Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra 2023 - PART 1/2
Part 1 of 2 - The lead up and the first 185KM to Overkalix
Pre-preamble
So we were fortunate enough to be able to take early retirement around Christmas 2021 and had been looking for a "big adventure". Boy, did we find one! This blog covers a lot of ground (like the race itself) so unless you are die hard into this stuff please save yourself an hour of your life by just looking at the pictures. If you are in it for the long haul, grab a coffee, get comfy, and lean into it.
Preamble
2022 had drifted by with an early date with the Spine Race in January which we did together (or more accurately I endured in a bewildered drug influenced sleep deprived state while Harriet skipped capably through the Pennine wilderness impeded only by her dribbling husband). But we got there. Eventually. Harriet then had the 4 main Spine medals (Challenger and Full, Winter and Summer) (she doesn't get out of bed for less than 50 miles so doesn't count the Sprint) only to discover the race organisers had added Challenger North to the mix, so signed herself up for Winter and Summer Challenger North races so as to complete the set of 6. But that still gave us space to fit in an adventure somewhere.
I had been secretly hankering to get back to the arctic wilderness since I did the Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra all those years ago, time and rose tinted glasses having had plenty of time to work their magic on some of the traumas that race held for me, so I had only positive happy memories of my time in that environment. But the Yukon is a long way, has some really extreme and dangerous temperatures to contend with and generally does not bode well for a continuing state of marital harmony. So we looked closer to home. Robert Pollhammer, race director for the Yukon Arctic Ultra, had started a new race in 2022, the Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra, 500km/300m 10 day duration, non-stop format, through the very best of Swedish Lapland, Europe's last remaining wilderness. The race runs in three separate categories, foot, ski or bike, but as we can't ski and I haven't been on a bike since I was about 16, foot category it was. The trail is generally snow mobile trails so in good conditions efficient progress can be made in normal footwear, but in fresh snow or soft trails snowshoes work well and are mandatory kit anyway. A quick check of the race structure and rules, and some research on the location and the trails and it looked perfect. I may have forgotten to mention to Harriet that a 185km version was available. Ooops. So after a quick video discussion with Robert we filled in the forms and the die was cast.
Training & Preparation
So we were looking down the barrel of a 500km race over 10 days. That in itself wasn't too intimidating as we are comfortable at Spine Race distance (430km) and the timings at a macro level seemed ok. We did a little mental arithmetic and concluded that if we divided up an imaginary day into 16 hours of work and 8 hours of rest, it would take only an average speed of 3km/2miles per hour to cover the average daily distance. As models go it was pretty rough, ignoring as it does such minor considerations as pulk (sledge) weight, hills, trail quality, weather, checkpoint locations, cumulative fatigue and injury, but it was nice to at least start from an implied daily average distance that didn't send a shiver down the spine.
Robert provided a gpx file of the previous years race which came with a big health warning that as the trail changes year to year it should be used for planning purposes only. But it was enough to start to construct a table of distances and elevations between checkpoints and other key features along the trail. Elevation was critical. Scientists who try to tell us that gravity is a "weak force" have clearly never tried to haul a 25 kilo pulk up a hill. The frictionless benefits of a hard icy trail cannot be predicted in advance but a hill is there regardless and knowing where the hills were, and conversely where the theoretically pace beneficial flat lake and river ice sections are is vital to predicting pace over the various sections of the race.
At this point it is worth clarifying something. We do not consider ourselves to be competing, instead we were focused on completing. A single letter difference, but the influence of that "l" is vital in our planning. We had some simple objectives for this race:
- Finish, and underwrite that finish by using the time available and making wise decisions
- Enjoy the journey, which means.....
- Get some sleep, preferably at the time our bodies want sleep. We were not inviting the sleep monsters to come with us on this trip.
