Norrland Sweden : Part 11 - Day 5 : Kebnekaise Fjällstation -- Midway to Kebnekaise's Peak

Day 5 of Norrland Drive

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 5. 

19/6 Day 5 : Kebnekaise Fjällstation (Mountain Station) -- halfway to the peak of Kebnekaise -- overnight in a tent at the mountain station until the following day 8am

Must-Incur Costs

None 

The Story

180618 : We arrived at the mountain station at 2am. Still bright like it was 8am. We found a spot to set our tent which unfortunately, was not a flat place. There were rocks under it. We started our walk at 3am. It was forecasted to rain by 7am and we hoped we could reach the peak and back within 4 hours. 

That's our tent. It was the first time we used the tent. Prof Sweet Tooth bought it few years back and never got the chance to officiate it till today. I think it did serve very well. I guess I did not take a very good photo of the tent to see its front side.

Here, the walk starts. Just follow the signboard and the red dots marked along the way. We used the West Trail (Västra leden) as it was the easier trail albeit longer than the East Trail. The East Trail goes on glacier and requires a guide. It was 9km on the West Trail in comparison to the 7km East Trail.

Some hikers we met on the way told us that there was still snow at the peak and along the way too. So, when I actually saw the snow along the route, I was oh-my-gawd... snow. I don't look forward to winter again. June is not the best month to go to Kebnekaise due to the snow and the rain. The best months are July and August where the snow has melted away. But Prof Sweet Tooth wanted to avoid the tourist crowd which was really great because there were lesser vehicles on the road. One has to manage both the pros and cons of non-tourist and tourist season. 

We followed the red dots until we reached a small stream where the water current was strong. It was almost impossible to cross the waters unless one is willing to get themselves wet. We wondered how the other hikers managed to go across. We wasted one hour trying to cross the stream with Prof Sweet Tooth using his left-over strength to cast rocks in the water to create a 'bridge' or change the course of the water. We gave up after a while because the crossings never seem to end. Finally, Prof Sweet Tooth took out his map and saw that there was a bridge at the bottom of the stream which we never noticed as the red dots did not lead to the bridge. Gosh! We found the bridge and realised it was already 4.30am.

We continued the ascending trail and were exhausted. We have not slept for 24 hours and my body was starting to stiff up. I had trouble turning my neck. At 5.30am, both of us decided to return back to the mountain station. The below photo is the spot where we decided to turn around. There were no signboards at which height were we at. I estimated that we were about 3km from the mountain station. We thought we could avoid the rain but it came pouring down at 7am. We got back to the tent at 8am. Drenched. Cold. Well, at least, my hands were not in pain from the rain.

So happy to see the mountain station again. I was dragging my feet back to the tent. See how grey those clouds were. 

We left the tent twice to pee and it was hard putting on my wet socks and shoes again and finding a spot to pee. It was an uncomfortable sleep in the tent as we were sleeping under two huge rocks. My left little finger and hand went dead twice as in lifeless and limp, and I had to massage them back to life and form. 

We waited for the rain to stop, and it did stop the next morning at 8am. So, we were in the tent for the next 12 hours, with raindrops beating above us. Occasionally, we could hear birds chirping, and I was informed by my sister that it was the mating season and I could not imagine how could these birds mate in the cold, windy, wet weather of Kebnekaise.