Days 20 to 22 - Pulky retires
We have now been a good few days with no sufficient signal to post the blog. Did you miss me? Here is a précis of those days.
Sunday 27th February
Today is a rest day forced by the weather. I am first to get up. I spend the first hour of my “rest” day digging a path to the woodshed/toilet cabin. Worth the effort though. 10/10 for the toilets.
The rest of the day was very enjoyable. Got up-to-date with my trip expenses (receipts), wrote and published my latest blog, spoke to the lovely Mrs P and drew a picture in the hut book.
My hut book drawing
David and Trond, like the teenagers they aren’t, spend the day glued to their smartphones. Yeah, ok, I’m no better.
Monday 28th February
Lønsstua DNT to Graddis Fjellstue
Following yesterday’s storm and plus degrees temperatures the snow was quite different to usual. Whilst the air temperature was +2 to +3 the snow temperature was below freezing, so conditions were initially very good. However, higher up all the fresh snow had been blown away by the storm leaving only bullet hard snow. Not too bad going up, but the descent on the other side was tricky. Cue downhill pulk expert, Trond. However, with close to zero friction for the pulk it was very difficult to control and even our resident pulk expert got knocked over 3 times by young Pulky.
The beautiful sunshine of the morning gives us a fantastic view of the 1,560 metre, strangely shaped mountain called Sølvagtinden. Like an anvil turned on its side and painted white. Stunning.
Sølvagtinden out posing the two posers
As seems to happen a lot, the last km to our stopping place for the night takes forever. Very steep ground through trees, so once again I team up with Trond and hang on to a rope at the back to help control the pulk during descent. Apparently I was helpful. Though I always feel that there is a very fine line between me being useful and being a dangerous nuisance.
Believe it or not, we are actually moving in this picture!
We arrive at Graddis Fjellstue, a caravan and cabin site in the early afternoon. It is the areas oldest tourist company and has been in the same family for 5 generations, since 1867.
The owners, Kjell Sture and Berit Myrvang spoil us. A huge, delicious lunch, laundry and an even bigger evening meal. Rumour has it that there are eggs and bacon for breakfast!
The marvellous dining room at Graddis Fjellstue
And in other news…
Pulky McPulkface. The uncomplaining 4th member of the team
Pulky has been our saviour. Carrier of our shelter, sustenance and in some cases, our (read: “my”) ego. He has however been punished on this trip. Dragged over rocks, through trees and, for 32 km, he was even dragged along a gritted road. This pounding has taken a heavy toll and holes have appeared on the bottom of poor Pulky.
Poor Pulky!
He won’t last much longer. These next few days to Sulitjelma will be his last. A new one is being delivered to us there. Don’t worry though, he is not going to be melted down and turned into cheap plastic dolls. No. Pulky will hopefully have a long and happy retirement as a sledge for local children.
Meanwhile…
Tuesday 1st March
Breakfast in the impressive dining room at Graddis Fjellstue; Bacon, eggs, bread, butter, cheese, ham, salami, cloudberry jam, milk, tea, orange juice, coffee. Yum!
We leave shortly after 8am and follow a ski-scooter track for about 2 hours, which provides a circuitous way to the road. It is a long detour in the wrong direction, but a lot easier than the direct route, which seemed to negotiate at least one cliff face. Possible in summer perhaps, but not in winter pulling a pulk.
There is then a long 5-6 km route on the road to a small village called Fredheim and then Skaiti. Only 7 families live here. It is very pretty and pretty remote.
We have been told that the caretaker of the Argaladhytta (our destination for the night) had been there the previous day, so there would be a trail to follow.
Off we set, following first a ski-scooter trail, then skis. Then… a dead end. The skier obviously decided the route was too steep and dense with trees to continue and had turned round. There is no way we are going all the way back. Trond sets off up through the trees to find a route. David unhitches from the pulk and heads up with a long rope. Pulky is tied to the rope and hauled up through the trees.
If you look very carefully you can see David hauling on the rope to pull the pulk up through the trees.
Shortly afterwards Trond finds the correct ski trail and we are back in business.
We are in a beautiful deep valley floor. We climb gently from 400m to 650m over several kilometres. The mountains on either side climb steeply to well over 1,000m. The cliffs on one side of valley are draped in hard, blue ice. 3 or 4 distinct frozen falls reach upwards of 80 metres. An ice climbers dream.
Would you like ice with that?
The ski trail leads right to the door of the Argaladhytta hut.
There are two cabins here. The older of the two is 110 years old. Beautiful old, dark wood, a grass roof and everything hand made right down to the door catch. An outer door leads to a large woodshed and store room and from there a second door leads into the cabin. There are 3 beds (1 a bunk), a large communal table, a small pot-boiler wood burner. A beautiful museum piece that is still in regular use.
Inside the old Argaladhytta
We stay however, in the smaller, newer hut. It has 4 beds, but the main reason we stay there is, being smaller, it is quicker to get warm.
Trond and David are a bit edgy. They have checked their coffee supplies and found they can have just 2 cups each for the next 2 days (before resupply) and they want an afternoon coffee. Trond says; “But I HAVE to have a coffee tonight and I MUST have one in the morning…” “Spoken like a true addict.” I say.
David saves their day by finding a bit of real coffee in his food bag. They make some ‘Cowboy’ coffee in a pot and both cheer up.
Wednesday 2nd March
We are getting quicker at getting away in the mornings and leave the hut just before 07.45. The temperature is just above freezing and it is snowing steadily with the promise of high winds. It is a pretty simple day. 21 km gently uphill and then a couple of hours across a lake.
Visibility quickly deteriorates and the wind increases quite dramatically. The valley we are following is about 1/2 km wide at this point with steep sides. Ominous evidence of 3 large and relatively recent avalanches lies in heaps of huge ragged tears in the snow to our left. Fortunately our route is well clear of the danger area.
Now, there is something of a running in joke, that is relevant to the next bit. David and I have definitely failed at times to appreciate and/or take on board local advice. A bit like Scott, in the race to the South Pole, taking horses to Antarctica while Amundsen took dogs.
“Always listen to the locals” has become Trond’s favourite repost when things go wrong.
Anyway, flat light means that seeing any undulations etc. in the snow is impossible and I am in front being blown along by the high winds. Suddenly (and fortunately briefly) I am in free fall. Then, a face full of snow.
I have skied off a low snow bank at the edge of the river. No damage. I start shouting “Hole” so that no one follows me over the edge. I also shout that I am ok, (just in case anyone cares). David appears first and finds a better route down, the bank but is tripped up by Pulky. Trond appears and looks over the edge to see two upside-down British men, “Does anyone need some advice from a local?” He says. You just know he has been waiting weeks for an opportunity to say that.
Oh, how Trond did laugh!
The rest of the journey through the valley to the lake is uneventful and the visibility continues to be very limited.
We stopped at the Balvasshytta to get out of the wind for lunch and then head across the lake. With absolutely no point of reference David has to constantly check the GPS to correct our trajectory. Eventually, after about an hour, the view clears and we can see the far side and fix a bearing.
A couple of hours later and we arrive at the Coarvihytte. It’s a large and comfortable hut and we are earlier than usual, so have plenty of time to relax.
A relaxing evening in the Coarvihytte
While I am recording my audio diary for BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester and BBC BerkshireI I spot a small group of reindeer wandering past the window . I briefly feel like David Attenborough as I describe the scene.
After that it’s the usual Instagram and Facebook updates and a chat with the delectable Mrs P, followed by writing my diary.
We have now been traveling for 22 days and have covered a distance of 445 km since we restarted our journey at Nordli.
