A varied sojourn, to say the least – and not in too good a way, either. It started out very well – and very active – with nice weather and several outstanding tours, but then came that fateful warmth just at the time of the Nallo warden exchange. I cannot stress enough how detrimental that was – and how quickly things went from good to bad to worse. Seeing as how I was only a third of the way through my period when it happened the prospect at the time was not at all positive, but luckily things turned around just in time to save the remaining weeks, virtually by a hair's breadth. The damage was done, however, so when the second Period of Fairness came there were some difficulties involved in getting about, even though things were much better – as they had been all along – up on higher ground.

As briefly touched upon, the snow conditions also had an adverse effect on the stream of visitors, and those periods without visits were pretty boring – at least when the weather was such that all (or the best) I could do was sit inside. At such times, I have always been and continue to be thankful for the solar-powered radio. And regarding the lack of guests, the stomach flu epidemic originating at Kebnekaise certainly did nothing to help. That was an unmitigated disaster, especially since they were unable to track down the source – despite closing the entire facility down for several days earlier in the season, for complete disinfection, the bug managed to hold out, to the dismay of all. Tests were carried out, and even after the premature closing in April they could not find anything in the food, water or buildings themselves, so it was all an ill-fated mystery.

Putting the thaw and the wind aside, however, I did get to experience quite a few very memorable things – the Vistas/Nallo area is truly a jewel among the Swedish fjelds. Out of all the possible targets I had identified during that first ascent to the shelf behind the cottages, the Njunni route (and possibly a visit to Gaskkasvággi itself) was the only one I didn't get an opportunity to realize. And with the ones that I did reach, I got to push myself a bit, and was rewarded accordingly. As for the telemarking, it didn't quite pan out as hoped, what with the scant snow in the immediate vicinity, but I will submit that that run down Šielmmáčohkka was well worth bringing the gear on its own. Additionally, I got to do quite a bit of telemark turns with my touring skis, which is something I have grown rather adept at.

The send-off turned out to be a wintery one, unexpectedly, but once back in Östersund spring was well underway. This time I would not be spending too many weeks at home before returning to the Abisko region for another wardenship – but that's another story...