The Quiet Picture

I just had to go and get myself a pair of new skis (and boots). There’s a new type of ski out, they are much shorter and slightly wider than my old skis. Apparently, they provide for more maneuverability and balance than “normal” skis and they are also easier if you want to ski skating-style. Which I’ve never learned. Anyway, how could I not get them? All I needed then was to find some snow to try my new gear… so I drove to Lofsdalen today. I thought the place would be buzzing with people, but the season is clearly coming to an early end and there wasn’t enough people to fill the snowcat, and I was the only one with skis. It would’ve been silly to be pulled by the snowcat alone so I climbed in as well.

Once up on the mountain, I was left alone with my new skis. The snow was hard and I was facing a hill down to a valley and the parting words from the driver was that I should take care going down, as someone recently dislocated their shoulder here. After testing the glide, I picked up the skis and walked. I’ve never experienced glide like that… it was just too fast for me and the icy surface didn’t provide any grip at all, not even when using the V position trying to slow down. I got very nervous at that point! Every time the trail went down, I stopped to think whether or not it was skiable and inevitably, I made the wrong decision soon. The skiis took different routes, sending me crashing and I fell on my bad hip, naturally. That hard surface did me no favours and I’m now sporting big bruises on my right leg and thigh. After that, I just automatically picked up the skis at every slope down. I prefer my bones unbroken!

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, actually. There was some thin cloud so although the sun was shining, it wasn’t all blue skies around. I knew that I probably wouldn’t do a lot of photography on this trip and I was right, so I’ll just be be grateful for the few pictures I did get.

Would I have made the trip had I known what the conditions were like? No. Do I regret I did it? No. When I was having my lunch, sitting in the snow with the sun on my face, I was at peace with the world. Even with the bruise that was quietly throbbing on my side… reminding me that someone must be watching over me since I have not seriously injured myself yet. Go figure.

The first crocuses are now blooming in Färila. This means that I will open my flower photography season next week (provided that the weather continues like this, and the crocuses are not all too covered by dust from traffic).

The thing is, these flowers grow in the middle of the town by a heavily trafficked road. There is no place to hide, so I’m bound to attract some questioning looks while lying down on the embankment with the camera setup. How do other photographers deal with a public situation like that? I’m not used to it, normally I have my photo spots all to myself…

Since the warm weather hit us, I’ve been checking out the crocus patch in Färila every time we drive by. Still no crocuses, but today I saw something yellow - can only be coltsfoot! I’ve never seen coltsfoot in March before. They want to be the first flower of spring, and they sure mean business…

Edit 2007-04-04: I had a chance to take a closer look at the flowers, and it turns out that it’s not coltsfoot but yellow crocuses (not easy to ID flowers from a speeding bus!). But coltsfoot in March is still good - I saw some in Loos on April 1st and they looked like they’d been there since earlier.

After a week of spring, winter is fighting back. Snowfall started in the morning and hasn’t let up since. Add some wind and a it’s a recipe for a great day! That’s what I thought anyway… for some reason I didn’t see any other people when I was out skiing. Just horses looking at me a bit surprised.

When I set out, it was about -2 degrees. Later on it got closer to zero, which meant big problems - the snow stuck under my skis, forcing to me use arms even when going down. I had to cut my trip short but it was ok, I had already done a good few km’s and I was very hungry anyway.

I didn’t want to give up the day yet, so after lunch I set out again with snowshoes in tow. I had seen some nice snow pillows in a clear cut area the other weekend, and I thought that there was a good chance that they would look particularly photogenic now. Only problem was that with camera in hand, the snow formations didn’t look quite as nice as they had when I had seen them first (without camera). So I ended up shooting a dead pine instead, and while doing it, the miracle of sun almost happened and the snowfall subsided. When I got back home and shovelled snow from the driveway, the right order of things was restored and the snowfall resumed.

We got 3 cm of snow yesterday and 14 cm today. The landscape looks beautiful with snow everywhere… but I reckon that this is the last great winter’s day, all the more important that I spent it out enjoying it. Spring is coming, resistance is futile.

Saw my first migratory bird of the year yesterday, a goldeneye in Skarpå. And this morning a swan family flew over me. I wish I had kept track of migratory birds so I can compare if this is early or not… but next year I’ll know better!

