Monday 1/4

It was another warm night, but not as bad as at Gåsen, and the wind continued. In the morning it was calmer, but snow was still falling, although things got lighter by and by. Since I had begun to feel a sore in my other ankle as well, albeit in a different place, I wrapped two socks around them, preparing for the final stage, and left around 08:45 after saying goodbye to Sven.

Light on the cliff

I started out by taking a closer look at the construction site, and then went up through the forest, more or less where the summer trail runs. There were clouds hugging the peaks all around, and the sun struggled to punch through. The ankles were feeling fairly good as I proceeded up above some hills just below the main rise of Giedtietjaerhvie, where there was more wind. I then went down to Tvärån (that's Stårjenjohke, as there are a multitude of streams with this name around the basin), crossing it beneath an overhang, and then started to ascend again across the southern slope of S Kyrkstensskaftet.

Building material and
skate tracks

Sun-on-snow

Climbing

Lill-Stensdalen

Cloudy still

Out of the forest

Giedtietjaerhvie

More of Lill-Stensdalsfjället

The sun was now out in full, and the sky was clear overhead, but the clouds remained "around the edges". As I slowly gained altitude the wind increased, and I saw fit to pull up the hood against it. I rounded the southern outrunner of the fjeld and climbed to the flatter portions east of it, where the snow cover was thinner (having been subjected to more wind), and went on northwards. When passages opened up in the steep slope to my right I took advantage of them and made some turns where possible, which landed me on the level of Kyrkstenen just south of the peculiar boulder. I skied up to it at 10:45, sitting down in a drift just next to the rock face.

Wind and clouds

Turning towards Rekdalen

Spotting...

...Kyrkstenen (Church Rock)

There I was nicely sheltered from the wind, and I stayed there until I started feeling a chill coming on. Going down to the forest turned out to be a humbling affair, as the snow surprised me on several occasions, and then I just stuck to the trail. In between the trees the wind was almost gone, and the track was good, so skiing was easy. I met three people before the old settlement Nyhemmen, which I took a little detour to check out, and then entered a part of the forest the quality and feel of which I particularly liked. I also checked out the woodland hut beside the trail, after which I met another quartet, and then had to adjust my ski boot lest the ankle get too painful; the trail was now also starting to slant downwards, so I just used the poles as much as I could.

Sheltered

Ottfjället across the valley

Anarisfjällen

Leaving Kyrkstenen

Forest trail...

...with the occasional mire

Nyhemmen

Hut inspection

Firm track

As I came down to the mire before Nulltjärnarna I met a man with a child, and more people with dogs were out on the open expanses. There the snow was very wet and tried to pull the skis off my feet, but it soon got better. There were more people out on the larger of the meres, as well as on the trail, which I followed beyond the car road. When this trail made a sharp turn into the forest, heading for the trail split there, I kept with the road, skiing on the plough mounds. Then I came upon the snowmobile trail, and just before coming back to the ski trail and the major slope there I was overtaken by three well-stocked dogsleds. I kept to the snowmobile trail above the slope for variety's sake, and then walked the remaining distance up to the fjeld station from the still bare car road at 13:15.

Flat

People on Nulltjärn's ice

Back where I started...

...in Vålådalen