Torneträsk to Kamasjaure. 45km 8hrs.
Starting out further along Torneträsk lake with a big day ahead, and in new boots always had the potential for trouble. I was hoping my preventive taping would do the trick. Another 10km of lake (How long IS this lake…?) and I leap ashore next to a Volvo winter hibernation site. I’m following marked Swedish scooter trails to avoid the sugar snow I encountered at Lappjordhytta. I know it persists everywhere low and sheltered from the wind because every so often I check conditions by stepping off the scooter trail. I punch through and sink to my knees or more and flounder back to the pressed trail. I’m convinced I made the only call possible on this section, at least in these conditions and with my overall goal in mind. The skiing is easy and the distant view remain very beautiful. The mountains I would have skied through given different circumstances… I was worried I’d be buzzed by scooters all the time, but this doesn’t happen. I see only two all day, and one of them is the support driver for a group of seven dog-sled teams clearly out on expedition. It looks an amazing thing to do; a multi-day dog-sled journey… I so want to try this! They are past me waving their hellos smoothly and I continue north towards the rolling flatlands that guard the border of Sweden and Norway. I appear to be on the Swedish equivalent of Salisbury plain… only it’s on winter lock down and has much better views. Warning signs tell me of falling ring rockets… and encourage me to stick to the trail. OK. I see no one else since the dog teams and reach the rustic emergency shelter I’m going to bivouac in by late afternoon. A perfect moment to be alone on the edge of Sweden with a mug of soup and those elusive mountains shining on the horizon.
How to keep going when things are difficult… Where to start when a task seems impossibly huge. When I started in Lindesnes several months ago the end of my journey wasn’t in my mind. Not that it didn’t exist, but it was out of focus, lacking detail… strange names on someones map, I was so far away from owning it. Maybe if I’d tried to hold it all in my mind, my resolve might have wavered, I might have found a reason not to start. Tomorrow I will reach 2000km skied on my journey north. A journey so rich in memories, overlapping, entwined… a complicated tapestry of precious experiences that is creating something incredibly valuable to me. I still have a long way to go. Places are getting more remote and more committing… and the cabins are more sparse in the wilderness, sometimes huge distances apart. I try not to be intimidated by this task I’ve set myself and keep making the best decisions I can… thinking of my condition, my energy, the weather and snow and the goal… the goal… a complicated concept in itself, because the goal was never the end of the journey, that’s just a place called Nordkapp. It’s about 500km north from here… still a long way… but now it does occasionally flirt at the edges of my thoughts. Careful now… focus on today… enjoy the moment, for you will never live these moments ever again. Today, always today