- Limit nighttime travel to the extent possible given the shorter arctic days and the fact that its a race we are in apparently! The scenery is breathtakingly beautiful and we wanted to enjoy every minute of it. If you are moving at night by headtorch you may as well be at home on a treadmill with the lights turned off.
- Be safe. Be confident in the skills needed to be able to reach the finish line in as many pieces as we started, with all appendages intact.
So with this in mind we constructed a plan not based on the speeds we felt we could go, but instead on the speeds that each section needed to be completed by in order to saunter casually across the finish line with 30 minutes to spare, having had a good nights sleep each night. If any section took us longer than expected and put us on the wrong side of our last minute plan we would then know what corrective action was needed. The trouble ultimately with planning speeds over snow and ice, hauling a pulk, is that the possible range of speeds is much wider than over say more predictable terrains such as our good friend the Pennine Way. Snow takes no prisoners; fresh snow doesn't just make for navigation challenges it makes for energy draining foot work and high friction. The same stretch of trail could be done at anywhere between 1 and 4 mph depending on the trail conditions. There is no way to plan in advance for it, so all we could do is have the information to hand mid race to make sensible choices to accommodate the weather.
The plan was born. Get from A to Z with 30 minutes to spare having had a load of sleep on the way. Anything faster than this was good to have as contingency but our drop dead plan gave us a clear view on where we must get to, and leave, at any stage in the race in order for the train to stay firmly on the tracks.
Training was simpler. Harriet and myself approached the problem in our usual ways, Harriet with a planned efficient targeted approach to developing both broad conditioning and specific strengthening, me making it up as I went along. Tyre dragging is essential. My mental slide-rule and recall from the Yukon was that dragging a tyre, then two tyres, is a really good proxy for the physical stresses caused by pulk hauling, specifically on the back, hips and knees. Local morons provided us with a seemingly unending supply of used tyres abandoned roadside for our convenience, which we repurposed, wore down to the metal rims, and then took to the recycling centre for disposal. We planned to just tow the pulks using a padded waist belt as oppose to the full waist and shoulder harness (sweat management is so much better if you don't have shoulders or back covered with harness or rucksack) so making sure we were well conditioned for the physical strain this would put on us was important.
Harriet, who was simultaneously training for the Lapland trip and the Winter Spine Challenger North also had a strict schedule of core body strengthening exercises which she felt worked well, little running but lots of fast hiking time on feet with heavy packs for endurance work. If you are here looking for detailed training plans and insights from our coach, you clearly haven't met us. Now if you are interested in kit well that's a very different story....
Clothing and Equipment
Everyone who signs up for a Spine Race dreams of it being a cold one, with fast progress over frozen ground and bogs, and enough snow to make the landscape beautiful, but not so much as to impede progress. This dream is sadly a rarity, but Harriet was lucky enough to get a cold snowy one in January which had the dual benefit of giving her clothing and equipment a good field test at zero to minus 10 temperature range. We could expect zero to minus 20 or lower in Lapland so this was a great opportunity to test what worked and what didn't. Arctic clothing is all about layering and sweat management and so our trusty UK Winter go-to of Brynje wool mesh baselayer, merino midlayer, and Paramo outer layer looked like it would be ideal. Add in additional mid layers as needed, and extra Primoloft insulation overlayer for the colder end of the spectrum and we felt we had a pretty flexible solution. Race rules (and common sense) also required an expedition grade down jacket of fill weight 350g or more (available to hire from the race director along with most of the other more specialist equipment needed) which was ideal for keeping warm on breaks or when setting camp. We both used Paramo trousers, Harriet with Byrnji long johns underneath, wehreas I generally didn't find I needed any leg base layer under the Paramo's other than on one or two very cold occasions when I used a thin merino baselayer. Gaitors, buffs, hats, and three flexible glove layers (base, mid, and Buffalo outer mitts) completed the clothing ensemble.
