Monday 23/4 – Thursday 3/5

Monday 23/4

This day started out with snowfall, but gradually the clouds parted. I took it very easy, and managed to sleep through the afternoon. When I woke up again it was mostly clear outside, and the air was both fresh and still. In the evening Linnéa, Maria and Johanna L arranged a practice session for the more or less compulsory choir that was to sing at Walpurgis Night, but since I had caught a cold I just sat on the side and listened; my throat and head were much too thick.

Láddjuvággi east

Láddjuvággi west

Personalbacken above the station

The station at night

Skárttoaivi at night

Tuesday 24/4

I had much trouble sleeping and woke up tired, to low clouds, light wind and 0°C. My airways and cranial cavities were not as thick as they had been the day before, but I was still feeling sluggish. Seeing as how I would be working all days up until closing, and given the state of the snow – or lack thereof – I decided to send off the skis. When I started the evening shift in the restaurant the clouds had lifted quite a bit, but blue patches were still few although there was a bit of sunlight. As to work, we had few guests who came far apart, but there was a group of Dutch who stayed right up until I was about to lock the door, so I still had much to do in the final hour, being the only one left as opposed to the usual two workers.

Wednesday 25/4

Petter's lunch

This night I slept well, and I felt rather fine in the morning. Outside, however, it was back to windy, gloomy, warm, and wet, with intermittent rain. The breakfast shift was very calm, although there were a few latecomers who managed to miss it all; I got them some bread'n'stuff so they wouldn't have to starve. The rest of the time up until lunch was spent playing table tennis in every conceivable form, and outside conditions worsened. I then slept through another afternoon and once again the sky had cleared afterwards; the wind had grown to strong levels, though.

The subsequent dinner shift was also very easy, and all three of us who worked weren't strictly needed. This solved itself when Petter was called away on a special mission; Linnéa cleaned and Made Things Right® while I took care of most of the actual serving and suchlike. The evening was beautiful, with a full moon and a wind that was no longer hard. I spent some time in the common room were music was played, but eventually, when the frequency of my yawns was becoming alarmingly high, I went to bed and read a bit.

Thursday 26/4

The weather was shifting throughout the morning, but by lunchtime it was mostly clear and sunny. However, during the afternoon it quickly deteriorated, with rain and intensifying wind. Work in the restaurant was once again nothing to write home about, but the gales shook the walls and panes. When I was done I nearly flew back to Skarta, where the wind had an even greater effect on the structure, and I went straight to the ping-pong table.

Friday 27/4

The storm continued through the night, and some of the gales truly seemed on the verge of ripping the building up from its foundation. The morning was only negligibly better, with very nearly horizontal rain, and getting to the main building almost required an expedition plan and equipment – gales were reaching hurricane strength (Maria had seen the wind meter go up to 35 m/s earlier in the morning). But, also this time things had improved much at noon, when some blue sky and yellow-white sun could be seen. Fredrik had left for Abisko in the morning, where he would be working for a few days to cover for a sick chef, but he left his visiting brother behind to cover for him in turn.

Then came another near-boring afternoon shift in the restaurant, but towards the end the number of arrivals in the booking system skyrocketed, which promised a busy evening. Dinner was actually calm at first, but then it all broke loose and we started running. I stayed behind an extra half-hour to help out, but then I went over to Skarta where the reception staff had arranged a barbecue night; Hans and Marita were manning the actual reception desk meanwhile. All the food was gone by then, of course, but several of the desserts remained, so I helped myself to some – and then some. A good deal of genial communion followed, which developped into a singing spree, but at midnight I took my leave since I was to have an early start the next day. Outside it was almost clear with unhindered moonshine, and it was nearly windless and cold.

Saturday 28/4

It was still clear when dawn had come and passed, but I found it difficult to arise anyhow; the last week of work had left me weary. Yet again it was very fair outside, while 1) I cleaned 2) SMHI insisted that it was snowing like never before. However, in the afternoon clouds gathered and snow began falling eventually; the wind was on the increase as well.

