A varied period, to say the least. Cold and fair at the start, then warm and not fair at all, then cold and fair again, with some extra bouts of wind. While those near-storms weren't exactly my favorite parts of the whole thing, there's a specific "feel" to them when you have a cottage as your base, and aren't really at their mercy. But there is the question of all the shovelling...

Tjäktja at this time of year is, apart from the above, a quiet place – quite the opposite to the height of summer, when it constitutes a bottleneck between the much larger facilities at Alesjaure and Sälka, and is frequently filled well over capacity. Therefore many people choose to pass it by, with or without stopping, which was also true now. Running the place was therefore rather easy, especially since there is neither shop nor sauna, with the location of the water hole as the sole "problem" – and there are places which have it considerably harder in that regard. On the whole there were actually a bit more visitors than expected, but precisely as expected they were all foreigners, save for that one Swedish guy (from Kiruna) and a couple of dogsled guides.

Turning to the day tours I had, as I always do, made a loose plan/bowl-of-suggestions beforehand, and then decided on the wheres, whens and hows on site. Not everything was included, but I was able to tick off the most "important" ones. Specifically, I was very pleased with the Čeakčačohkka ascent, and the Geargevággi/1462 combo was a real winner as well. It was also nice that I could get in a visit to Nallo, even though the return journey was a bit rougher than necessary – it was a good thing that I knew that route inside and out, and it felt good to be able to handle conditions such as those with relative ease and calm. And, of course, there was the party in Sälka!

I think what I like the most about this time of winter is the condition of the snow (when it's not drifting around at rooftop level) and the incredible colors on the sky and land at dawn and dusk, for both of which the biting cold is a prerequisite. This outing was very pleasing in that regard, as I had hoped/expected, and I do think more (domestic) people should overcome their spring bias and try it sometime.

So, another successful wardenship period to add to the growing pile – even though it does seem harder to get them these days. There's nothing slated for this summer, so I'll just have to see what else I can come up with, now that I'm not tied to a specific area and time...