Archive for March, 2010
Ice decoration
I went for a walk right after breakfast, didn’t want to risk that it would get warmer during the day and the ice casing we have on everything right now would melt away. 
The trails are wonderful right now – they really are hard as ice, it’s like walking on tarmac. Except 10 times more fun. So instead of just making a return trip to the Moose Lake, on the way back I made a de-tour to Ryggskog to extend the walk and it was just as well because I found my best photo ops here. The 24-105mm lens is not ideal for close-up work that this ice decoration would’ve required, but the ice can be seen in the pictures and I’ll settle with it. A documentary picture is better than no picture at all.
Freezing rain
It’s a rare phenomenon up here but it happens, so today it was -2°C and raining. Needless to say that it didn’t look very inviting for a hike, but I hoped that it would turn to snowing so I went out. Pretty soon my camera pack and tripod were covered with ice but I was still warm and dry inside my clothes. I like being outdoors in bad weather, all you really need is the right clothes and it’s just fine.
Everything was encased in a 1-2 millimetre thick ice. When you grabbed a branch and started bending it, you could hear the ice breaking. Pretty amazing stuff for someone who is not used to freezing rain at all! While hardly impressive for anyone living in a country that regularly gets pounded by ice storms that can cripple entire communities or even states. But this is just about as extreme as it gets up here and because it will be freezing temperatures all night, I’ll have another opportunity to marvel at the ice tomorrow!
4 commentsNice day
Today was probably the warmest day of the spring yet. Warm and sunny, it was incredibly nice to be outdoors. The snow is very slushy at the moment so you foot sinks through even when following snowmobile tracks, but I was ok on snowshoes – for the most part, anyway. 
But it got me thinking, if we now get temperatures below freezing, the crust will be awesome! Anyway, not a hint of freeze today. I had packed coffee and cookies in the camera bag and headed to the Eagle Mountain wind shelter and then just sat in the sun, sipping the coffee and enjoying the view.
On the way back, I didn’t want to take the shortest way home. I was feeling so good that I just took the first best tracks I could find and followed them, didn’t care where they were leading.
Now this is truly what they call the fifth season. If there’s anything that could’ve been better, then I wish I had been in the mountains. But that day will come…
2 commentsNot as warm as you’d think
I hate to keep repeating myself but I seem to be coming no closer to end of my photographic slump. Spring is definitely on the way now, we’ve been having some warm days and the snow has started melting but it’s also been very windy and the snow is covered with wind blown debris. Maybe someone can take landscape pictures under these conditions, but not me. Seems like it’s April already, just with more snow. And I don’t like April.
Anyway, despite the conditions, I actually had a few ideas. I drove to Fågelsjö, equipped with both digital and film cameras, that’s how inspired I was! The afternoon sun was looking very nice and warm on the old buildings at Hembygdsgården. 
Emphasis on the word “look” – the wind was heavy and cold and I felt the inspiration sink along with my body temperature. But there was this one building in particular which looks gorgeous in the warm light so I set up the tripod and film camera and composed my picture and pressed the shutter and … nothing. How could this happen again?? My worst nightmare, press the shutter button and nothing happens. A closer inspection of the camera revealed that it’s probably a battery problem. The display is flashing “bc”, the manual says it can be the battery but it could also be a connection issue, with the lens or pretty much anything else. I tried another lens but it didn’t help, so either it’s the battery or then the camera is kaput. It’s not worth sending it to service in any case, so I hope I get away with the price of a new 2CR5.
Good thing I had both cameras with me then. I took the picture with digital instead and took off in search for more pictures. And found nothing. Nothing! I followed the snowmobile trail for a while but it was pointless. My plan was to wait for the sunset but I didn’t feel like standing around in Fågelsjö for an hour in the bitingly cold wind, so I decided to drive back home via Hamra, the road should take me to some viewpoints in case the sunset would be nice. And of course it wasn’t anything special now that I had a chance to shoot it. It’s been nice just about every evening this week, as I’ve seen from the bus window… but not today.
I promise I won’t complain in my next post! I probably won’t post anything until May…
4 commentsSold
The Tricker is gone, found a new home in the southern Sweden. I have to be honest and say I that I won’t be missing the bike a lot, maybe occasionally when I drive a particular road I wish I could experience it with a motorbike. But on the whole, when I’m sitting in my new cabin and planning tomorrow’s treks, the Tricker will be a but a distant memory. Or maybe a bit more than that – the furniture I will be sitting on while doing my planning will be bought with the money I got from the bike…
2 comments