Because the trails are (generally) packed down snowmobile trails then normal running footwear works well while you are moving. The action of walking and a good core body temperature keeps the blood flowing through the feet and keeps them cosy. As soon as you stop though the cold soon penetrates and you need to either change foot wear or get moving again quickly. I had opted for a opted for a tried and tested Hoka Speedgoat sized to allow for both merino liners and thick waterproof socks. Harriet was in Altra Olympus 5. In hindsight I chose poorly. Given myself and Harriet were in exactly the same underfoot conditions throughout, by the time I reached the finish my footwear was falling apart, whereas Harriet's Altras still looked out of the box new.
The Hoka's started off looking a bit furry, then developed holes, then fell apart. Our working hypothesis is that certain artificial fibres used in some shoe uppers absorb water when foot heat melts snow on the shoe, then as it gets colder again the water in the fibre freezes shredding the fibre and destroying the shoe. The ice, once it got a grip into the shoe, became a problem and in extreme cases the ice grew into the shoe to the extent it pressed against my foot and needed to be scraped out. Myself and others had similar problems with certain shoes in the Yukon so if you are planning on this sort of race, be warned and choose carefully.
Another big consideration for us was tent or bivi. I'd used a tent for Yukon #1, then a bivi for Yukon #2 and was convinced that a tent would suit us better this time. We took a free standing Black Diamond mountain tent with us, very light and quick to pitch but not great in the wind (though thankfully there's not that much wind there). In hindsight we should have gone for a 3 person tent as with two fully lofted arctic sleeping bags inside there was little room for anything else in our tent!
Training Course
We travelled to Jockfall which is ground zero for all things pre-race (and also conveniently is Checkpoint 2 in both race distances) via Stockholm and Lulea Airport. Jockfall is a fantastic place run by the ever-helpful and friendly Landin family. Warm and welcoming, with comfortable lodges and a restaurant, and also offering camping and fishing in the Summer months.
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| Jockfall from above. One of the many amazing drone photos and videos courtesy of Media Maestro Callum |
We stayed in a newly built, high quality 2 bedroom apartment with log burning stove, kitchenette and bathroom. It was absolutely lovely and was our base for 10 days covering our preparation time, training course, and pre race admin and briefing time leading up to the race start on the 6th March. (unbeknown to us at the time the same cabin would also be our same home for a night mid-race as checkpoint 2!)
A central figure in Jockfall was Robin Landin who seemed to have boundless energy and along with a team of snowmobile drivers worked tirelessly to keep the trails in good shape for us. The support of Robin and local people like him was a consistent and welcome characteristic of the race wherever we travelled to.
After a trip to the local supermarket in Overkalix for food our main focus was the training course. Robert requires all competitors without cold weather experience to take the pre-race training course. Given I'd been to the Yukon twice I didn't have to but felt that refreshing skills and hopefully learning new ones from a local expert would be a good idea. (and also not doing so would have been tantamount to poking fate in the eye with a stick, and I didn't think that was a good idea). All competitors also needed to complete the online training course on hypothermia and cold injuries available for free here and which I would recommend to anyone venturing out in winter conditions, in the arctic, the UK, or otherwise.
The training course was comprehensive, running over 4 days and led by Per Johansson a local ranger and guide who did a great job of alerting us to the hazards of the environment along with teaching good camp craft. We covered cold weather dangers, choosing locations and making camp, stove use (and misuse!), snowshoes, making fires, and even the process and etiquette required when nature calls. Repetition to ensure skills became more second nature worked well and when we went into our first wild camp night we felt a lot more prepared for having done the course then if we had not. Thanks Per!
With the training course complete and a number of plan adjustments already in mind from what we had discovered in using the kit in anger for the first time, our thought turned to matters culinary.
