A snowshoe tour over the snaufjell
This article is part of the series “2019-02: Northern Norway”.
After some very lazy days I decided to make a snowshoe tour today. I just had to move! I’m here without my own car and therefore with quite limited baggage, but I was lucky to be able to get snowshoes from the Snowhotel Kirkenes.
First I followed a marked snowshoe route. It was -8 °C and in contradiction to the forecast the sun was shining. After some time I left the trampled path and made my own tracks. That’s what snowshoes are made for.
I went around and up some of the higher hills. First I love the view and then I love the snaufjell, the part of the mountains above the treeline. In Swedish it is called kalfjäll, but both words mean the same: bare fell. And soon I got my views.
One thing is special: There are boulders everywhere. I guess it’s leftovers from the last ice age but I don’t know why you hardly find those round-shaped boulders at other places on the bare fell.
The sun had vanished behind a layer of clouds and it started to snow. Sometimes the snow underneath my feet was of such a perfect white that I could not see whether it was going up or down. At least the sight was good and the terrain is easily accessible.
I navigated only by sight, therefore I cannot give you the name of the mountain top that was marked with a pile of stones and a wooden stick.
After some time I started my way back and descended from the snaufjell until trees got more common again.
I walked down through the fresh white snow – sometimes knee deep even with snowshoes – until I came to the trampled path again. Here the snow was so firm that I unmounted the snowshoes and went the rest of the tour without. Three hours later I was back in my host’s house.
It doesn’t happen often that I have a clear photo favourite of a certain day. Today I have:
2 comments to “A snowshoe tour over the snaufjell”
Johanna 2019-02-12 19:56
Irgendwann triffst Du auf YETI ……..
way-up-north 2019-02-13 22:41
Yetis sprechen oft nur Tibetisch und scheuen daher oft die Formalitäten für ein russisches Visum. Daher trifft man sie in Norwegen nur vereinzelt an.