Saturday 10/4

There was a bit of wind at first, but nothing noteworthy, and the track was good. At the same place where I had met some snowmobiles on my preceding tour up the valley I now encountered two more, but these were herding a semi-large group of reindeer in front of them. I stopped to let them pass, which did not exactly occur in a straight line, and then took the forest track I had found last time; in some places the snow was getting scarce, but as of yet it was still fine. Back out on the ice of Visttasjohka there was a thin later of snow on top, which gave me fairly good control of my skis, but I still kept to the eastern side for the most part. When I was passing Unna Vistasaš I could see that Bossosčohkka was just hitting the ceiling, but down in the valley it was mostly sunny for some time yet. When I started going around the bend, however, I skied in shadow, and ahead of me the sky was cloudy as well.

On the stream again

Reindeer...

...being herded

Below Siehtagas

Sunlight upon Siehtagasglaciären

On track

Clouds over Šielmmáčohkka...

...as well as Bogičohkka

The track had now left the stream, but I returned to it and started following its meandering course, taking a shortcut past one particularly sharp curve. I kept to the smaller courses, making my way through regions of low bushes between them, eventually coming to a smaller snowmobile track which I followed until it joined the main track. Here I encountered another of those peculiar "ice hills", and then I reached the large rocks opposite Boginjira, where I followed the stream rather than the partly bare track up on the brink. After this passage I skied out to the east, following the edge of more ice that was wet from swelling water. For a while I actually found myself upon the summer trail, and then I crossed the ice at a place where it seemed stable (and dry) enough. I passed the spot where I had had lunch three years before and then aimed straight for the reindeer-watching hut at the next bend. This I reached just after 12:00 and sat down sheltered from the wind on its little porch, just as the sun returned for a brief while.

Vássačorru towers

Bossosčohkka just in cloud

Collapse

The cleft(s) of Boginjira

Going past Vássačorru

Boulders

Less cloudy behind

Skiing beside...

...the wet ice

Reindeer-watching hut in sight

Just a minute or two later a couple from Alesjaure passed by, and I spoke a little bit with them before they went on towards Vistas. As I ate two snowmobiles laden with construction material drove by heading for the Alisjávri Sámi encampment, and all the while the weather was slowly improving; the sky was growing bluer starting in the northwest. When I was ready to leave I stood considering what to do next for a good while – should I continue up and out of the valley to get the pretty view of said valley from above, or should I return home? The first option would take some time, of course, and as usual I needed to be back at a specific hour lest I mislead my guests.

In the end I decided on a compromise: I would ski on a bit, but not all the way up into the pass, and then speed back along the track. Skiing on this track in the other direction involved crossing a bare patch here and there, and then I started going up between the small hills in the western slope at a shallow angle, finding the snow to be very well suited for such endeavors, skinless as I was. As I did so the clouds broke apart further, and turning around I got what I was looking for (see below).

The end of the valley

Moving off

More sky visible

The ravine of Moarhmmájohka

Panorama over upper Visttasvággi

Closeup of Boginjira

Having thus accomplished the first part of the plan I returned down to the tracks, going northeast at first, and then started heading back at a fairly fast tempo. The clouds were spreading again, in all directions, and it was getting warm; now I had the wind in my back, so it did not have that much of a cooling effect. The track was good for the most part, but at some places the warmth had had time to turn the snow a bit mushy, and I was getting warmer all the time myself. It was therefore a relief to feel a greater wind chill after passing the rocks, since I was then travelling at an angle compared to before.

Going around the next bend I could see that the sky was still clear off to the southeast, so once again the peaks were acting as cloud magnets, and around Bossosčohkka said clouds were lower and denser than before. I kept to the edge of the stream for the most part, going up onto the eastern brink for a bit, but since the snow there was too thin for comfort I soon returned to the ice. Some distance ahead of me I could see the other two, who had apparently paused at the partly bare grassland on the other side, and I caught up with them just before the last little bend in the course of the stream. From there I skied on ahead, coming back to firewood-related goings-on before 15:15.

Back at the bottom

Another cleft-passing

The "bowl" atop Bogičohkka

Misty Bossosčohkka

Closing in on the others

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