible. Once at the bottom I had some deep snow to force myself through to get to the river. The river was open water and at least knee deep. I did not want to wade across it. I skied downstream until I reached a crossing point. This was convenient as the bottom of the steep slope on the east side where I hoped it would be possible to escape the canyon.

The ascent was horrible. It was only 140 metes up and about 300 metres on the map but it nearly took me 3 hours. Initially I tried to ski but it was too steep and deep and my skis tips were in front of my chest. I took them off and waded through the snow. It was possible but very slow. I was up to the top of my legs in this deep snow. It had the consistency of dry loose sugar. As climbed up the steep side I released a lot of small avalanches of this loose sugar.

Eventually the gradient eased slightly and the snow was only thigh deep. Still impossible to ski through. This continued for the last of the 3 hours and then I reached a more gentle ridge where I could try the skis on again. It was hard work but I could at last make faster progress than on foot. Before long I was at the canyon lip which was also the edge of the birch forest. Once I passed it I was free from it clutches.

I could have avoided this canyon by detouring round to the south for about 25 km instead. However I had heard a lot about this canyon and wanted to see for myself. I will never go back and will opt for the detour next time.

Once on the open mountainside again I was delighted and in a happy mood. The next canyon of Reisadalen was in fact not a canyon where I was heading to cross it. As long as the river in it was still covered in ice I should have no more obstacles until Masi in about 80 km.

I skied well across the open mountain heading north east across undulating mountains. The snow cover here was quite sparse and it was melting also so there was a lot of willow scrub showing branches. I tried to avoid it as I broke through when skiing over it. At last I crossed a final mound and then started the descent to the river Reisa in the open section of Reisadalen just above the point where it entered its canyon.

I was apprehensive when I approached the river. If it was open it would mean a very long detour. There was water in the riverbed but luckily for me it was above the ice which was still intact. Nonetheless I took my skis off and put them on my pack, undid the hip and waist buckles and held my ski sticks at the bottom so I could jab the ice if I went through. It was very solid still and I was over cautious I realized once I had crossed the 10 metre wide stretch of slush on top of the firm ice.

This was the second and hopefully last hurdle between me and Masi which was now only 70 km away. It was only 1700. The sun was still quite high and despite the rigours of the first canyon I still had some energy left. I therefore skied for about another 5 km until I got to a nice camp spot beside a lake. I was off my map and not onto the other so I don’t know its name, but am quite sure it is the west tip of Reisajavri lake. From the camp I could see a clear route through some remaining woods in Reisadalen valley, to the bare mountainside to the north.

After setting up the tent I cooked with the fly open. It was still just above zero with just a breeze. It did not feel like winter at all. Once the domestic chores were done I started on the blog but didn’t finish it until 2230 when I crashed out.

It had been a hard day. The skiing in the morning across the plateau was great. Njallaavzi canyon was absolute hell on earth though, but I am glad for the experience. It is the worst snow conditions I have ever been in. Then the late afternoon ski and river crossing was fine really. I need a heavy frost though to firm things up again.

Distance 29km | Time 9hrs | Ascent 140m | Descent 380m

Everybody started to stir around 0630 and I got up at 0700. It was a sociable breakfast and everybody was quite talkative. Outside there was a west wind and it was just below zero as the spindrift was blowing about. It seemed all the Finnish girls were going off on differing day trips.

I eventually set of at 0900 and headed east with the wind in my back. Luckily the red wax I had on from yesterday was not causing the slightly below zero snow to clump up on the bottom of the skis. It was quite sunny despite the wind.

A dog sled group with smaller, faster Alaskan huskies came speeding towards me. The dogs were working hard up the shallow incline and their long tongues were hanging out, bouncing with every step.

As I dropped down into the very shallow side valleys the wind dropped off and after a couple of hours it was even absent from the ridges. It was turning into a nice day.

I stopped and chatted with a couple of Germans on snow shoes plodding up the hill. It seemed to be the wrong mode of travel. They would have been much better of with a couple of Jan Kopka’s bicycles. While I was chatting one on the young Finnish girls, Saiga, from Kuonjarjoki cabin caught up. We continued together for an hour to Meekonjarvi cabin. Her on here enormous wooden ex-military skis and Nokia gumboots and me on my fast mountain skis.

It was an interesting chat. She was an student art teacher. Very happy natured and easy going. Her skis were really designed for the forest. Indeed most Finns had huge skis which were about two and a half metres long and quite wide. Almost double the surface area of mine I would guess. They must have been a nightmare to turn.

The cabin at Meekonjarvi was nicely positioned on the valley floor beside frozen lakes and under outcrops of steep black crags. They looked like basalt or gabbro. The cabin was a free cabin and had a sleeping platform where about 8 people could lie. There was also a stove and a gas cooker. Outside was a woodshed and toilet. I chatted here with Siaga over lunch when another two showed up. They had come from Taapmajarvi cabin yesterday and said there were tracks there. This was good as it was where I was aiming for today.

