This article is part of the series “2020-02: Ski tour Jämtland I”.

Saturday, 22 February – skiing to Gåsen

Day 8 of our ski tour. After we have found shelter from the storm in the emergency hut Hulke we where eager to continue out tour. Next stop Gåsen fjällstugan and finally a resting day is awaiting us.

As usual I am awake before 7 o’clock. Time to visit the utedass – the outdoor toilet – and take a snapshot in the blue hour with my iPhone SE. Technically the image is crappy but I love the almost pointillistic appearance of the photo. Since it looks rough it reflects reality much better than the technically superior photo, that I took with my Nikon D750 45 minutes later.

The first 4 km lead us 150 meters up. Easy, but a bit boring since the weather is grey and dull. When it’s cloudy like that, the contrasts are so poor, that you cannot see any structures in the snow.

That’s not a big deal as long we climb the mountain. Soon we can see the buildings of the Gåsenstugan although they are still nearly 5 km away. But between them and us there is the valley Holkendurrie. We have to ski down 150 meters again. Perhaps this wouldn’t be a big deal for me although I’m a real lousy downhill skier but just in this valley it starts to snow and it gets quite windy. Now there’s even less contrast and the snow looks like a white, untouched paper.

It takes some time for me to ski down. I know, that there are icy patches and snow drifts but I cannot distinguish between them. It’s all plain white. I fall the first time, when my right ski gets stuck in a small snow drift, while the pulka – still on fast, crusted snow – just pushes me down. Ouch, my left wrist didn’t like that. I fall once more, but after a while I managed to reach the valley, where Arne and Jonas have waited for me. Now it’s time to ascent again, this time round 200 metres. At 13:30 we arrive at the cabins.

Anders, another skier that we met at Helags recommended the old cabin which he considered very cozy. This cabin however is almost completely snowed in and it’s quite clear that it is not habitable right now.

Anyhow it’s the stugvärd we have to ask where to sleep. For today is the first day, where the mountain cabins are officially open. That means, that one or two stugvärdar are around. These voluntary working people tell guests like us where to sleep, accept payments, show where to fetch water or firewood, explain the kitchen (if necessary) and sell food and some other items in a small shop.

So we walk to the cabin with the sign “Stugvärd”. We have to climb down some large stairs cut into a huge snowdrift, then we enter a small anteroom and finally the shop where we are welcomed by the stugvärd. We are the first guests today. We directly pay for two days because we all want to have a day off – both for resting and avoiding new storm squalls that are forecasted for tomorrow. We are in the left part of the (only) other habitable cabin, another Abrahamssonstugan. I use the shop to buy ecologically chips and cola – pure luxury!

Jonas fetches firewood, Arne water from the well (and by chance catches a river trout with the bucket). We hang up our jackets, sleeping bags and other clothes to dry. The rest of the day we throw firewood into the wood stove, since this part of the cabin hasn’t been used since last year’s September and everything is cold, especially the walls and mattresses. It takes hours for the room to get a little warm. No other guests come this day, we stay alone, enjoying the cabin that provides everything you need.

Sunday, 23 February – a stormy resting day

Again I am the first to wake up. Again the night was stormy and it still is. Round 9 o’clock, Ebbe, the stugvärd drops in. He invites us to fika – the Swedish coffee break – for 15:00. If we shovel free his door.

First I take some photos through the window, then I go out into the storm. According to the forecast we have storm squalls up to 27 m/s this morning. Snow is blowing everywhere and my wide angle lens will have problems with moisture for days.

Then I go the the cabin of the stugvärdarna. The entrance door is snowed in over the door handle. How did Ebbe get out of the house? I shovel away the snow and then enter the cabin. Ebbe tells me, that he had to climb out of the window since he couldn’t open the door. It was the second time since they arrived five days ago. I’m glad to help.

It storms all day. When we go to the utedass (hardly 50 m away) we look like polar explorers. In the night we will be glad about the reflecting waymarks to find the way.