Food
We had a number of factors to consider here:
- How many calories would we need
- Weight
- Suitability for freezing conditions
- Practicality of preparation and clean up
- Harriet
- Super-charged coffee-choc mix, mega high calorie drink (with butter)
- Breakfast of coconut and chia porridge (with butter)
- More coffee-choc, at regular intervals, with accompanying chocolate hobnobs
- Dinner and lunch were both a pepperoni boosted Huel meal (and butter)
- Pudding, a custard based dessert with dried fruit (that possibly also had butter in it)
- Two servings of Huel meal replacement powders to be tactically applied as needed
- Our daily allowance of peppermint teabags, which rapidly became the black-market currency of choice.
- Daily snack bags including chocolate, fruit, and nuts, all small enough to allow for easy defrosting in the mouth before chewing, thus avoiding the need for mid race dentistry.
Butter, as we often reminded ourselves, is our friend.
We spent many hours testing mixes, rehydrating in our two wide neck thermos meal flasks, adjusting, retesting, weighing and bagging. One additional consideration was the "Harriet Factor". Whereas I have the food imagination of a small pebble and can, if required, eat the same thing for days at a time, Harriet has more refined requirements. Taste, texture and menu variety all mattered she firmly assured me. We addressed this as best as we could through the six different Huel meal varieties we had, and 2 different meal replacement powder flavours and crossed our fingers that there would be no repeat of the the "Great Chilled Melon" incident of 2017.
Our final trip to the supermarket also provided a further staple, a local brand mini chocolate bar
We divided the food up into first days, then into phases, which related to time in-between the three times we could access our drop bags, CP#2 Jockfall, CP#5 Lansjarv, and CP#7 Nattavarra. Other than some repairs items, spare clothing and toiletries, and enough AAA batteries to power a space station, the food bags took up most of the bulk of our drop bags. With them finally packed and delivered to the race marshals we were ready to get going.
Day 1
The race start was a quite respectable 9:30am, and even with the need to transfer athletes from Jockfall to Overkalix, we only needed to report for duty at 8:30am. This allowed for a surprisingly relaxed pre-race breakfast. We also took the opportunity to prepare some non-race spec food to make our first day go smoothly. As we stood at the start line we had porridge ready to eat in one flask, and potato and leek soup (with extra butter) in the other, to go with lots of cheese and salami sandwiches (with extra butter). For day 1 at least we would eat well.
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| At the start line as clean and unwindburnt as we were going to be for many days |
We had retrofitted bags to the hauling shafts of the pulks for small items, and also had bumbags for additional paraphernalia. The bumbags idea was abandoned by lunchtime as they simply didn't coexist with the pulk waist belt. The small items bags on the pulk shafts however worked brilliantly.
The weather was not the blue sky, cold and still day we had hoped for. In fact it was overcast, warmer than we would have liked and there was a pretty firm wind blowing inevitably from the North..... the direction we would soon be heading!
Just after 9:30am we counted down the start from ten and were at last on the way. Lots of build up over the previous weeks and months finally coming to fruition. Nothing more we could do to plan for it, all that remained was to "get it done", a phrase borrowed from Maximo a fellow competitor and Spine veteran, and it was used extensively throughout the 10 days to come.
We had set up a friends and family whatsapp group to privately share pictures and video updates so I will draw on those to narrate the story as the race progressed.
The first checkpoint was about 24 miles in so a short leg to start. This divided up quite nicely into three parts the first being about 14 miles of river ice, then turn inland for 9 miles of gentle climbing, then a final 1 mile steep climb. The Laxforsberget checkpoint was a cabin and teepee at the top of the hill (a "mountain" in local reckonings), not a significant elevation until one remembers you are towing a pulk up it. Our plan for the day allowed for a gentle start as its not unheard of for me and Harriet to be stressed and generally needlessly freaked out for the first few hours up to and over the start line. A frequent reminder to CTFD (Calm The F Down) was often all that was needed to normalise a moment of mental implosion, but we felt that taking any semblance of the need to race out of day 1 would relieve a possible source of stress.
Our plan for the day was simple.
- Start.
- Make sensible paced progress.
- Stop to eat and drink regularly.
- Make more progress.
- Climb hill.
