It’s also natural that people, who get their first taste of rock climbing, might develop a curiosity to learn more. If nothing else, to understand how things work and make their new hobby safer. That said…

No video, sketch or photo can replace a proper course conducted by professionals. In other words… don’t trust your life to something you read on the internet or at the very least try things on the ground first. I practice hanging off an apple tree about 2m above ground. Other than falling on my dog barking like mad below there’s no danger if I mess things up completely but absolutely realistic in every other way.

So more as a bookmark and a reminder to myself than anything else, the resources below could serve as a refresher course. I certainly found them very useful the first time around.

Animated knots – climbing knots
UK Climbing – climbing skills articles
Chockstone – tech tips
Petzl – rope techniques for multi-pitch climbing
Petzl – multi-pitch tech tips 2010 (pdf)
Petzl – sport climbing tech tips 2010 (pdf)
Libby Peter – articles from Climber magazine

And some nice videos:

How to tie off a belay plate from Steve Long on Vimeo.

Escaping the system from Steve Long on Vimeo.

Lowering a climber off the crag from Steve Long on Vimeo.

Abseiling past a knot from Steve Long on Vimeo.

Prusiking up a rope from Steve Long on Vimeo.

Assisted hoist from Steve Long on Vimeo.

While UKClimbing Logbook Crag Finder has served me well for locating climbing opportunities on a number of occasions, it is still a limited service (as are many online climbing resources, ClimbinBaška and SLOUPPI the very welcome exceptions to the rule). So I hope what you find below will be of some use to anyone who decides to go on vacation or a business trip to Tenerife, but also do some climbing when the opportunity presents itself.

When researching what to do on the island on the off days, I managed to discover there’s also a lot of climbing potential so we decided to take some gear with us. Might as well make the most of the opportunity. But however minimal the gear might be, it is still never lightweight, so we rationalized to include the following:

• 60m rope + bag
• 10 quick-draws
• 1 ATC
• 2 dyneema slings
• 3 carabiners
• 2 harnesses (used by 4 people)
• 3 pairs of shoes (again, used by all 4)
• chalk bag
• some tape

That in itself will fill a decent sized backpack and make the Ryanair gate agents happy to charge for extra weight so we divvied up and it worked. But that rope was still a pain to stuff…

Without any doubt UKClimbing is my favorite crag finder whenever venturing into the unknown. I love the geolocation based service but crag descriptions leave a lot to imagination. However, in some places just knowing the location might be good enough if you combine it with another location based service… Google Street View! It has helped me in Corsica and it worked in Tenerife. Well, at least partially. Park at a switchback 2.2km out of Cruz de Tea suddenly sounds much better if you can preview the description in Street View… when you have that much information available. If not then the only way is to find some road that gets you nearby the marked location and go from there. You can always ask… (not that it helped much as the grandpas we met couldn’t understand us and I barely understood them) :)

I was never hung up on route topos, grades, beta etc. so the location and the approximate number of routes available is really the only information I want to have. I climb whatever looks nice from below and that’s good enough. At least on vacation or a first visit. Obviously access notes and the aforementioned information is always welcome but not crucial for my choice. It’s fun to explore! :)

UKClimbing and Rockfax mention several times that the place to get climbing information is Tenerife Outdoor in Granadilla (and now also in La Laguna). As it turned out their opening times didn’t coincide with out timeline so we only managed to visit them on one of our final days on the island. But the visit was nevertheless very helpful as they let us take some photos of the guidebook and we were able to find and climb some previously unknown crags.

The best surprise was that the lovely La Martella canyon, one we somehow managed to find just by following parking information, isn’t mentioned in any of the guidebooks. The guys at TO will be more than happy to provide the unpublished topo of this secret gem.

