Monday, 3. January 2005: Raja-Jooseppi - Snellmanninmaja (13 km)
5:30
The first hiking group is set off. It's still pitch-dark outside. Slowly I really start to worry. I got no idea how dark it stays in Lapland during daytime at this time of the year. I really should have bothered to get such a head light.6:30
A coulple of outher hiking groups have been set off. That's nice because now there are many free seats in the back of the bus. Finally I can get some real sleep.8:30
We are there. It's still dark but not entirely black any more. Get everything out of the bus, search all your stuff, mount the bindings onto the skis and so on. I put my air mattress and my sleeping bag into the group's akio since I got a whole bunch of food in my backpack that I don't want to unpack right now. But still the backpack is damn heavy.
9:30
It starts. Our group is getting off last. However we soon overtake the loma 1 group. Actually it is pretty bright now. The skis don't have much foothold sidewards, they don't have steel edges and the boots are a little too big as well. I'm just used to downhill skis. But the skis themselves run very well. Having traveled on really nice and smooth ways for some time I get a slightly worried expression on my face as Sami has a look at the map and then heads off the way right into the forest. Oh well.
As soon as I take over the big akio from Elina, I know why the girls have been so far behind Sami and me all the time. This thing is a killer. I sweat like hell. Bad enough, but now it's also going uphill - still in the forest. The skis are quite fast in flat areas and downhill, but uphill they offer only few foothold. The akio doesn't fit this situation too well.
15:30
It gets more and more dim-dark and finally totally dark. Somehow I have
the feeling that we don't really know where we actually are. In the
darkness position determination gets extremely hard since you can't
see the surrounding hills any more. Slowly I start to feel like I
don't want to ski any longer. This stupid backback is cutting into my
shoulders. The brakes at which Sami and Anne look at the map get more
frequent and longer. I start to imagine how it would be like if we
don't find the cottage but have to build up the tent.
19:30
Eventually Anne comes back from one of the "I'm just gonna ski a
little in this direction and find out what's there"-trips and says
"löytyi" - she found the cottage. That's a relief and suddenly
there is the energy to do the remaining way quite quickly.