At dinner we had a huge chocolate cake to celebrate the birthday of Johanna L; it was the most massive piece of pastry I have seen – or tasted. As to something of a radically different nature, a trio that had left for the Peak in the morning had just phoned from the top of Vierranvárri, where they had been forced to seek shelter in their wind sack due to greatly worsened weather conditions – they obviously would not be able to get anywhere before nightfall. Also down at the station the wind had become strong enough to whip up snow from the ground, but the sky could still be seen overhead.

In the evening we had TV and TP, and upon watching the latter I realized that I must have missed an episode. It was then all white outside with stronger winds, and things only got worse as time passed. I spent some time in the common room listening to jazz with Tosse and Petter, and later on also Anna A and Linnéa. At 23:15 I went to bed; although visibility was moderately good the wind roared and I sent a thought to the people stuck on the mountain.

Sunday 29/4

The night was one of very hard wind, and the early morning was no different; hurricane strengths were once again noted and snow was drifting high above the ground. The trio had kept in touch with Hans and Marita during the night, and while conditions up there at 1700 meters were drastically worse than down in the valley they were mostly all right, even though they would not be able to remain still for much longer. A rescue helicopter had made an attempt to fly out from Kiruna at 4 in the morning, but it could not proceed due to the tempest.

Around breakfast the weather suddenly changed for the better; while the wind was still hard the clouds and flying snow were dwindling, and the tired mountaineers could see enough of their route to start walking. Down at the station, Tosse and I continued with our cleaning tasks, and soon enough the rescue chopper arrived, making a quick stop at our pad before continuing. They made contact with the group in the saddle between Duolbagorni and Vierranvárri, and in the middle of the forenoon they were all down again, safe and largely sound.

At that time the weather had cleared even more, and now the wind wasn't particularly nasty either. Anna A was the next to *make an early exit, but her good-bye was kind of confused in the middle of all the excitement, and it didn't hit her until she was at the Kiruna airport that she had indeed left. Back at Kebnekaise I finished my shift and then went out to sit against the sun wall; the temperature had risen very much and the wind had changed into a light easterly one (with southerly components). Pontus had set up a slackline just outside Skarta and he and a number of other people spent the afternoon balancing on it, with varying success.

Linnéa on...

...the slackline

Petter on...

...the same slackline

At dinner there was a brief briefing about the events of the preceding evening, night and morning, and afterwards I watched some TV and participated in a smaller singing exercise. Later on we had an evening barbecue in a still outside world under a full moon.

Monday 30/4

I was finally to have a day off, so I slept in. Fredrik returned with the morning chopper, and outside the weather was of the dreary kind, so I remained inside reading. After lunch we watched the bonus material from the Twin Peaks Season 1 DVD set, during which I managed to doze off. Later in the afternoon I was asked to take on an extra shift in the restaurant due to injury, and I reluctantly agreed.

This shift was pretty easy, luckily; while Walpurgis Night is a special event at several of the fjeld stations, the lack of snow of course kept people from coming in droves. Two men from YLE were among those who had managed to come here anyway; their objective was unclear but seemed to involve a large tyre (they had been overheard as saying something along the lines of: "you have the largest mountain, we have the largest tyre").

Linda, who was the other restaurant worker that night, went out to the traditional bonfire at 21, which was her end time, but I had no choice but to remain inside. Bummer. Just about then a group of eight, including four children, was coming in, having been on the South Peak; naturally they were now very hungry, and fortunately for them the ninth member of their party had alerted the kitchen of their late arrival time. I listened to the songs through the window, and when people started to file in again close to our regular closing time Hans took over the bar, which he had promised would be open for an extra hour, and I was finally free to go.

The choir putting their practice to use by the bonfire...

