Expedition Vindelfjällen. Chapter 1. Towards Vindelfjällen
Yet another story from the backpacker Josef Arnfjell. The major part of this expedition took place within the reserve of Vindelfjällen, during the spring –05. This reservation is one of the lagest reserves in Europe. This is a travel story in two chapters. The first chapter takes you from the village of Ammarnäs towards the reserve. The second chapter takes you back to Ammarnäs after a few days in the mountain region.
Expedition Vindelfjällen
Chapter 1
Towards Vindelfjällen
During the spring –05 the Mountain Leaders (Fjälledarna) performed a 15 day expedition in the mountains of Lapland. The tour started and ended in Ammarnäs, a small village at the feet of the mountains. The major part of the tour took place within the reserve of Vindelfjällen (the mountains of Vindel).
To start with we had a course in avalanche safety lead by the Swedish avalanche expert Peter Mågård. We passed the theory part in Storuman and the practical part was carried through on the mountain.
We had our first camp next to Dautajaure, a small mountain lake some houndred meters from the famous Swedish Kungsleden (the Kings trail), aprox 10 km north of Ammarnäs.
We had arranged us in groups of 3-6 persones and traveled skiing with the package in sleds.
Sunglasses is a have to if you want to avoid getting snowblind in the strong sun. The snow is reflecting such a big part of the radiation that it’s allmost impossible to find rest for the eyes without the glasses.
At the time of our brakes, we quickly built a windshield of snow blocks to get shelter while we were eating.
In the high alp parts of the mountain the line between snow and clouds was erased. Where does the sky begin?
The group is admireing the views an evening with sunset.
About 50 km from Ammarnäs is the lake Luspasjaure. It’s in the Norrbotten side of Lapland and made service as a gathering place before we continued our expedition.
We spent several days and nights here, icefishing and relaxing. Linda Åström is getting a tan.
A sparrow, Emberiza citrinella, made us company some days in the white snow and was looking for crumbs and other things to eat in the camp. Could it read Swedish? MAT means FOOD in Swedish.
Even this little creature knew that you cook food in a field kitchen from Trangia.
Finally after stuffing himself enought with crumbs the bird ruffled up it’s feathers and had a nap a couple of metres from us.
The cooking is allways taking it’s time on the mountain. Take out the kitchens and plan what to cook . Charlotte Bergström is preparing lunch. Without kitchen, no expedition. At least not on the bare mountain during the winter.
There was an avalanche here, about 10 minutes before the picture was taken. The braking edge can be seen above the people on the picture. The group belong to Fjälledarna and the avalanche was expected. Despite of that, the people who was watching felt a lot of butterflyes in the stomach. Those who were closest were only a few meters from the edge.
One evening it started to become windy and snowy so we built high walls of snow for shelter.
Expedition Vindelfjällen. Chapter 2. From Vindelfjällen
Yet another story from the backpacker Josef Arnfjell. The major part of this expedition took place within the reserve of Vindelfjällen, during the spring –05. This reservation is one of the lagest reserves in Europe. This is a travel story in two chapters. The first chapter takes you from the village of Ammarnäs towards the reserve. The second chapter takes you back to Ammarnäs after a few days in the mountain region.
Expedition Vindelfjällen
Chapter 2
From Vindelfjällen
We have just changes course from Vindelälven to Ammarfjället and are here following a valley that lead us right on.
After a long and heavy day with a lot of high altitude, finally we made camp behind a big stone in Skebleskalet.
Cooking is a regular theme during the expedition. An advertising picture for Haglöfs? Well, who knows, a cooler guy is hard to find. Marcus Grönberg, Sports Consultant and Fjälledare (Mountain Leader).
It’s a pure pleasure to go skiing in the shiny weather. To attract tourists to activitys like this will probably not be a problem. To the right, the top of Buråive, 1270 m above the sea level.
Skalkåtan (kåta is a saami hut) in Skebleskalet. A kåta (hut) where it’s possible to sleep all year around. First contact the owners.
The first reindeers had arrived to the mountains from the woodland. They were eating lichen and the first grass on the spots where the snow had melted.
Sunset in Skebleskalet.
Despite all the snow, bushes of the genus Salix had come out. Imagine to grow in a such a wonderful place like this.
A herd of reindeers have come a little bit too high up in the mountains and are carefully taken further down in the valley by the saami people. Both snowmobiles and dogs are used in the work.
There were few days which weren’t sunny. In the warm sunshine the clothes started to come of. Today it’s time for top climbing.
The Rock ptarmigans were watching the skiing enthusiasts. Why ski to the top when you can fly? They probably wondered.
Not bad to play some music. Joakim “ The Scout” Danielsson is the musician. Beautiful weather and a dazzling view are calling for fine tones from the flute.
One of the most caracteristic inhabitants in the mountains is the lemming. An unafraid and neat little fellow who have made many mountaineers smile with his cocky attitude.
We made a lot of day tours during the expedition. This view is from Stabburet, about 10 km north of Ammarnäs, a couple of hundreds meter from Kungsleden (the Kings trail).
We’re getting to the end of our expedition and are looking back on our little adventure. We’ve had a lot of fun and are allready starting to long for next adventure.
With this picture we’re saying goodbye for this time and wish each other and the reader good luck, until we meet again.
Text/photo Josef Arnfjell