Day 62. Gaundal to Holderen
Posted by: James on March 3, 2009Distance 14km | Time 5hrs | Ascent 400m | Descent 450m
It was a late start as I did not get to bed until midnight. I surfaced at 0800 had the second half of the 10 eggs for breakfast and by the time I had packed and cleaned the cabin it was 0930. I then went up and chatted with Steinar and his mother for a good half hour. They showed me arial pictures of the place in the autumn and it looked stunning in its golden fields.
As I was going to ski off, Steinar who was going to set off on his snow scooter anyway, volunteered to drive up through the woods I would be taking initially and make some tracks for me. The hospitality and service at Gaundal was quite astounding. This act alone saved me at least an hour, maybe two.
The climb up through the woods was short and following his tracks I made good time. Soon the tracks ended at the treeline but now the snow was harder and easier to get through.
There was a line of telegraph poles between Gaundal and Holderen. The best route to take was apparently just to follow them. It was overcast with the odd snow flake but the visibility was good.
As I climbed the views got better, especially behind me of the Skjaekerfjella mountains I passed through yesterday. I first got a good view when I was about half way on Nordskardklumpan, a small mountain. Here stretching some 30 km was the white Torron lake with a wide fringe of dark forest around it stretching far into Sweden.
A bit beyond this viewpoint tomorrows lake, Gjevsjoen, appeared and then todays lake, Holdern. Both of these were also surrounded by forest. Hopefully the forests would not harbour very deep snow as I had to go through them.
It was an easy run down to the upper forest. Ahead of me was the farm of Holderen in this same forest beside the lake. It was nestled in a clearing and looked very idyllic from 3 km away. I continued down following the telegraph lines still until I reached the valley floor.
Todays route had one last trick up its sleeve. At the valley floor a steam had cut a path through moraine. On the far side of this stream was a steep bank only 10 metres high. I went downstream for half a km and found no way up it so I retraced my steps and went half a km upstream and found a difficult and exhausting route though the steep and deep snow up it.
I now had a very pleasant km to go through a stunningly beautiful pine forest. Beyond the big old trees I could se the frozen lake. Everything was bright and in the sun. Soon through the pines I could see the red farm and its old outbuildings. One of these outbuildings was the tourist association cabin. It was a very pretty setting in the winter snow and sun.
The farm itself was as isolated as Gaundal. However there was now no one living here throughout the year, but just occasionally in the summer. It was one of the most peaceful and idyllic spots I had seen on the trip so far.
The outbuildings were all old log buildings. One of them was run as a self-service cabin. It was a very old building and very authentic inside with cracked log walls, a large fireplace with a more recent and efficient stove in it and simple old furnishings. Again it was one of the nicest and cosiest of the cabins on the trip so far.
I got a fire going, melted some water and then looked for the larder. It was not well stocked but had tinned peaches. After a snack I wrote the log while the temperature outside plummeted. I noticed that the cabin although old and authentic had some cold drafts and the stove struggled to heat the place up much.
It had been an easy and pleasant day. I would have liked to have stayed and found out more about Gaundal but had to move on. The ski was quite good but the farm and cabin at Holderen were idyllic. Tomorrow I have a short day to Gjevsjoen which is another roadless mountain farm. Like Gaundal it has people living there all year.