- Arrive checkpoint.
- Review plan.
The first section of river ice was slower going than we would have like. Soft trail and a brisk cold headwind significantly slowed down what could have been (and in last years race was) a fast effortless first section. At one point we crossed a 4 lane government maintained ice road (60 tonne rated) which spanned the river along the line operated as a ferry crossing in the summer months. The difference in surfaces between trail and ice road was significant, our pulks for 1 delightful minute becoming frictionless and thus seemingly weightless!
We settled into a breaks rhythm of about 90 minutes work followed by a quick stop to drink some coffee, eat a couple of biscuits and have a few mouthfuls of our supercharged porridge. This kept energy levels up and the time flew by.
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| From the river the trail switched to gently climbing woodland paths |
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| Day turned to night and a haunting near full moon. Sunsets (and sunrises) lasted forever and were universally wonderful. |
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| Still smiling and still married |
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| Destination CP1, with above average views! |
Checkpoint 1 Laxsforsberget was perched at the top of a hill and so the last couple of kilometres was going to be a slow haul. With a 5 miles still to go we ran out of drinking water and resisted the urge to just plough on to the top knowing that it wasn't a good idea to be anything less than fully hydrated and 5 miles, while not much in the real world, could represent 2-3 hours of hard work when pulling a sledge up a hill. We stopped and got the stove going to top up our flasks enough to see us to the top. Having two of us worked really well not just in practical terms of four hands not two, but also as it was good to have two brains on the job as at least one of us was usually capable of talking sense to the other at any point in time.
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| Harriet turning snow into water, not quite straw into gold, but just as valuable in arctic climes |
We arrived at the checkpoint just before 20:00 a comfortable 2+ hours ahead of our worst case schedule and having been treated to a Northern Lights display as well on the last section of the climb we were all smiles as we tucked into the beef stew on offer.
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| Tent life. But even with the big stove in the middle we both started to lose body temperature quickly. A situation that could have been improved if I had chosen to actually zip up my jacket. |
Every checkpoint required a medical check, with some general questions along with a full check of fingers and toes. Stripping off socks when not stopping at a checkpoint to rest was always inconvenient but it was absolutely the right thing. Frostbite of any severity can happily sneak up on you even when you don't feel that your fingers or toes have got cold so having the race medics do a visual check at each and every checkpoint was in everyone's best interests. The night was young, the weather was good, it was downhill from the CP for a good long way, and the overnight temperature was forecast to only be a comfortable -15, so having passed our medicals and consumed our meal we agreed that we should try to push on for at least another hour or two before stopping for the night. So we did.....
We had planned wherever possible to sleep when our body clocks would be expecting us to, and in this way to get better quality sleep, and not to miss out on any nice scenery by trudging through it by headtorch light. First night this was always going to be harder to do as there were more other racers about and the "race" was feeling as "racey" as it was ever going to. That said we knew there was a big lake section coming and didn't want to either camp on it, or have to delay camping for a long time while we traversed it, so in the end we found a nice sheltered woodland area around 22:00 and made camp. We should have also made more food and water but by this time the stresses of the day were making themselves felt and we got bed tunnel-vision. Going to bed hungry isn't wise when you are burning a lot of calories even as you sleep to keep warm, but we have been finding new and unusual ways to cause ourselves problems in ultras for years and we weren't about to change that now.
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| The unusual honour of a mention in the RD daily report as "First Resters". Also Robert hexes the whole night for everyone by putting a lower limit on the temperature. Challenge accepted says Mother Nature. |
The night then chose to be chuffing freezing. Later confirmed by the snowmobile safety team "should not go much below" actually resulted in -25c in the tent. It's safe to say this is a smidge colder than a Harriet's natural environment. For anyone, temperatures below -20c in a tent become more challenging, but for the woman who once told me there was not enough down in the world to get her to do a cold race, -25c was just plain rude. No doubt helped by our failure to eat supper, we weren't exactly comfortable, but we were safe and still managed to get a good 5 hours of sleep in before breaking camp an hour before dawn. We HAD taken the excellent step of having a flask of coffee-choc ready to drink as we broke camp which helped get the engines running, and we planned to press on for a couple of hours to let dawn happen and the temperatures rise a bit before stopping to make breakfast and more drinking water.