...on the helicopter pad

I immediately went out to the still burning embers of the bonfire, where a few colleagues were standing yet, and we remained there for some time, doing some bonus singing of our own. We then proceeded into the common room in the main building, where a couple of guys were playing ukulele and singing. After listening to that for a while I made my way to Skarta, where it was dead quiet – which suited me well, as I was rather tired.

Tuesday 1/5

Today, at least, I was free – if naught else so because one is not allowed to work for an unlimited number of days in a row. This was a strike of fortune for me, since almost everyone else was occupied with final cleaning after shooing away the remaining guests. One other who got away was Linda, who really did go away – she left with the morning chopper too. As for me, I did as little as possible, but I did squeeze in an episode of Twin Peaks. A sale in the shop then followed, but I didn't buy anything except potato chips and a map – which weren't on sale anyway. I went on to watch more TP with Magnus, and then read for a while before changing in preparation for the finishing dinner party.

Yours truly

Gleeful Raja

The dinner itself was delicious and interspersed with various speeches, as custom demands. We were also dealt a surprise – in the middle of it all, Jeppe, who had served as warden in the Nallo cottage the whole season, came in and was quickly integrated. The evening went on in a jovial tone, with some watery warfare between members of the management tier, but eventually Petter and I snuck off to Videovagge to continue going through the second half of the second season of Twin Peaks, and we were soon joined by a few others. The clock showed 01:15 when I finally climbed into bed.

The Boss Speech®

Linnéa

Marita

Down the table

Approval from Petter

Merry Håkan

Ilkka and Maria shakin' it

Wednesday 2/5

Another free day for me, which was most welcome; pretty much all others had to report for duty in the morning, but I could rest as much as I needed – and so could Raja. It was very beautiful outside so after lunch I went out for a walk.

Tired dog

I followed the eastward trail at first, and when I was nearing the first arm of Darfáljohka I turned due south, crossing the heathland to Láddjujohka. It was very dry, and with the warmth it almost seemed as though it was June already. I followed a path that traced the brink of the stream back towards the west, going up at an oblique angle from Elsa's bridge. I then rounded Kaipak from the west, ascending it from behind and then descending the steep eastern slope, where there were still ample amounts of snow. When I got back there were a growing number of small clouds in the sky, which seemed to be agglutinating and would before long form a blanket.

The station beneath Duolbagorni and Kaipak

An old camp site with Skárttaklacken behind

Lack of snow in the valley

Long-distance shot of the station

Skárttoaivi, Siŋŋičohkka and Duolbagorni

Darfáloalgi and Guodekvárri

Darfálvággi

Skárttaklacken

Panorama over western Láddjuvággi, showing Siŋŋičohkka,
Duolbagorni, Vierranvárri, Giebmegáisi and Giebmečohkka

Láddjujohka

A series of macro shots...

...of the sprigs close to the...

...aforementioned stream

Duolbagorni, Vierranvárri and Giebmegáisi

Siŋŋičohkka and Duolbagorni

Duolbagorni alone

The Finns' tyre, presumably

Towards Singi

Skárttoaivi

The station from...

...the top of Kaipak

I took it easy inside while another barbecue was being prepared outside. Following that I started packing, and at 20 I caught up with Twin Peaks together with Magnus – Petter had gone on ahead previously. When we were all on the same level we launched a four-episode back-to-back viewing, which lasted until 00:30.

Thursday 3/5

On this the last day it was windless but fairly cold, and it was snowing. Johanna L walked to Nikkaluokta shortly after breakfast, as she needed to catch an earlier transport than the rest of us. That rest spent the day doing the last bit of cleaning, which was actually not an awful lot, but it took its time anyway. Shortly after lunch we received a call from our hiker – she had (quite obviously) made good progress, even though she did end up with rather wet feet. Håkan also took the opportunity of arranging a fire drill, being a fireman student and all, which we then evaluated.

The afternoon held blue patches and sun glimpses, and everyone started cleaning their own rooms and packing their things for the departure the coming morning. After dinner the TPers finished off the second season in another four-episode marathon, and by the end of it all the valley was appropriately wrapped in mist.