Wednesday 14/8 – part one

The train arrived in Boden on time, which meant the early morning, and then had to change to a bus since the tracks had been damaged south of Gällivare due to a derailing the weekend before. So far so good, but before reaching Jokkmokk the bus suffered a flat tyre – or, more to the point, an exploded one, with its partner ripped to shreds by the exposed rim. Not much to do about that, but since this was a weekday and, again, Jokkmokk was close, a service truck with a replacement tyre could arrive before too long, and the whole episode lasted no more than 45 minutes. The morning fog was lifting more and more, but once back on track (literally) it got cloudier again, and by the time I arrived in Abisko (which was one hour after schedule, all in all) not much was visible.

Non-mendable

I walked up to the tourist station right in the middle of the busiest part of Fjällräven Classic, which meant that there were hordes of people everywhere, not least in line at the reception. I was to meet Marita for lunch – she and her husband Hans had been in charge of Kebnekaise when I was there back in 2007, which was also my "in" now – and luckily I could hook up with her on the sidelines of the queue. After dumping my stuff in Hans's office on the top floor Marita and I sat down for lunch and catching-up in the restaurant, after which we went up to Hans, who was now present, and Johanna the event-booker and talked for a good while.

The 16:30 train was estimated at 17:45, much as expected, so I was in no hurry. I walked around the grounds, observing several Classic participants reaching the goal area under applause, while the clouds lifted. I rearranged my pack, taking out stuff I wouldn't be needing on the trek, and went to prepare dinner in the service building. After some final see-you-laters I went back to the train station, and once again the announced time turned out to be correct.

Fjällräven crowd

Torneträsk

Ore train passing

Cloudy