Day 2
Pleased with our progress, general well-being, and having survived the night and our first camp, as soon as the sun came up the world seemed like a much better place. We stopped to make food and water and the stoves again decided to show they weren't a fan of the cold by misbehaving. Although they say no pre-heating is required it became very clear very quickly that this was a claim made by some guy in marketing who never set foot outside the office. Once we got into the habit of preheating the burner element for a few seconds with our lighters the whole process became much simpler and the stoves performed well for the rest of the trip. I'm still in two minds about the multi-fuel stoves versus the Trangia alcohol burners (the latter being invented by the Swedish military should have been a clue). Alcohol stoves are slower and less fuel efficient, but they take 10 seconds to go from bag to burning, they are super light, have zero moving parts to go wrong and are indestructible even if you choose to jump up and down on one (and who hasn't). With water flasks refilled and our industrial supply of coffee topped off we pressed on to find some of the cabins that this stretch promised.
The second checkpoint is a welcome return to Jockfall, the home of all things pre-race, with the promise of indoor sleeping, showers, and our first access to our drop bags. (NB: 185km racers do not get a dropbag, only the 500km racers). The total leg length is about 30 miles so again a comfortable distance for the day, but our first waypoint was Bastukojan cabin about 17 miles from CP1, and roughly dividing the distance between checkpoints. We planned to stop and eat (again) there. If we were feeling really greedy there was also the succinctly named Bjorkadamskojan shelter another 3 miles further. The race organisation had provided firewood at various shelters on route for safety reasons and we were welcome to use this responsibly so long as we refrained from burning the cabins to the ground.
Having had a good break at the first cabin and a catch up with a resident Ruth (185km competitor on skis and all round Superwoman) we decided to skip the second cabin and actually try to make some progress up the trail in-between our eating stops. I popped into the second cabin just to be nosy and found snow had invaded via the chimney to make a little snow mountain in the hearth.
From here it was on paper 11 miles to Jockfall, though there was a route detour in place between us and the checkpoint so we weren't exactly sure. We settled back into our routine of 60-90 minutes work followed by a quick pit-stop. In addition to keeping us fuelled and hydrated these pit-stops were also our main opportunity for talking as the predominantly single lane trails and the noise of the pulk restricted conversations on the move. Our arrival at Jockfall was looking like it was going to be late afternoon so on one of our stops we chatted about our plan for the checkpoint.
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| Coffee, biscuits and team talk time. |
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| Our faithful mugs. We discovered that a mug of snow with boiling coffee or water poured over it not only brings the drink to a good drinking temperature but gives you about 20% more liquid to aid hydration. |
On one hand we were closing on the end of day 2 having only done only 54 miles compared with the simple average of 60 (daily average of 30 * 2 days), so were, in purely mathematical terms 6 miles short of par for two days into the race. Also, a racing mentality would have said we should have taken maybe 2 hours at Jockfall, then pressed on into the night to get another few hours in before camping. But racing mentality we were not. Late afternoon still meant darkness and our body clocks were still set to sleep early and get up early. And anyway, Jockfall was a top quality checkpoint and we didn't want to rush through it. A shower, a meal, and a warm bed were all looking mighty appealing right now.
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Destination Jockfall ❤️ |
We arrived at 16:00 just as the light faded, and announced our intention to leave about 04:00 so a luxurious 12 hour stop in total. We were playing the long game. After medical checks and a fantastic meal we were delighted to learn that we had been assigned Cabin 15 which we had been staying in for the 10 days pre-race. We lit the fire, got our kit drying, raided our drop bags and repacked the pulks. A full reboot in familiar surroundings, a roaring fire, a shower and a warm bed. Result!