At 15:00 we leave our cabin and visit the stugvärdarna Ebbe and his wife Svitlana. It’s not only coffee we get, Svitlana has baken delicious brownies. Tasty! I feel honoured being invited by them and we have a great time together talking about hiking tours, places like the Sarek and safety in the mountains. After an hour or so we use the shop to buy additional food for the evening, then we leave.

Two other skiers have arrived. It’s hardly visible from the stugvärdarnas kitchen because the snow in front of the window is piled up so high. They join us in our room. It’s warm inside and the candles provide a cozy light. Outside it’s still storming. As the evening before I wear balaclava, ski goggles and headlamp when I go to the utedass.

It was a good day for resting! Thank you Svitlana and Ebbe for your hospitality. Hopefully we’ll meet again!

Monday, 24 February – finally tenting again

Again a stormy night, nothing to mention anymore after so much wind and storm. I remove about 80 cm fresh snow in front of the entrance door of the stugvärd cabin and trudge back through knee deep snow drifts. My pulka is visible from the side, the others almost completely buried in the snow.

If the weather forecast is right, wind shall finally decrease for some days. Hopefully that’s true so that we can sleep in the tent again. We leave Gåsen at 10 o’clock. First we have to ski through deep snow but then the snow is more compact and effortlessly we ski down to the emergency hut Härjångsdalen. After a short break we continue equally fast.

If we continue like this we’ll soon reach the cabin Vålåstugan. Since the wind really calmed down we slow down, too and start looking for a good place to camp. After several days in the kalfjäll above the timberline we spot the first birch trees. We stroll around a bit because it is still early. At 14:00 we have found a nice camp ground amidst some birches. As usual Arne and Jonas erect the tent while I take photos.

Later even the sun comes out. The first time while tenting.

Now it’s time to melt snow, to cook and to eat. Today’s dinner is spaghetti with pesto and chocolate as a dessert. Already at 19:00 we lie in our warm sleeping bags. The outside temperature -14 °C. I close my eyes and minutes later I fall asleep.

Continue with part 4 >

This article is part of the series “2020-02: Ski tour Jämtland I”.

Wednesday, 19 February – tenting in the kalfjäll

The night in the mountain cabin Vålåstugan was stormy, but in the morning the wind has calmed down. We leave Vålåstugan behind and head southeast.

Our way leads to Helags, the highest mountain in Jämtland. The Helags Mountain Station is about 23 km away, but we don’t have to go the whole way today since want to camp. The way leads up and there are less and less birch trees. Soon we are above the timberline in the kalfjäll – the bare mountains.

We take a break at Ljungan, one of Jämtlands emergency huts. For once it is not windy but it’s cozy to sit inside anyway.

Now we are already halfway to Helags. We decide to continue since the weather is supposed to get worse tomorrow. It would be nice to have just a short distance to the mountain station tomorrow. Ljungan lies in the valley of the river of the same name. Now we have to ski up again. We continue skiing the whole afternoon. On the one side I consider it quite exhausting, on the other side it’s so beautiful watching the light changing in the setting sun. White – yellow – orange – “peach” – purple and finally white again, but a cold one.

It’s already dark when we have found our campground for tonight. It is hardly protected again wind and storm but according to the weather forecast this night is supposed to be relatively calm.

If people ask me why I love winter tenting although it can be uncomfortable and sometimes even troublesome, have a look at the next photo. Can you imagine standing there? With an itching nose in the cold but the down parka keeps you warm? Looking at the milky way and zillions of stars? Hearing nothing than the crunch of snow underfoot and your own breath? Feeling how you calm down and find a deep satisfaction inside? That’s why I love winter tenting!

Thursday, 20 February – visiting Helags Fjällstation

Two o’clock. Suddenly we are all awake. It has got stormy again and tent was shaken by some stormy gusts. Is another storm approaching? No, soon it calms down again.

The next morning it is cloudy but calm. Through some gaps we can see the colours of the sunrise.

Some of the daily morning routines: melting snow – dissolving milk powder for the muesli – having breakfast – packing our things – dismantling the tent – putting on skis and the harnesses for the pulkas. It always takes a while, but we are not in a hurry, Helags is less than 7 km away. We leave at 9:40, ski to the winter trail that we left yesterday evening and follow the waymarks.