Without venturing too much into guidebook publishing territory I thought I’d assemble some basic information for the areas visited (and some that we didn’t). It has to be said though that it’s probably best if you purchase or borrow a guidebook. It will save you some time and potential problems. But as we were just as happy to explore the canyons for several hours and finding just about nothing climbable with minimal gear it wasn’t a problem for us. It just added an element of surprise and pleasure of exploration. So for those like us, here’s a map to get you started:

And to end this, a slideshow…

Hardest route done?
Plezanje pika kom in Šoder graben, supposed to be 6a+, I’d give it 6c at least.
Second place goes to an attempt at first pitch of Schanigarten (VII) in Kugelstein that I mistakenly though it was the first pitch of Ameisenriss (IV). You would think I’d soon figure out something was wrong :) I did, but I still wanted to go all the way. Had to give up 2m from the anchor after a swinging fall.

Longest?
Steber in Vipava, IV+/III, 160m

Most enjoyable?
Impossible to say. I’m somehow partial to easygoing multi pitch routes but there were quite a few nice 6a/b overhangs in Trenta, Martianez and Vistamar that I liked.

A map:

View Climbing 2011 in a larger map

And a slideshow

Ikaria and Corsica share many things (if not the popularity) and it would be hard to decide which one is better. One thing is undisputed though… Corsica has some pretty terrible tasting honey and that alone knocks off many points on my scale. We went shopping and got 4 different honeys and so far 2 have proven to be almost inedibly bitter. 1 was OK (miel de miellat) and 1 is yet unopened. Since then I found both of the horrible ones online but I won’t single out the producers. I have too much respect and admiration for beekeepers and their products. I presume it’s the maquis flowers in the specific area where bees were collecting since the taste is horrible. I know some honeys have a very strong, distinctive taste, some are quite bitter, but these two are in their own league. All I will share is that one is a spring, the other an autumn honey (miel de maquis de printemps and miel de maquis d’automne) with no specific source plant identified. It definitely wasn’t sage, lavender or rosemary (which can result in some awesome honey).

One common “problem” of Mediterranean spring time, so familiar from Ikaria, that I hoped we’d manage to avoid this time around, was rain. And lots of it. Simply put we were there 2 weeks too early. Our last days were the first days of summer. Which ruled out many ideas of running around in the mountains. We were only allowed a few brief glimpses at the alpine, snow covered playground. It would have been fine if we had a decent alternative for grey days such as surfing or kayaking.

Just as well I guess… after an ankle injury on day 4 or 5 I couldn’t rock climb worth a damn, but I also couldn’t scuba dive any more. At least I squeezed in two dives at Calvi & Porto before the injury. Both sides of Scandola nature reserve proved marine reserves can do wonders for neighboring areas with marine life spreading out and benefiting everyone. It was the first time I saw groupers and they were everywhere. The topography was nice as well, add a decent wreck or two and it would have been perfect.

We did pull off a few climbs though. We spent two days in Foret de Bonifatu close to Calvi, climbing on bolted granite (or some similar rock) routes of secteur Figarella which is conveniently located an easy 10min walk and a jump across the river from the spacious parking lot.

As we were already a bit late we did first two pitches on Passe à l’ombre (4+, 5), then decided we have some more time so we went for the first three pitches of Les Oignons Grognons (5+, 4, 5+). At this point we really did run out of light so we crossed on a ledge back towards Passe à l’ombre believing we were on the exit ledge (see topo). You can buy Falaises de Corse topo guide, but the updates are online for free. Anyway, it turned out we were just below the correct ledge and eventually couldn’t go forward any more. We then abseiled one pitch on a bolt of Passe à l’ombre leaving a carabiner behind.

We liked the rock and the general area so we decided to come back the next day after diving and clean the route. But we were late again so we left the last 6a pitch for some other time and came down on the real exit ledge after 5 pitches (4+, 5, 6a+/A0, 6a, 3). At first we were a bit concerned about the grades but after practically walking up the first two pitches it was clear the grades are a bit inflated compared to what we’re used to. At least if you’re comfortable trusting your shoes have enough grip. There’s hardly anything to hold but you don’t really need it as long as you do the correct footwork. The 6a+/A0 pitch had one crux move where pulling on the quickdraw was the only solution we could come up with but was otherwise very easy. As was the next 6a. So all in all I’d say that particular sector could easily drop one grade.

Corsica is a great destination, if you time it right and have some alternatives, as the weather can change dramatically around different parts of the island. But that’s just what makes it so interesting.

