Arasluokta to Akkastugorna. 45km 9 1/2hrs.
I didn’t want to get up. The cabin was cold, minus 28C outside and no wood stove only an ineffective gas heater. But what to do… bad weather in four days and two hundred kilometres to Abisko. My legs felt wooden and I wasn’t looking forward to another day battling with concrete waves of snow and ice. I put the stove on for coffee and porridge. OK, so you knew there’d be some tough days, just deal with it. My contact lenses have frozen, which amuses me and takes the seriousness out of the moment. I leave the hut determined but secretly still hopeful for better conditions. I ski towards a mountain called Akkha and actually the snow cover is pretty good. I’m in an area called Lapponia which is Sami land, and K is a popular letter in the Sami scrabble set. I descend to the next vast lake and decide to stay low, making steady progress on scooter tracks through willow thickets and then onto the water ice of another meandering, flat frozen river. I pick up the tracks of two people hauling sleds and our routes coincide for several hours… I think about how tough it is pulling a sled and I’m glad to just have a rucksack. The views are stunning in every direction and give me an energy that breakfast failed to do. It’s unwise to stop for long, too cold and I have a long way to go, but I want to keep stopping to take in the view. Steadily on tired legs I gain Kutjaure and the start of a 12km marked scooter trail into STF cabin Akkastugorna (I’ve run out of K’s) The final stretch and I find my stride again, and it’s slightly downhill. The dutch have an expression for this though… “The horses smell the stable”
Tracks in the snow; two sleds, side by side and two dogs… each track tells a story. I like to imagine what their story is as I ski along, separated from them by only one dimension. These tracks are side by side when the skiing is easy, but come together when the skiing is hard. They work as a team. The paw prints make me smile… remind me of Joker. At one stage I see both inside poles must have been trailing, dragging and bouncing along the snow dusted ice… I realise the pulk-pullers could have been holding hands! This makes me so happy I can’t begin to tell you… I mean why wouldn’t you? Such magical, timeless, soul enriching views and you’re sharing them with a close friend or soulmate. I can completely understand their bliss for this moment, and some of that spills over from their journey into mine. It’s incredible. I will never meet them but they’ve given me a special gift. My heart lifts and I begin to hope again. That magical uplifting renewal that the wild place of our world offer… thank you. Forever thank you