Mekicevica's Crew North of the Arctic Circle. 6. A Well Hidden Cabin.

In the morning it was snowing lightly, but a hazy sun and a few patches of blue sky promised better weather to come. We climbed out of the lake by the way Sandra had spotted the day before, the "Turconi pass" and then continued a mild ascent to a huge cairn marking our highest point for the day.
Both the weather and the landscape were a bit dull. Even the reindeer we met looked a bit bored and totally uninterested in us. At least we start feeling more in control of these skis on the descents, even enjoying the effortless downhill progress.
After a break on the porch of a private cabin, we continued the somewhat tricky navigation to find the way down to the Russåga valley where our destination, Jordbruhytta is situated.
By then the sun came out in full force, and as we were getting lower, many snow free patches started to appear. The game was then to see how far we could go before we would be forced to walk. Shortly after another encounter with reindeer, we really reached the end of the snow, 2 km south of the cabin.

We were lucky that we only had to walk a few hundred meters and then reached terrain that was less exposed to the sun and we could ski again.
After several days above the tree line, it was pleasant to ski in the forest. Especially as it was not very dense and let the sun shine through.

However, it was dense enough to hide Jordbruhytta. The GPS was telling us that it was less than 300m away and we still could see it. We had to go around until we found where to cross the river and found a forest path. The distance decreased to less than 100m and still no sign of the cabin. Finally we almost bumped into it!

Jordbruhytta (or Jarbruhytta in some maps) is small and charming. It is also rarely used; the previous visitors had been there in March. It was really cold inside, and took a strong fire in the stove and a lot of time to warm-up!

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Mekicevica's Crew North of the Arctic Circle. 5. A Great Day.

In the morning the storm had passed and there were even a few sunny spells. A herd of reindeer were really close to the cabin.

When we started the visibility was poor and we were grateful for the traces of the reindeer that provided some contrast on the snow allowing us at least to see if we were going up or downhill.
The weather kept improving and it turned to a brilliant tour: sunshine, rolling hills, beautiful landscape, and reindeer and ptarmigans for company.
Than came the loooooong crossing of Bjøllåvatnet: six kilometers of skiing over a lake.

Luckily there is an old hoise that serves as emmergency shelter half-way. This offered a place for a midday break.

As we were approaching Bjøllåvasstua on the North end of the lake, the sky suddenly became overcast creat, the wind completelly died down and it became very warm. The diffuse light, the muffled but clear sound of our skis cutting through the snow and the stiffling temperature created a surreal atmosphere.
All this lasted but a moment. By the time we were in front of tha cabin it had become very sunny again. So much so, that we decided to make a small tour to check the route for the next day.
On the return to the hut, the Skipper demonstrated the Kamikaze technique to take a steep slope on skinny skis: press the skis into snow-plough and take a straight like. Banzai!

During the evening we had the visit of a couple from Bodø (i.e., locals) but they decided to stay in the other cabin. Once again we had the whole cabin for ourselves.

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Mekicevica's Crew North of the Arctic Circle. 4. Up to Midtistua.

Time to head North again. We retraced our path to Saltfjellstua (the reindeer were not there this time) and after a break, started on our way to Midtistua, the highest cabin we will stay in during this tour. Luckily the weather is holding well, much better than forecast.
First across the lake and then a gentle ascent. Located above the tree line, The cabin was easy to find, visible from the distance.

After the luxury of Krukkistua, Midtistua seemed rather modest. Cold as well, as it is high and exposed, but a good fire in the stove soon changed that.
In the evening the weather changed and we started to worry about having to sit out the bad weather.

Mekicevica's Crew North of the Arctic Circle. 3. A Five Star Cabin.

After the long trek of yesterday we needed an easy day: a short 5 km tour to Krukkistua. Soon after the first ascent we had another close necounter with reindeer.

Than another steep-ish descent on wobbly legs, and soon we found Krukkistua.
To our delight it is a small but new and absolutelly immaculate cabin. We liked it so much that we decided to stay there for the night.

We spent the afternoon on an easy tour along the valley, with day-packs only.

Mekicevica's Crew North of the Arctic Circle. 2. Over Lønstind Pass

After a breakfast of oats offered by Simon we set off for the hardest leg of our tour: a 23 km hike to Saltfjellstua over Lønstind pass.
We started on old snow climbing up through trees and then finding our way avoiding rocks and steep terrain to descend to Kjemåvatnet. On this difficult terrain progress was worryingly slow. But at least the weather was fine and we had the fist sighting of reindeer.
Then started the gentle ascent, on much better snow. Before reaching the pass we saw two more herds of reindeer.

At just under 1100m altitude, the Lønstind pass would be unremarkable in the Alps. However at these latitudes, it is a cold and windy place. Luckily we had the wind nearly on our backs, making it tolerable. Even so, the ascent seemed to go on forever.
Eventually we reached the saddle and started the long descent to Bjøllåvatnet. Still wobbly on these skinny skis, with a heavy pack an on snow that changed suddnly from wind-packed to powder and back, I had a bit of a struggle and lost count of the head-plants. First-Mate seemed to be doing much better.
After crossing the lake, started the search for Saltfjellstua. It is well hidden among the trees, but luckilly there were lots of old traces leading to some private cabins in its vicinity.
In Saltfjellstua we found a German couple (who live in Trondheim) who had also come from Lønsdal, but taking an easier route: driving to Semska and then skiing the valley route, this way avoiding the ascent to Lønstind pass.
That night we slept like logs.

Mekicevica's Crew North of the Arctic Circle. 1. Travelling to Lønsstua.

An old idea of ours was to do a hut-to-hut ski tour in Northern Norway. This year, with the Winter lingering in West Europe and forcing a late start of the sailing season, gave us the perfect opportunity. Our goal was Saltfjell, just North of the Artic Circle.
The journey From home to Lønsdal, our starting point, was a long one: over 27 ours, most of them within Norway. It is a big country!
First a flight to Oslo, than more than six hours by train to Trondheim where we had time for dinner at burger joint, and finally about eight hours on the night train, alighting at the small village of Lønsdal.

The Bodø touring club has a cabin just a few hundred meters from the Lønsdal train station, and that was our immediate destination to have breakfast and change into ski touring gear.
At the cabin we were greeted by Simon, a Brit on the last day of a three week tour and very eager to share the food he had left. We reciprocated his generosity with the latest issue of The Economist, for which he was very grateful.

Close of the (Alpine) Skiing Season

Easter was the close of the Alpine skinng season for The Crew. We made a trip to our favourite region: Berner Vooralpen. This time we were based in Simmental, in the hotel of the same name. Nice, friendly place with huge rooms.

Only the weather played up. On Good Friday, after having carried the skis up a muddy, steep forest path we found a desolate picture of poor visibility and wet snow. We just turned back and saved the day by skiing on the pistes of Zweisimmen. Saturday and Sunday were not much better. An attempt to escape the rain by skiing on the glacier of Les Diablerets failed because the lofts were closed due to avalanche danger. Or could it be that the staff just had enough of this season?
Finally on Monday the sun ame out with vengeance! We almost messed it up by getting stuck with the car on an icy road trying to access the starting point for a tour to the Niederhorn from the North side. Not even snow chains would get us past a badly iced patch.
Finally we had the inspiration to drive to Jaun pass and make a tour from there. What a treat! Sunshine, untouched snow, beautiful views and a great descent. A short tour that saved the weekend and closed the alpine skiing season in great fashion.

Bit we still have plans for a tour in Northern Norway...