Tours › 2007 › Kebnekaise: Day Tours › 18/4

Wednesday 18/4

Järvstenen

Horizontal distance:	7 km
Vertical distance:	-100 m, +200 m, -200 m, +100 m
Time:	3 h 15 min
Lunch break:	–
Dinner:	–
Night accommodation:	–
Stage classification:	Medium

Together with Sofia and Johanna W, I started a walk to a particularly large erratic block called Järvstenen (Wolverine Rock) on the slope of Skárttoaivi before 14:45. The valley had lost most of its snow cover by then, and what patches there were carried our weight, so we could walk unhindered (save for an half-open brook or two). We crossed Láddjujohka via Elsa's bridge and then started gaining height, aiming west-southwest. There was a constant but fairly light westerly wind blowing, and the sky was covered in an almost uniform veil. We passed over several snowfields the crusts of which were very hard and coated with an ice layer, and my shoes had trouble getting a grip; with forceful kicks and the occasional use of hands I could manage, though.

A bit further along we came to the realization that we were too high up for comfort – the slant and shape of the terrain were growing difficult – so we descended a little ways and then turned up again at the next larger snowfield, which cut through a crest dividing the slope. We proceeded to climb beside this field, and one passage in particular necessitated the use of all four extremities, and some daring moves. After that, above the crest, things were much easier, and we even came upon the frozen footprints left by Johanna and her party when they had come this way the day before.

Then it wasn't long before we found ourselves looking upon Järvstenen at point blank range, and in the other direction the view wasn't bad either – the cloud veil was very high and did not obscure anything but the sun, and the wind had all but subsided. We even saw two figures going up in Giebmejohka, which made it more than probable that they were Petter and Tosse who were going skiing on (and in) Duolbagorni. There was also a caravan of six snowmobiles approaching on the trail from Singi, and they of course ran into trouble when they ran out of snow.

Mostly bare valley

An erratic at Elsa's bridge

Icy fall

Giebmegáisi

Sun halo

Siŋŋičohkka and the entrance to Siŋŋivággi

Turning back to the matters at hand, Järvstenen has a small cave system which we of course wanted to explore, so we entered through a narrow crack in the eastern face of the cliff, turning on our headband lights. After a narrow passage the cave opens up into a chamber which itself is open to the sky, and we all performed some more climbing to get out that way. We proceeded round the boulder and into another opening, emerging on the western side. The veil was then moving off to the east, leaving clearer sky behind it and letting a subdued sun shine through; it gave no warmth, and it was getting somewhat chillier. We walked around some more before turning around – which wasn't really turning around, since we were going to circumvent the crest by going a bit east before descending for real.

This route was much, much easier, and down on the valley floor we followed Láddjujohka back to the bridge, noting that it rather felt like late autumn than early spring. The still intensity-reduced sun gave a fantastic soft light, which had drawn out Lars on a photo tour, and we got to pose for him. The four of us then walked straight back to the station, where Lars and I went to the canteen right away, since the clock was just then turning 18:00, while the girls made a stop at Skarta first.