Jan 21
Back on track
Sleep deprivation, some bad decisions, poor timing and boring weather resulted in zero pictures yesterday. I was hoping for better today, and I guess it was… at least I slept better.
It was one of those days which start with some disappointments but end up just fine. I tried to catch the moonset, but it was too cloudy for that. I wasn’t too bothered about that though, just made my way to start of my planned skiing trip. I took the snowmobile trail from Hållan towards the Malmbäckstugan cabin, except the funny thing is that the trail that I followed actually swung a little bit north from that, and then ended right in the middle of nowhere. What I mean is that they had prepared the trail only halfway – I could see Malmbäckstugan ahead of me on the left, and the trail markings were leading to the Lill-Skarven mountain right in front of me. Which was a bit strange, considering that the map said that this trail would go to Malmbäckstugan on the left. So what would I do? Turn back and scramble to come up with Plan B, or ski ahead on the fresh snow to get on the south-north trail between Tänndalen – Bruksvallarna? Since I already had had to resort to a plan B yesterday, I decided to make my own trail so I headed on. There was a fairly hard crust on the snow which carried me most of the time, except for the last 200 m with the crust breaking constantly under my skis. Had it been like that for the first 200 m, I would have turned back!
No more mishaps (not counting the part where I dropped my GPS unit right on the ski (as opposed to the soft snow all around the skis) and the screen cracked) on the way to my car so I just drove back towards Messlingen and admired the beautiful sunset light on the mountains around me. The cloudwork was a bit patchy, so for example Ånnfjället was just gorgeous while Mittåkläppen and Stor-Axhögen were shaded. While I was looking at Stor-Axhögen and wondering if the clouds would part for long enough, I saw the peak of Helagsfjället behind it, bathed in the orange light – so straight to Flatruet for a closer view! It was just amazing… I don’t often get to see a winter sunset in the mountains!
Dunsjöfjällen in sunset light (cropped from top and bottom for a panorama)
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Could someone please tell me the secret to blister-free skiing? I’ve tried two kinds of boots, I wear Compeed plasters, I put on extra padding between my heel and the boot, worn double socks… but it still hurts! So the Compeed prevented blisters on the area the plaster covered, but now I have a blister right above it. Is there anything that works?! New feet?
3 comments
The trick to blister-free skiing is small boots.
If you can fit double socks, extra padding, Compeed and what not then your boots are definitively to big. Your feet should not be able to move *at all* while inside the boots!
The downside is that small boots are usually harder to stay warm in, but that’s another problem.
When I was buying my second pair of boots, I tried to make them as small as I could… any smaller than this, and it felt like my feet would be squeezed to death. I guess I should just rely on that the boots will form themselves a little bit around my feet after a few times. Right now however, I think I will let the blisters heal before I go boot shopping again, LOL!
Not jealous about the blisters but the scenery! Wow!