Abisko – The weather was beautiful yesterday, whispering me frustration about this enforced stop. What to do… a solution clearly required flexibility and imagination.
So many friends have stepped up with solid help and suggestions 🙏, focusing me on solving the problems now faced. I have a temporary repair to my boots (!) which will allow me to do one day of skiing along Torneträsk lake tomorrow. A route that parallels the E10 from Abisko east and still allows me to collect my new boots… which are in the post crawling northward.
It’s snowing lightly again today… and then forecast to be cold and stable again. Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Anders from @arcticguides who, after a tough day at work and then helping with an avalanche incident at Riksgränsen found the time to meet me and talk about conditions and options for safely continuing north.
He confirmed what I saw at Lappjordhytta; that over the border in Norway the snow is rotten sugar, baseless, with depth facets creating persistent avalanche danger. On Nordic skis I always aim to stay on gentle terrain but the same weakness in the snowpack makes trail breaking incredibly difficult. Anywhere in the trees or dropping into deeper valleys would see me grind to a halt and the snow was not likely to transform into something better for weeks if not months. My first thoughts had therefore been to stay W in Sweden and link scooter trails north. Anders agreed and with his help patiently calling local contacts we pieced together 4 long days which will get me back on track at Kilpisjarvi.
Not as scenic as the route I’d planned but practically possible… so now I have a plan, I have hope… I just need boots!