Nothing much happened after the summer road trip to Portugal. At least not worth talking about… Eventually we had a Finnish Xmas in Tampere and a wedding on new years eve near Lahti.

some more in a slideshow…
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Afterwards we had ourselves a quick summer in the middle winter ski trip to Austria. Tauplitz, Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang, Zell am See-Kaprun and Zauchensee on an extremely warm prolonged weekend. No powder to be found anywhere… just the hard packed reality of a lousy winter. We based ourselves at a small bio bauernhof. Nicely priced, convenient location with lots of great skiing within an hours drive and friendly.

a few more in a slideshow…
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On occasion we managed to get out, do some winter hiking and the like. The photo below is from a ski touring escape, there and back before lunch type of deal.

again more in a slideshow…
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At the end of July we took off on a road trip to Portugal and back. Through the flat north of Italy, into Abruzzi national park, down to La Spezia and Cinque Terre and along the coast to Monaco. Cote d’Azur and Provence are some of the nicest, although incredibly crowded parts of France in the summer. Of course it depends where you try to go as there are quite many Provençal roads that take you to some amazing places where you can feel quite alone. We drove up to Grand canyon du Verdon then onwards to Gorges du Galamus in Pyrénées-Orientales. From there we drove all the way to Portugal in a long single day. Over the mountains through Andorra and into northern Spain where we didn’t have much time to stop as we already spent most of our pre-conference time.

Eventually we made it to Avanca (near Estarreja/Porto) where the AvancaCinema conference was held in a small primary school (that was a bit of a surprise to say the least). Things run slowly in some parts of the world and when we got there (on time) most things weren’t even ready yet. So we took off on a hunt for a campsite on a beach as close as possible. We found one in Furaduro which I guess is a typical summer holiday town next to a long stretch of sandy beach with decent waves coming in.

The conference itself was partially interesting, if nothing else it blew away many preconceived ideas I had about academia and it should take the edge off when I attend the next one. And to further demonstrate how slowly things run, it’s now the end of November and the conference proceedings still haven’t been published even though they’ve promised them first by the end of August, then by the end of October, then….

So rather than hang around for longer than it was absolutely necessary (they did have some amazing cakes at the opening dinner) we chose to take off. Not to the south of Portugal as originally planned (will have to wait for some other occasion) but north through Galicia to the bay of Biscay, Picos de Europa NP, the amazing Guggenheim museum in Bilbao and Biarritz/Anglet for some surf scouting.

We got caught in torrential downpours back in the Pyrénées where we tried to get some climbing done (just one morning on a low granite wall) so we ran back towards the sunny and windy Provence. Swimming at Pont du Gard, climbing at Dentelles de Montmirail… good times.

Dentelles really are an amazing place to climb. A long, serrated, narrow saw of limestone jutting out of Côtes du Rhône vineyard country. Perfectly oriented so that you can either climb on the sunny or shady side of the rock, depending on the season. There is one drawback though. The wind. The maestral/mistral making its way down to Rhone delta can get up to such speed that it can make climbing a bit of a problem. At some point I felt like I might be pulled off the wall and my glasses were shaking like a flag in the wind. So violently in fact I could hardly see. I was stuck in a relatively comfortable position with decent holds on a 5b route but I knew it would be a bad idea to continue. So I aborted, leaving one biner in the wall as a souvenir for someone who finds it.

All in all we did 6555km in two weeks. The kind folks at Citroen Merlak rented us a Berlingo for a price well below the normal rate for which I am extremely grateful. In return we made a proper test drive which revealed some issues I have with the car. The first and foremost being the lack of 6th gear. With the number of motorway kilometres we do in a typical week it would be essential. At an average speed of 69km/h on everything from motorways to mountain roads we got by on 6.1 l/100km (38.6mpg) of diesel. Not bad, but not that great either by my expectations. Simply closing one rear view mirror at 130 km/h will give you a half litre improvement. It has to be said though, those mirrors are amazing while reversing. As is the space the car offers. Perhaps too much for most people, but it sure is comfortable if you’re on the road and living out of the car.

