Monday 17/4 – part two

As I was eating, the northeast cleared entirely, but things were rather dense in all other directions. The wind had grown in strength, and I decided to wear the micro fleece shirt underneath the anorak. When I left at 13:15, it was more or less clear everywhere except for the northwest, but drifting clouds were still present to some extent.

The wind had blown snow into the many tracks produced in the last few days, but skiing in them was easy enough anyway. It felt a bit cold in my face at first, heading against the wind as I was, but I quickly got used to it. After just a little while, I met a group of five with several dogs, and a bit further down, as the valley began to turn, I saw another four who were (strangely enough) setting up a temporary camp. The southern ridge was almost in the clear, and Nállu could be seen intermittently, but Kugghjulskammen had a constant cloud cap. Where the stream from Nállojávrrit joined the one I was skiing on I came upon a flock of birds, and shortly thereafter the snowmobile tracks and the ski tracks went separate ways. I followed the former down on the frozen stream at first, but since I knew from my last trek in this valley that this stream would burrow through a rock canyon ending in a not unsignificant waterfall further down, I soon turned up the slope onto the ski tracks.

Those were in excellent condition there, and I had an easy period before the snow cover began to grow thinner closer to the eastern threshold of the valley, thereby lowering the quality of the tracks. Right about there, when I had started to get a good view of Visttasvággi, I met a snowmobile which was shortly followed by another one, and unfortunately they had driven all over the ski tracks; while snowmobile tracks are also nice to ski in, they aren't as good. As I looked back, the sharp eastern point of Nállu was just visible, and I could also see most of the landscape to the north, even though the summits were shrouded. The last bit down in Visttasvággi was one of little snow; the talk I had heard earlier was apparently justified, but it wasn't bad enough so that I actually had to walk or anything, just choose my path with some care. When I arrived at the Vistas cottages at 15:00, it had just started snowing lightly.

Passing Nállu by

First view of Vássačorru

Clouds dissipating from...

...Reaiddáčohkka

A small glacier in a crevice up Reaiddáčohkka

Seeing more of...

...Visttasvággi...

...and Vássačorru

Nearing Visttasvággi...

...and leaving Stuor Reaiddávággi behind

Far-reaching view down Visttasvággi...

...and not so far-reaching up it

The Vistas cottages below

Siehtagas

Visttasvággi to the northwest

Nállu and Siehtagas

The bridge over Visttasjohka with Bálggástakčorru behind

Up the valley again

There were two wardens, which was a bit surprising given the limited size of the facility, and they were just about to go out into the woodshed to saw some logs when I came up to the cottages. We talked for a while before I entered the main building. I was the only guest at the time – save for the wardens' dog, which almost licked my hands off – and since there was a need for it I started by fetching water. The snowfall continued, and more clouds were coming in from the south; visibility kept changing, but the general tendency was one of worsening weather.

The dog had started barking, and I was not surprised to see six dogsleds arriving from the direction of Nikkaluokta not long thereafter. I made a fire inside, and as the flames took hold I brought out my reindeer meat and ate some while reading a magazine or two. Another two skiers came, and although they inspected "my" half of the cottage, they chose the other one to stay in (come on, I couldn't have smelled that bad!), and I prepared dinner by myself. The snowfall had increased and the environment was growing whiter, so I felt quite alright sitting inside reading by candlelight, which is how I spent the rest of the evening.

I had my usual snack later on, and just as I was about to go to bed the host of dogs started making a noise, and soon a couple of snowmobiles approached, seemingly from the direction of Nallo. They appeared to be carrying STF workers, and another couple of dogs as well, and the wardens spoke with them for a bit before they went off to the north. I put a large piece of wood on the fire and then crawled into my sleeping bag, reading for a while before letting sleep come to me.