I said my goodbyes and started off west down a chain of beautiful lakes. These lakes were beautiful now but must be stunning in the summer time with the birch trees around them full of insects and birds and the forest floor covered in lush flowers. The crags soon faded behind me and infront was a flat undulating landscape.

The change in the landscape felt significant. I think in front of me was the old unchanged bedrock of the Baltic shield. This is the oldest rock in Europe and covers the northern Baltic tectonic plate. Behind me was the edge of the Caledonian mountain thrusts which had been forced from the sea bed up onto this bedrock some 400 million years ago. I had been skiing through the eroded stumps of these thrust blocks for the last 3 months but I think I was now leaving them behind for the undulating shield.

As I skied down these lakes I passed a whole family of 7 people all spaced out evenly in a line fishing through holes in the ice. I then passed another free cabin at Jogasjarvi but didn’t go in as it was just another 3 km to Porojarvi cabin where I was intending to have another break.

Porojarvi cabin was another beautiful lumber cottage. It was again free. It had no gas but a wood stove which one could cook on and a large supply of wood. There was room for 6 to sleep here on a wooden platform. It was very quaint and an excellent service by the Finnish state forestry department to make them available to skiers and hikers.

I left here at 1600. It was getting warmer and warmer and I was down to my vest. I had to put extra red wax on for the climb. The problem with this is that when this unseasonably warm spell ends and the temperatures go back to minus 10 the snow will stick to the ski until I remove this sticky wax. And removal can be a problem without spirits. I was hoping it would wear off.

It was a very gentle 9 km climb up from Porojarvi cabin to Taapmajarvi cabin. The mountains were fading behind as I headed onto this undulating plateau. There were masses of reindeer tracks as these animals were now migrating from the forests where they had been wintering to these calving grounds and summer pastures. These were domesticated reindeer of the Lapps.

The tracks I was following were largely firm but occasionally where I could see willow scrub poking through I knew I would sink in a bit. Still the going was good and after two hours and nine km the small cabin appeared on a snow covered knoll.

It seemed a herd of reindeer had been here as the ground was trampled and covered in droppings. Soon after I arrived a young Lapp on a scooter with a huge trailer showed up. He had food pellets for the reindeer in sacks in the trailer. He spotted his herd with binoculars and headed off to them.

I lit the fire to cook and turned the little cabin into a sauna. I was too soporific to write or cook so slept for an hour until the place cooled down. It was still plus 2 outside. After supper I managed to write and crashed out at 2230. It had just become dark. The temperature however was still plus 2. I hope it freezes as I have a potentially difficult valley to cross tomorrow called Reisadalen and need firm conditions for this.

It had been a great day. Warm if not hot, nice scenery, good company and quaint cabins. It was also nice to have a cabin to myself this evening after sharing for almost the last month. Tomorrow I would be back in Norway. My foreign excursions to other Scandinavian countries are now over.

Distance 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.

Distance 26km | Time 7hrs | Ascent 520m | Descent 640m

I didn’t get up early as I had wanted because the weather outside was poor. It was snowing heavily with a reasonably strong wind, which was well short of a gale. The visibility was also poor at about 100 meters. So at 0600 I went back to bed. When I finally got up at 0730 it had improved tad.

Breakfast was a sombre affair. The Norwegian girls were still in bed and it was the 6 Finns in the kitchen. No one seemed very jolly at all. I was beginning to wonder if this was a national trait.

After my breakfast of dehydrated monkfish and mashed potatoes I was ready to go over the mountain route to the Kilpisjarvi lake. This route was a lot shorter at only 14 km compared to the more secure valley routes which were almost double. I set off at 0930.

It was a very up and down route over Duoibal mountain. Once I had climbed up the initial slope to gain the top of the plateau like massif I started on a roller coaster. This initial climb was quite steep in places and there was the odd snow flurry. However generally the weather was slowly improving. The sight remained poor.

Form the initial climb the route dropped down to a lake. This descent was not steep at all but the poor visibility made it difficult. I could not make out the wind blown ridges and dips in the snow and at least one caught me out and sent me tumbling.

Then there was another climb and a similarly difficult descent to another lake. It was a very barren landscape I was in with dull rolling hills and a grey light. After I had climbed up from the second lake things got a bit clearer. There was a distant view obscured by clouds of some spectacular mountains to the west in Norway.

From the high point after the second lake I could look down into Stordalen. Beneath a crag on the other side was Treriksroset. This was the meeting point of Norway Sweden and Finland. It was quite a popular destination and there were some cabins nearby. The ski route I was on split at the high point with one route going to this Treriksroset and the other, which I would take, going to the west end of Kilpisjarvi lake.

The descent to the lake was quite exciting in places. Firstly it descended open hillside and I could make long traverses. After that however it followed a scooter track down through the forest. This track offered consistent a surface but it was narrow and steep. The forest beside this track would be mostly firm with a sudden trap of knee deep sugar snow. I chose the scooter track, snow ploughing firmly as I could not see what was round any corner.