The rest of the photos as slideshow:
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Geysir supplied the car at a very decent price and we did the rest. Initial deal and the reason we chose them over all the other rental agencies was simple… they have Lada Niva in their lineup. Forgetting for a moment that it’s the cheapest 4×4 (and 4-wheel drive is the only way to drive in Iceland) it’s also very capable off-road. It is by no means a softy SUV but a serious car. When we got to their office (conveniently located 500m from the terminal in Keflavik) we were in for a surprise. Turns out all the Nivas were out so they offered a Hyundai Santa Fe as a free upgrade. A bit of a bittersweet upgrade in my mind. Santa Fe isn’t what I’d normally call an off-road vehicle. It’s an SUV for people who need a 4-wheel drive car to travel the 100m of gravel road to their summer cottage and to feel superior in normal city traffic. It doesn’t have low range, it doesn’t have diff-locks and it has electronically controlled 4-wheel drive. In other words a fully inflated softy. You can imagine why I was disappointed at first. However it has its upside… with rear seats folded flat we could comfortably sleep inside and not bother with the tent (we just had to accept it as dead weight in checked luggage).

So there we were… sleeping and driving (on road) in style, comfort and fuel efficiency but with off-road limitations in mind at all times. As it turned out many highland tracks were still closed due to melting snow so whatever was open at the time was also negotiable with the Santa Fe (mostly).

In total we drove 3500km (2200miles) in 8 days with fuel consumption at 8.1 l/100km (~29mpg) and an average driving speed of 58km/h (~36mph). Why are these numbers important? Considering the speed limit in Iceland is 80-90km/h and fuel consumption on the road was under 7 l/100km it’s indicative of what kind of roads you get once off paved roads. While the speed limit on gravel roads in general is 80 km/h you’ll rarely reach it in reality. That’s why ETA estimates on the GPS are somewhat of a joke. For instance it might tell you that it’s possible to drive from Gullfoss to Hveravellir hot springs on the F35 in about an hour. Well… multiply that by 2 or 3 for the real time needed on what’s actually a quite decent road.

My original idea was for us to stay in one area for the whole week, do some multi day hiking and not drive around all the time. But highland road closures and the lovely Eyafjallajökull eruption (more accurately the consequences of it) changed that plan a bit. We couldn’t get close to places where we wanted to hike so had to settle on driving as close as possible. And eventually that turned into driving around the whole island with multiple highland incursions and weird roads that weren’t really roads.

But those roads get you to some amazing locations. You drive through a black desert in the middle of nowhere and suddenly there’s a bunch of lakes in front of you. With massive numbers of mosquitoes, nesting birds and just stunning scenery.

OFF-ROAD

We certainly pushed the Hyundai to its limits, including water crossings around and possibly over its maximum allowed depth of 50cm. However, a few situations will remain in memory for a long time. The first one was on the very first day (or perhaps night if arctic midnight could be called a night) when we were driving towards Þorisvatn on a track parallel to the main highland road F26. We got on it because we were hoping to find a place to sleep nearby. The trail got gradually worse, the tire tracks gradually disappeared and we were eventually driving inside a dry river bed, with very soft, wet volcano sand and steep sides. Stopping wasn’t an option as we would get stuck in the sand. Simply going forward was one alternative but since we only saw that track on the GPS (and at that point we had no idea how accurate it might be and that it would lead us somewhere) and seeing how we were getting deeper into unexpected, unprepared and untested trouble I wanted to turn around as fast as possible even as we were going uphill. Easier said that done as the saying goes… the sides were cut quite deep into soft sand and the channel itself wasn’t wide enough to turn. That meant I had to somehow bump the car onto higher terrain, hoping we wouldn’t get stuck in an even worse position and even deeper or softer sand. Thankfully I kept enough momentum to get it up and over, make the turn and back into the channel. We got out of it and I only wish that I could have it all on camera. But I don’t as neither of us was prepared for it and I certainly wasn’t going to repeat it.