Day 3
There was some breakfast available at Jockfall so we took full advantage then spirited ourselves off into the night at 4am as planned. We had been told it was going to be really cold, so inevitably it wasn't, and 20 minutes out of Jockfall we were stopped again to shed layers. Sweating is not your friend, and the work rates with pulks up hills versus on flat is massively different, and the temperatures in the wind or on frozen lakes and rivers are massively different, so its inevitable that frequent stops are needed to change layers. We (and by we I mean me) had to get used to this, get over it, and get on with it. I much prefer a constant rhythm of movement whereas Harriet is more disciplined and more willing to stop and make changes as she deems fit. As she is reading this I will of course add that she is right and I am wrong.
Morning briefing recorded and I was that sharp and switched on that I managed to substitute Braeburn for Jockfall, seamlessly transferring Lapland CP#2 for Yukon CP#2.
From Jockfall there is a just short 16 mile hop to CP#3 Polar Cabin, before a long wilderness section of 43 miles into CP4 Overkalix which marks the end of the race for the competitors on the 185km route. With 3 DNF's already on the 185km race by this stage there were now more competitors in the long race than the short, but after Overkalix it was still going to get a lot quieter on trail. As the sun came up we found ourselves at the start of a glorious day, and in glorious scenery.
Things were going well. Too well. We should have known there was a sting in the tail coming, there is afterall a saying that goes "if at any stage in ultra you start feeling good, don't worry, it will pass". But for now we were loving it. Before we knew it we arrived at Polar Circle Cabin to a warm welcome (as always). There are two polar circle cabins on route, one on lap 1 were we were, and another on lap 2, unsurprisingly these being at the points where the trail cuts the polar circle latitude. So this time around we were crossing it North to South out of the arctic circle.
The service at Polar Circle Cabin was first class as ever. A massive bag of pasta bolognaise was delivered to us which we ate in a dug out pit around the bonfire. There was even an outhouse. All mod cons.
We said our goodbyes, and were back on trail just before 14:00. It was a bivi out night but our attention was caught by Tarasjarv Shelter a cheeky half marathon away and offering the possibility of a bit more space than the tent would offer. We would probably get there late afternoon so in theory too early to stop but our body clocks were still on a sleep early rise early model so it may work out ok.
Just as the light started to fade we spotted the shelter, which on first sight looked promising. Four walls, check, roof, check, door, check, chimney, check - all good. Outside there was some wood though in a less than stove friendly 6 foot long lengths, and a bow saw that could easily have been of viking origin.
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| Tarasjarv, 5* on Trip Advisor for local heavy drinkers |
We wrestled with the door which first refused to open, then refused to close. Inside was rustic, and seemed colder than outside, with an enormous stove that could have possibly been salvaged from the Titanic, and an impressive collection of empty beer bottles, cans and spirits (alcoholic, not paranormal, though in hindsight who knows). There was no dry firewood inside so I attempted to cut down some of the logs on the porch which proved a slow process, each taking longer to cut than it took to burn. I got the fire started and we got to work with the stoves melting snow and making up food and drinks, then stacked our flasks against the wall for morning. Had we been more vigilant we would have noticed the aforementioned tail with the sting in it had started twitching.
By 18:00 we were all sorted, fed and watered so decided to get some sleep with an alarm set for midnight. We gave up on the wood burning stove as ate wood faster than I could cut it, and seemed to be making zero difference to the ambient temperature of the cabin. It would make the morning pre-dawn session longer and harder but it gave us rest when our bodies were expecting rest and would set us up nicely for a timely arrival at Overkalix which wasn't a major dropbag stop, but did offer the promise of a shower and indoor sleeping. What should have figured into our calculations but didn't were:
- Why was it so unbelievably cold in here?
- Would other competitors also stop here?
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| Brrrr. |