My calendar says March, but the thermometer claims April. Winter was in the range of “blink and you’ll miss it”…

I went for a walk, thought I would check out the scenery from the Eagle Mountain lookout. When I got there, I found the place occupied by two snowmobiles, so I continued without stopping. I guess those snowmobilers want to be out all they can now, with what the season starting unseasonally late and ending unseasonally early. I don’t have any numbers to support me, but I reckon that the snowmobile sales are on the decline. Please excuse me if I don’t shed a tear. The snowmobile manufacturers can spend a moment reflecting on the fact that their machines contribute to their own extinction. Talk all you want about the 4-stroke engines replacing the 2-stroke ditto, but to me it sounds like an awful racket and the smell ain’t sweet. Translate that smell to CO2 and you get my drift…

Before you say that the snowmobiles only contribute a fraction of the CO2 from cars and industry and households and I’m just guilty as the next person, spare your words. It was just an observation, and there’s really no need for fingerpointing because the fingers would only be pointing at all of us.

A scientist has calculated that if we all stop breathing, we could stop global warming. Personally, I’ve always thought that the biggest problem with this planet is all the people on it.

Who goes first?

I have been planning to do skiing trips to the mountains all winter, but it just hasn’t come off until now. The weather forecast wasn’t the best possible, but I wasn’t going to let even that depress me. I can deal with overcast skies but not with warm temperatures, so it was now or never!

I drove to Vemdalsskalet, I’ve never been there before other than just drive through a few times. I spent about 20 mins trying to find the trailhead for my shortcut to the top, didn’t find it and decided to take the snowcat instead. Which was a good deal, all it took was to hang on to the rope and enjoy the 4 km ride to Jaktstugan on top above the treeline. From there on I was on my own, and enjoyed that, too.

The Vemdalsfjällen mountains are not very high, a few peaks just above 1000 m, and they are quite barren. In the summer time you can see the peaks covered with rocks and even now in the exposed areas you could see some of the rocks stick through the snow cover. My chosen trail took me down to the big valley between the ranges and I was skiing in the mountain forest. I was having a great time, until I came across some snowmobiles who had ignored the “no snowmobiles” sign and used the ski trail, messing up the tracks, and now they were revving up on the marsh and the noise was horrible. As I was looking on, they finally moved to the marked snowmobile trail running parallel to the ski trail and disappeared. Good riddance. I have been trying to cut down on my use of swearwords, but I couldn’t help but think about something beginning with “f” and ending with “moron”. My mood improved quickly though after I had a break for lunch and then took a little used trail that circles one of the smaller peaks. Now I was completely alone - I could see that the trail had been used earlier today or yesterday, but there was certainly nobody else now.

The problem with going up is that you also have to come down. When the trail got down among the trees, I was getting decidedly nervous about letting the skis run, I mean I’m not confident in high speed even when there’s no obstructions around. I had the great idea of skiing in the deep snow instead, it slows you down quite nicely and I thought I could manage it. It’s just that the snow is very deep - I sank in twice (read: I fell) and the second time I had to dig my skis from under half a meter of snow. No harm done… snow is soft!

When I was skiing back to Jaktstugan, I had head wind and it had even started snowing. Not a lot, just those small icy crystals that stick like needles on your face. But when I was past the cabin and on the way down to the parking, it suddenly started snowing for real - big fluffy flakes! Who I am to pass up the opportunity, so I was delighted to get some real snowfall images. It was the icing on the cake of a great day!

When I was back in the car, I checked the GPS reading. 17.8 km (not including the first 4 km with the snowcat) - I was glad I had taken the snowcat up, because that is just about the most I can manage. I have nothing but respect for the people who will ski the 90 km of Vasaloppet tomorrow!

We managed the whole month without any degrees above freezing. It finally feels like a winter, so all the more regrettable that it very nearly rained today. It’s the beginning of the end for winter 2006/2007.

The February weather data isn’t complete - I was away for a weekend, so two days’ observations are missing.

Temperature (High): -1°C
Temperature (Low): -19°C *
Temperature (Average): -8°C

Barometer (High): 1028 mbar
Barometer (Low): 989 mbar
Barometer (Avg): 1010 mbar

Total of sunny days: 6

Snow cover (High): 45 cm
Snow cover (Low): 26 cm
Snow cover (Avg): 35 cm
New snow: 30 cm
Days with snowfall: 9

Rain: 0 mm
Days with rain: 0

* The coldest temperature I observed was -22.5°C on the morning of the 21st