Another little off-road challenge was a short (100m) hill climb. Basically a shortcut next to a main highland road designed for ego boosting of Icelandic monster truck drivers and to frighten their paying passengers. Well… the Santa Fe almost made it to the top, had to back off only due to clearance issues crossing a ditch running perpendicularly across. I had to reverse before turning around half way down which was much harder than going up. I felt a bit disappointed afterwards, since that ditch was the only major obstacle but only until I saw how one of those huge monster trucks came to an embarrassing halt even lower down the slope. Granted he made it up in the second try but it sure felt good to see him fall flat on his face right in front of our softy.

The third off-road memory will be of us facing a river channel and the GPS telling us the trail continues on the riverbed about 20km upstream. Up to this point we crossed a few small streams and halfway across the wide riverbed with several shallower channels. When we got to the main channel it dawned on us the trail doesn’t cross all the way to continue on the other side. Seeing how the albeit narrow channel was way too deep for comfort (and without a second vehicle it would probably be a very costly lesson) and how we had no idea where and how the trail continues beyond what we could see we beat a retreat. The car was certainly out of its comfort zone in such terrain, a rock strewn riverbed and deep water.

WATER EVERYWHERE

At this point you might think Iceland is all about off-road driving. To a certain extent, for me, yes. I have never seen so many huge cars with huge wheels driving over such demanding terrain. But there’s more to it. You could do it all on horseback. The country is beautiful, full of contrasts over short distances. And full of horses, birds and waterfalls. It’s funny how most tourists only bother to see two or three well known waterfalls when there’s 10 equally or more impressive around the corner. Actually all those waterfalls contributed to “waterfall fatigue”. Eventually you just don’t notice them any more. Something that would be hailed as a natural monument and a big attraction in many other countries just fades into the background and you begin to wonder if it’s worth stopping to take a closer look.

Dettifoss was one of them. By the time we got to the north of the island we really couldn’t be bothered any more. But it was on our way, another reason to turn off the main road, so we stopped. For dinner. The weather was miserable but I went down to the edge to shoot some video and photos while Jonna got the pasta ready. And below is the result.

HIKING

We didn’t do as much hiking as I hoped in the beginning. We were there too early in the season and getting to certain trail heads was out of the question. So we took whatever we got. Every day we took at least a short walk to break the monotony of driving, to get away from the roads and to just enjoy the scenery.

I’m constantly amazed, but I really shouldn’t be any more, how random hikes towards somewhere that doesn’t look all that promising at first sight lead to interesting discoveries. Geldingafell was such an example… it didn’t look like much. Especially compared to the scenery around it. Bláfjell on one side, the impressive Insta-Jarlhetta group and Langjökull on the other. But with changing weather, no preparation and no real climbing gear it would be foolish to attempt either of them. Bláfjell was inviting but we chose the much lower Geldingafell for a short and safe introductory walk. Once on top we were treated to an amazing view towards Hvitárvatn and beyond towards the interior of Iceland. But also right there, inside a depression, was a small lake on top of melting snow. Haven’t seen that before…

I also discovered an old cairn marked trail running on the ridge above Hengifoss. I was watching this 118m beauty from below (where most people see it) and decided I needed more exercise before lunch. So I found a way up to the top to get a closer look and there was a trail that didn’t seem to be used very often. But the view was much nicer from up there… As was the view from the top of Snæfellsjökull. This 1446m glacier covered volcano sits at the end of Snæfellsness peninsula. On a good day you can admire it all the way from Reykjavik. As we discovered it’s really popular with snowmobile riders (understandably so) and there’s a snowmobile trail leading to the top. We took a slightly different approach. We noticed an old ski lift running halfway up the slope. It was also the approach with what looked like the least amount of snow and ice in the way. Avoiding crevasses altogether was a priority for us. At first we said we’d only try to get to the lower peak right above the ski lift and avoid the glacier. There was hardly any snow to cross on the way there so it was a safe choice. But once we got to the top of that one we got a clear look at the glacier, the crevasses we’d have to avoid and the top. Which wasn’t that much further so we went for it. All in all it took us between two and a half and 3 hours from the car to the top and 20 minutes to slide down and another 10min to the car. A beautiful climb. If a bit wet in the shoes.

