A Day of Not Falling Over

We keep a logbook of our adventures, each of us taking it in turn to write a day's entry. Today it was my turn.

You've not fallen over today Longshanks have you? Mmm, a leading question, and the thought that something bad was going to happen when I concurred. Okay you can do the log book today then. So this is my reward for surviving the couple of extended downhill bits that two or three years ago would have been the subject of a few expletives while I extricated myself from a Longshanks sized hole.

So today's plan was to follow the kvistet route (staked birch twigs to follow) from Kobmajoki to Pihtsusjarvi, about 11k from 740m over 970m and back down to 740m. Clear skies and perfect snow conditions made for good going. There was a 2k section in an enclosed valley that looking at the map we had avalanche concerns about, but logic said that if the kvistet route went through then it should be okay to follow. There was a sign at the start saying VARO! LUMIVYORYVAARA which even with our lack of Finnish we translated as Beware Avalanche Risk. We already had our avalanche transceivers on and spaced ourselves out maybe 50m apart and passed through without a problem. After a bit of descent from our 970 col a study of the map and GPS suggested the kvistet route had kept further north than the marked winter route on the map and we were in fact now at around 3k from Pihtsusjarvi or 3.5k from the Halti Hut (930m). So do we lose another 160m going to Pihtsusjarvi, that we'd have to climb back up tomorrow or do we just head straight for the Halti Hut? - No Brainer! so we headed for the Halti Hut - and I still didn't fall over. Now settled in our "pulk highpoint" for this part of the trip we can look forward to the ascent of Halti tomorrow.

VARO! LUMIVYORYVAARA
A place to look after yer marra
Keep well spaced apart
And soon with brave heart
You'll be atop Halti tomarraw

Today's photo is of our arrival at the Halti Hut

Rancidand's Version