The wooden red crosses are our friends! Sometimes it seems quite boring following these waymarks, especially if you can see dozens of them standing in a straight line. But there’s a reason, that the distance between the red crosses is quite small. The weather can by very rough in the mountains and the visibility very poor. And the weather in the mountains can change very fast.

And so it happens to us. Within short the wind increases more and more. First it’s easy to continue but soon we are skiing in full storm. You hardly see more than the next red cross while the storm tries to knock you over. I manage to take some last snapshots with my smartphone.

Then I have to stop taking pictures because it would be too dangerous. We could loose each other or I could loose a mitten and get frostbite. There is hardly anything to see anyway because the visibility is extremely poor. I can spot a Arne, who is in the lead, my skis and sometimes the next red cross, that’s all. It’s very demanding to ski in storm, both physically and mentally and I’m really glad when we finally arrive at Helags. How long it took? I don’t know. I loose any sense of time in this kind of weather.

There are people at the Helags Fjällstation. Some craftsmen fixing things and two women working for the STF preparing Helags for the opening in eight days. After a bit of confusion we are shown the way to the emergency shelter, where we push the pulkas and ourselves inside. Arrived and protected from the storm.

We are safe and sound but disappointed. The cabin has eight beds and even electricity but no possibility to cook. I talk to one of the STF people who reacts with a mixture of confusion and ignorance. The only answer I get: it’s pre season and everything is closed. I tell them, that the mountain cabins as Lunndörren and Vålåstugan do provide everything even off-season but I get the same answer again. Quite disappointing.

Two other skiers have arrived. They manage to persuade one of the women to open another cabin with a kitchen until tomorrow. But the chaos continues. First Arne is locked in while using the indoor toilet in the main building and all STF people have left by snowmobile. Then they arrive again and want to lock the cabin with the kitchen already now, while we’re using it.

I never felt more unwelcome in Sweden since I moved here ten years ago. Actually we wanted to take a day off at Helags but it’s clear that this is not the place to be. We will leave tomorrow morning.

Friday, 21 February – finding shelter in Hulke

The next morning the storm has calmed down a bit and it promises to be a sunny day.

The kitchen is still open. Jonas fetches snow to melt on the electric(!) stove.

The utedass, the outdoor toilet is more than 100 m away from our cabin and lacks waymarks. I wouldn’t have dared to use it in full storm. But now I do. Things to bring: A warm jacket and a head lamp.

Although the storm subsided, it is still windy and the blown snow glistens in the sun.

Our departure is delayed a bit: A mitten I accidentally have dropped is blown away 20 metres. Jonas can fetch it before it is blown away even further. I pull on the glove and we can start.

The Helags massif is incredible beautiful and only reluctantly I break up. I would have loved a resting day but as I mentioned above not here.

Easily we continue. We have the wind behind us. First we slide down, then we have to cross the saddle between the mountains Miesehketjahke and Soenehketjärra.

From there we can spot the emergency hut Hulke. We only have to slide down the mountain saddle and we are there. Quickly we decide to stay here for the night because again hard winds are excepted for the night.

Most emergency huts have signs that restrict overnight stays to emergency situations. Not Hulke, so we feel safe to use it. Of course the firewood stays untouched. It is provided to save lives, not to increase comfort. We use our camping stove to cook and our warm clothes and sleeping bags to stay warm.

It doesn’t take long and it’s stormy again. I have to go to the utedass. After I have finished I open the door of the utedass from the inside. It is blown open so violently that the handle pulls me out of the building before I realise what happened. Jonas happens the same with the hut. From now on we open the doors only a bit and squeeze ourselves through the gap. And I wear ski goggles outside. My Nikon cameras dislike this weather and I only make some snapshots with my smartphone.

We sit on our inflated camping mats on top of the wooden benches. Mukluk boots warm our feet, warm jackets our body. After dinner we lie down. Jonas and I on a bench, Arne on the floor between us. Storm squalls howl in the stovepipe and make the hut vibrate. Will the stormy weather stop one day or will it continue forever?

Continue with part 3 >