With burning legs muscles I arrived at the lake. It was only 1300 and I thought just 7 km to Kilpisjarvi town. There was a slight wind against me on the lake but it was mostly a side wind. I soon came across a dedicated ski track. I put my skis into the prepared slots and started to ski vigorously. I was flying along and getting a good glide with each step. Before long I was reaching the built up village of Kilpisjarvi.

Or so I thought and it is what the map said. However there were two Kilpisjarvis separated by 5 km. I was at the one with the youth hostel but not the shop. The youth hostel was full of Norwegian families on snow scooter holidays and culturally bankrupt. The owner arranged a reasonably expensive hotel room for me at the other Kilpisjarvi some 5 km to the south. After having a huge buffet meal here I set off.

The 5 km ski was very easy and fast. Again there was a nice ski track and the busy buzz of scooters on the lake had to avoid the track. I soon reached the hotel. It was part of a chain called Lapland hotels. My room was in a dilapidated barrack style building. It was exceptionally bad value for money. I tried to find somewhere else but it was Easter and the whole town was full of Norwegian holiday makers so I took the room.

I then went shopping and bought 6 days worth of food for the next leg to Masi. I was surprised the shop was open as everybody said it would be closed.

Back at the barracks nothing really worked. The water was tepid, the sink was almost off the wall in the shared bathroom and the shower curtains were barely attached. I washed all my cloths in the sink and shower an treated the whole place with the disrespect it deserved.

I didn’t eat at the hotel as I was still full from the buffet. However the hotel did have one positive aspect and that was free wireless internet. I was able to send all my blog updates and some 20 photos using it which saved a lot of money, as I would have been roaming.

It had been a mixed day. The skiing was not that good and Kilpisjarvi was a disappointment. The friendliness of north Norway and Sweden seemed to be lacking here. Indeed it seemed Kilpisjarvis primarily purpose is to extract money from Norwegian holiday makers and shoppers.

Distance 19km | Time 5hrs | Ascent 180m | Descent 270m

I didn’t sleep that well as there was a lot of movement and noise in the small room with the four of us. I woke at 0630 and got up after everybody else at 0730. Paula invited me to share their breakfast of home-made haddock fish cakes and cranberry jam. It was delicious and surely beats porridge.

The three of them were heading down the valley towards Daertahytta, but stopping in a small Lapp cabin just before. All three had Lapp connections. This meant skiing into the fresh wind with a temperature of minus 9. The visibility was also not very good. I would be heading north with the wind behind me which was a far more comfortable scenario.

We lingered, chatted and Ivar joked with us all, during breakfast and some time after before they packed their sledges and me my rucksack. I was ready to go at 1030.

The visibility was quite poor when I set off and soon got a lot worse so I could just see about 30 meters. The wind also increased from a force 4 to 6. After about 3 km I decided I needed to put my wind proof salopettes on as my legs were getting cold. This was a time consuming and tricky operation. I had to be careful nothing blew away.

Once sensibly dressed I continued north up the valley in a sphere of visibility which was only some 50 metres. Luckily it was pretty flat and I was going up the valley in the same direction as the wind. At times I was almost blow along. The skiing conditions were very good. Not quite the silk conditions of yesterday. There was the odd old ski track or scooter track but they were barely visible and not worth following.

Luckily I had adjusted the settings on the GPS so I could find out my position. I needed it in this flat valley. There were some lakes but it was impossible to tell where they finished and frozen marsh started. I could also not see any features to the side of the valley due to the mist so was reliant on the GPS to pinpoint my position.

After what seemed like a couple of hours I got to the area where I had to bear more north east and follow a different valley. I went on a compass bearing for a good half hour until there was a clearer spell and I could at last see some dark crags and then the shape of the hills on each side. The visibility got better and better until the whole open smooth rolling tundra landscape appeared. There were some steeper hills behind me and one in front but it was mostly quite featureless tundra.

My route now crossed into Sweden and then climbed up the gentle spur of one of the shallow ridges which descended from the mist higher up. At the top of this ridge was a wonderful descent all the way down to the valley where the Kummaeno river flowed. At the west end of it, where the forest started, at the treeline was the Paltasstugan cabin.

I made this easy gentle descent down across open snowfields and then across the sides of moraine piles just before the next batch of poor weather and visibility arrived. There was a flock of snow buntings hanging around the cabin when I arrived and they stayed a while.

I was the first to arrive. Then came 3 parties of Finns and two young Norwegian girls. Everybody pretty much kept themselves to themselves with the minimal cross group conservation. This suited me as I had two blogs to write up and get ready to send when I received Finnish mobile reception tomorrow.

It had been a bit of a tedious day. The ski was dull as I saw very little while I was buffeted by the wind. Then the cabin was quite quiet. I also had to write for nearly 3 hours to catch up with everything.