Saturday 23/4 – part two

I followed a set of tracks that had clearly been made by wider downhill skis, stepping across some more grass, soon coming to an open stream which was narrow enough to pass. Even more grass followed, but then it got better and I could ski unhindered. I met a couple of people with dogs going in the other direction, and then started going up the slope around the eastern corner of the massif.

Halfway up to the hollow behind it I saw the debris of an avalanche that had apparently been started when the cornice at the top of the incline had broken off. I passed beneath it, observing a couple of people coming down into the hollow at a somewhat steep place. I ascended partly in their tracks, partly in previous upward tracks, and partly on my own, holding a somewhat more shallow course; the snow was as favorable as before to my waxless skis, and I had no need whatsoever for climbing skins (which was good, since I hadn't brought any along for the tour). I was now approaching a reindeer fence and followed alongside it until enough rocks were showing that I had to remove the skis. I crossed the fence at a place where the mesh had folded itself, and was back on snow again.

Passable

Thawing

Ptarmigan

Below the avalanche

Above the avalanche

Suddenly the instantly recognizable peak emerged almost surprisingly close, and at about the same time I observed four people going down the intermediate rise off to my left. As I continued to ascend I became aware of an approaching helicopter, which made a turn above and as far as I could make out set down in the next saddle. Having reached the crest I saw a couple of the people thereby deposited walking over to the edge of the glacier bowl, and then they rejoined their companions a bit further off. While I was climbing the next, steeper slope the chopper came back, but instead of picking the previous group up it dropped off even more – but I could see no skis having been unloaded.

Atop the next crest I passed some distance away from two others on their way down, and then remained only the last rise up to the summit. The view from this crest was, however, certainly nothing to sneer at; Predikstolen (Pulpet) was a strong presence close at hand, and beyond it sprawled Norway. The final ascent was bumpy due to previous effects of the wind, but the snow was so soft that the bumps were no problem; there was even a snowmobile track there. I did keep a respectful distance to the cornice, however, even though that denied me dizzying views down at the glacier.

Peak peek

Distance haze

Closing in

Even closer

Quite high

Eastwards

Closer still

Predikstolen

Last bit

There was a family at the summit hut who were preparing to go down, and as they left I skied around a bit looking at the expanses below me. Helags is the highest mountain in Sweden south of the Arctic Circle, and due to the layout of the Jämtland/Härjedalen mountains the vista is extremely vast. Going down would have been difficult under other circumstances, but the soft snow made the bumps negotiable even with my long, narrow skis and less-than-stable bindings. I found the family in the next slope and overtook them there, getting some nice tele turns out of it, but the snow was not as good as it could have been. I veered off to the right, seeking the snowfield that I had seen the quartet going down earlier, which involved carrying the skis a short distance across some rocks. This was well worth it, though, for the field was simply fantastic, and I swept down it executing near-perfect turns – at least more often than not. Just wonderful.

I passed the fence at a spot where the mesh had disappeared under the snow, and then continued straight down for a bit on the other side. I did not go too far, however, before turning off to the previous tracks, cutting across the slope quite far to get a good final run down in the hollow. I followed the same tracks back from there, noting that the number of people outside the main building had increased considerably – as had the number of skis. I made one final detour after 16 in order to get a better photo angle with the massif in the background, and then pulled in outside "my" cottage...

Nearing the hut

Sylarna to the northwest

The station buildings far below (try to spot them)

Lowlands

Panorama over Predikstolen and Skardsfjella in Norway

Panorama from north to northeast

Elevated structure

Ascender

Almost down

Came this way

Rounding the outrunner

The station with Helags in the background...

...and with Sylarna

...only to run into my boss from home who was just rounding a corner. Fancy that. I went inside and removed various doused items of clothing, and then sat down for a light snack in the kitchen. There was one other man there who was clearly of foreign origin, but spoke Swedish well enough. We talked for a bit, and after I had returned home I received a communique from the man, who had only realized my identity as runner of this site after the fact (hi, Francis!). I then went over to the bench outside the main cottage and sat down in the sun for a bit. As I prepared to go to the sauna one of the other occupants of my room finally showed up, and promptly promised to get their stuff in more order. The sauna was great and included several visits to a sheltered porch with a perfect view of the massif. Afterwards I still had some time before dinner, so I relaxed in the bedroom and checked on the drying things.

Just after 18 I walked over to the main building, outside of which the majority of the present guests were gathered. Soon enough one of the staff came out and put forward the plan for the evening; there was to be an ambitious Easter buffet above and beyond the ordinary. I talked some with my table neighbors before it was our turn to go get the goods – the common areas were pretty much filled to capacity – and what goods they were. I ate like crazy, no doubt driven on by the activities of the day, and everything was just great. Before digging into the dessert table (yes, table), however, I had to let the previous rounds sink a bit, and spent the time talking to the remaining people across the table. When I was finally done I walked around outside for a while; it was a very comfortable evening completely lacking in wind.

Introduction

Spring-y

Seated

Courses

Dessert!

After a visit to the residential cottage I went back to the common room, called Pilgrimssalen (Pilgrim Hall), where the staff was in the final stages of eating themselves. I read some in an SFK yearbook while half-listening to a conversation at the other table, and after a while I realized that one of the voices belonged to Erik, the manager of both the Helags station itself and the cottages in the Republic. He soon recognized me by sight – he's fairly new in this position, but we had met before – and we talked a bit about the past winter, wardenship and fjelds in general. The others were in the process of closing everything down for the night, so I returned to my room, which was again empty. I had an evening drink in the kitchen and once I was ready to go to bed, so were my roommates. I made one final inspection of both the outside and the drying room, and finding both perfectly fine I lay down to sleep around 22:30.