The rest of the photos as slideshow:

midnight rainbows

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chasing midnight rainbows in Þjórsá river valley

Interview with Touretski from Jernej Burkeljca on Vimeo.

I’ve been having problems with fGallery plugin since I first started using it. The code is badly structured, full of bugs and the author apparently gave up on it altogether. Overall it’s not a bad gallery plugin, actually it’s quite good in a limited environment, however as the number of images increases the user is soon facing two huge issues. The first one is non-existent album nesting which would improve navigation, the second a more serious overwriting of photos with identical file names. If you shoot with two cameras, or simply shoot so many images that the counter starts again from zero, you inevitably bump into this limitation. One solution would be to rename all images but that’s just silly… And since I haven’t managed to solve the coding problem myself and I haven’t received any sort of feedback from the author (or any other user) in over a year I decided it’s time to switch to another gallery system called NextGEN. Which comes with its own great deal of ridiculous problems, least of which is importing all previously uploaded images. And solving these issues takes time I don’t really have and that’s why the Scandinavian road trip report comes delayed by a few months to put it mildly. And that’s why there’s very little going on content-wise in the gallery itself and will continue to remain in the same state for a while. The only section of this blog in constant motion despite everything is my Google Reader shared items feed which I hope one or two people enjoy.

The trip

With that preamble sorted out, here’s a rough overview of our roadtrip in an old Volvo 440. Altogether about 4600km on the meter done in a week.

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Which makes people think all we did was drive all day. True to some extent :) but we also hiked the 12km Pieni Karhunkierros (small bear loop) trail in Oulanka National Park. We drove there in a day from Lahti (stopping for a quick tour of major cities on the way), hiked in the northern summer twilight to the nearest campsite next to Pyöreälampi lake and continued to complete the loop clockwise (which is smarter as you avoid walking up a fair number of steps) in the morning. Before sleeping though, I also took the opportunity of the disappearing twilight for a midnight trail run and do some light painting at night on Myllykoski rapids.

After completing the scenic loop in the morning of day two, we drove to Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, via Rovaniemi city tour. Getting there well after the lights went out and reindeer started running around, we were looking for a dry hut or shelter with a view next to Pallasjärvi lake (as the map suggested) however the place either did not exist or it was the one that was locked and available upon reservation only (which was not mentioned in the map). It wasn’t until Jonna took the map from my hands that she found kota (this being the Finnish word for a small hut/shelter that I didn’t know at the time) written clearly on the map in another part of the park. Except the map didn’t have an icon of a hut in that location… which made it a bit of a gamble. Could it just be a place called Kota rather than an actual hut?

Since it was only about 20min drive and 10min hike from the lake we decided to relocate there anyway and not camp out on the (dry) porch of some abandoned looking cottage. The hiking portion to the hut started next to NP visitor centre so at least we had options.

The next morning (day 3) we scrambled up 240 vertical meters past herds of reindeer to the top of Palkaskerro, hiding in a cloud that obstructed our view of the park somewhat. It was quite a sight regardless. Completing the 7km loop back to the car didn’t take that long and we were pretty soon back on our way to Kilpisjarvi and Saana fell.

The original plan was to go up to Saana (1029m) in the evening, sleep in a hut on the far side and complete the loop the next morning but an employee at the visitor centre told us it wouldn’t be possible to sleep in the hut (for reasons I can’t remember but it could have been something to do with reservations). Seeing rain clouds (again) on the horizon we figured sleeping in our poor tent wouldn’t be an option so we continued towards Norway.

The landscape changed dramatically, to say the least, as soon as the border crossing appeared. It was a mountain fairytale and the roads were beautiful to drive (something for the Top Gear bunch). Thus we continued down to the sea and south towards Narvik. Sometime just before sunset at 11pm we found a beautiful spot on the beach, just off the main road, where we pitched our tent. It was some sort of protected nature reserve with camping prohibited signs and all that, but since we were armed with a plethora of excuses (ornithologists on a mission etc.) and the fact the tent was hidden behind bushes just meters inside the zone (and meters off the road) we felt confident nobody would kick us out during the (very bright) night. The Lyngen alps were stunning in the sunset light.

On day 4 we continued south-west towards Narvik for some supply shopping before setting off for Lofoten islands. Turns out Narvik (in addition to being a historic WWII site) has a pretty decent ski area just above the city. As it’s all in a fjord it is also quite steep. Sweet, have to visit in winter sometime.

Lofoten islands have been a dream destination for me ever since I saw a Rossignol calendar with some amazing photos taken there. They most definitely didn’t disappoint. It is the most amazing island chain I have ever seen. And the sea is as translucent as air. One might say it’s a bit cold, but not that much thanks to the gulf stream. We had a brief swimming/lunch break in one of many rest areas with a grand view of the mountains surrounding the fjords and continued towards Svolvær on Austvågøy island. It’s a ridiculously expensive town to say the least. And if they could charge you for breathing their air they probably would.

Since it was raining heavily pretty much all day we chose not to sleep in a drenched tent and took off on a mission to find the cheapest accommodation possible. We decided on one of the “authentic” fishing huts (sjøhus or rorbuer) just outside of town. It wasn’t cheap.

But it was comfortable and dry and warm and had electricity to charge GPS and camera batteries. So we dozed off. But before I went to sleep I simply needed to see what was around us. So in proper heavy rain expected of the north Atlantic/Arctic Sea I climbed up some sea cliffs overlooking the approach to the harbour and began taking photos next to some abandoned concrete bunker which I suspect was last used during WWII. Long exposure photos of a ship on rough seas didn’t turn out quite the way I expected (I honestly don’t know what I did expect) but photos of waves crashing over rocks did. At least I hope. Because I like taking night photos at sea and I like the results and I wish I lived next to the sea where a proper storm can develop.

Since the rain didn’t ease on day 5 we abandoned hope of hiking up one of endless number of mountains around us, and we abandoned hope of a whale safari, kayaking, snorkelling or anything else that required ridiculous amounts of money the day earlier. So we went back to the mainland and up to Abisko National Park across the border in Sweden. We started the hike along Kungsleden trail from Abiskojavri lake in glorious sunshine and made our way to Teltlagret mountain shelter some 1.5h away, half way up to our goal of summiting Giron (1543m). And pretty much at that point it started to rain again so we just went to sleep.

We had a family of reindeer for a breakfast visit on day 6, then got back on our way, off-trail (as that ends at the shelter) to the top of Giron. Unfortunately the constant rain and soggy terrain didn’t offer much encouragement so we abandoned the attempt when we got on the north ridge. It just didn’t seem worth it to continue in the circumstances so we turned around and started finding the best, though not the shortest way back on the Kungsleden trail down in the valley. Needless to say we were soaked after slogging through the swampy terrain (with very welcome bits of permafrost thrown in), to the point where we just didn’t care how wet we were. The moss, which makes up most of the terrain in the area, is capable of absorbing enormous amounts of water and when you sink into it knee deep you quickly realize GoreTex isn’t really waterproof and start believing in the local custom of hiking in wellies. I was however just a bit worried about the cameras although they performed flawlessly even after the sensor washing cycle lasting all day.

After a very brief swim in the freezing cold waters of Abiskojavri we continued south-east to Kiruna for lunch (no reindeer burger available that day I’m afraid) and onwards to some rest stop around Overkalix. I opted for sleeping outside, Jonna slept squished in the front seat of the car and since I couldn’t sleep for long in my uncomfortable position I just started driving again around 4am on day 7. And we didn’t really stop for the next 17 hours until we got back to Lahti. Breakfast in Tornio, a quick swim in the Baltic sea and lunch at Kalajoki sand dunes and dinner in Jyvaskylla. By the end of the day I could hardly sit in the car anymore. I was going crazy. I was ready to give up on driving anywhere for at least a month. I lasted less than a day :)

Here’s the rest of the photos

reading break on a lake

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somewhere in middle Finland. Photo by Jonna

Fifty People, One Question: London from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

It’s Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.

CHALK & CHOCOLATE – movie trailer from Jure Breceljnik on Vimeo.

Evolution – 1. slovenian freeski movie from Action Mama on Vimeo.