High-fat diet in the Arctic

Arctic explorers carry a couple of kilograms of butter, because it contains many calories per gram. Some of them eat a stick of butter for breakfast as well as dinner. Me and Martin also bet on fat when we went to Kebnekaise: we brought butter, goose fat, coconut oil, sausages, bacon, frozen meatballs and almonds. I counted at least 3 kilograms of fat but we probably had more. You have to do this if you want to be considered cool in the Arctic circles.

Kebnekaise is a mountain area located beyond the Arctic Circle and Kebnekaise is also the name of the highest mountain in Sweden. I have been there two years ago and wanted to come back as soon as possible, despite the horrible weather we have experienced. There is something about the Kebnekaise area that draws me there and it's hard to explain.

Sunday

After arriving to Kebnekaise fjällstation, we went for a short ski ride just above the hut. The snow was horrible, as is normal for the very windy Láddjuvággi valley. It was then easy to convince Martin to go to Tarfala valley in search for better snow. It turned out to be the right call.

Monday

In the morning we went up to Tarfala mountain hut in sunny weather.

Tarfala valley, Storglaciär and Isfallsglaciär

Martin took a nap in the afternoon, so I went alone for a ski ride just above the hut. The snow was much better than yesterday but still very tricky. Thanks to a lot of wind, icy parts mixed with deep pockets of powder. I fell because of this in the bottom flat part and later learned that the whole hut watched me fall through the window. I'm always happy to provide entertainment.

After dinner, the whole hut gathered again at the windows to watch a group of guys skiing with headlamps. I told Martin: "They are either complete idiots or professionals".

There is no water or electricity in the hut and you have to fetch water and wood from the outside in −15 degrees Celsius. After the arrival of the group with headlamps, the hut was packed to the last bed and had the right Arctic atmosphere. The fat in our stomachs also only amplified it.

The Moon and a hairy mountain. My best guess is that wind is blowing snow over the mountain and creating an illusion of hair.

Tuesday

Two years ago me and Kolo unsuccessfully tried to climb Kaskasatjåkka (2076 m), the 4th highest mountain in Sweden. We turned around because of high winds. Me and Martin made a second attempt and the weather was much better this time with clear blue sky. However, it was very windy and cold, so we had to cover our faces regularly to avoid frostbites. We were rewarded with a view that is even better than from Kebnekaise sydtopp, the highest mountain in Sweden.

Western panorama includes 3 of the top 5 highest mountains in Sweden: Kebnekaise sydtopp, Kebnekaise nordtopp and Kaskasapakte. And it's taken from the 4th highest mountain, Kaskasatjåkka.

Wednesday

We woke up to a typical Tarfala weather: very low visibility, snow and strong wind. No wonder this is the most windy place in Sweden.



Luckily for us, the wind was blowing into our backs and it was actually making moving easier. We wanted to go back to the Kebnekaise fjällstation, but also check out the glacier cave inside Pallins halvjökel.

You can make a couple of ski turns in the glacier cave

The glacier cave provided a nice shelter, but we had to leave it and enter the white world.

Man on the Moon

We arrived at Kebnekaise fjällstation just before noon and then didn't do anything for the rest of the day.

Thursday

Two years ago I have been ogling Tuolpagorni a lot but we didn't have time to ski it, so I made it my main goal of this vacation.

Tuolpagorni has a bowl on the top, a very unusual formation

The conditions looked awesome: clear blue sky, no wind and a lot of powder snow. Our only worry were avalanches, but a snow pit only showed a dangerous layer more than a meter deep.

It felt very strange to be in Tuolpagorni's flat bowl up in the air. We went up to a saddle below the top, enjoyed the view and then skied down the obvious path.

Our downhill route

It was our first time skiing such a narrow and steep couloir (38 to 40 degreees), but in the end it was easier than expected. The deep snow was very forgiving and the couloir wider than it looks at first.

Our piece of work in the couloir

Wow, what a day! No wind is a once-in-a-lifetime experience in this area and skiing Tuolpagorni is also something we won't forget. Watch Martin's video summarizing the whole day.

Friday

I woke up feeling bad, so I stayed in the hut while Martin went for a short ride near Jökelbäcken. It was time to leave Kebnekaise and head home. I'm sure we'll be back soon.

As usual, a small selection of my photos is on Flickr and a full album from multiple cameras is on Google Photos. Martin also made a video from the whole trip.

Ski mountaineering in Veľká Studená dolina

After 5 years of ski touring me and Martin finally mustered some courage to try High Tatras in Slovakia, our highest mountain range. Their unpredictable weather and rough terrain make them very dangerous. To top it off, a couple of days before our planned arrival the weather was awful—freezing rain followed by snow and very strong wind. Thanks to an icy base layer, there was very little snow but high avalanche danger. Our plan was to go up to Zbojnícka chata chalet and assess the local avalanche danger ourselves. There must be at least one good slope to ski!

Wednesday

Poprad in –21 degrees Celsius.

We went up to Zbojnícka chata as planned. Suprisingly, the amount of snow was decreasing with increasing altitude. The last bit below the hut was very icy and we both hated it, because we took our skis off at least 5 times. After a short nap at the hut we went outside to exercise avalanche rescue and dig some snow pits. The first snow pit was completely safe which we couldn't believe, so we dug another one in less deep snow. A column of snow failed before we even started an avalanche test.

A snow column fell even before we started executing a test.

I jokingly said that I'm staying in the hut tomorrow, but I was hoping we would find a safe slope the next day. It started snowing in the evening and I was really happy. At least the annoying ice will be covered by snow.

Thursday

The safest slope in the valley was below Svišťové sedlo (marmot saddle). I was expecting a cloudy day but the sky opened as we approached the saddle.

The Sun finally reached us. Or did we reach the Sun?

When the slope exceeded 30 degrees, we decided to dig a snow pit and make another avalanche test. The snow was deep and the slope safe! The conditions in this particular valley looked perfect and nobody has been here for a couple of days. We left the skis and climbed the last meters with ice axes.

Martin climbing the last few meters.

Rovienková dolina

Happy to be in the saddle.

The view was great and the Sun was shining. Time to ski down.

Safe route choice. All other routes were either steeper or more wind-loaded.

We skied down to Zbojnícky spád which had a lot of blown-in snow. Perfect! After skinning back to the hut, Martin swore that he'll either end with ski touring or buy new skis, because his skins were slipping a lot on a steep slope. It was still only about 1pm, so why not practice self-arrest? This is a useful technique to stop a fall on a slippery slope with your ice axe. We survived even this exercise.

Friday

The weather forecast predicted high winds on Friday. Some parts of High Tatras got winds of speed 100 km/h, but the valley was calmer. This is no weather for ski touring, so we decided to head back to civilization early in the morning.

High winds up in the mountains

It was mostly alright, although sometimes we had to stop to let the wind gusts disappear.



All in all, it was a great trip. It turned out to be very educational besides all the skiing and climbing. For the first time I saw a snow pit test failing and we also did some useful avalanche and mountaineering exercises.

Small selection of my photos is on Flickr and an album merged from 2 cameras including some videos is on Google Photos. Martin also made a YouTube video in Slovak from the trip (just don't take inspiration from the first avalanche test, it was poorly performed).

Ski touring in Silvretta

Another trip proved that ski touring is the most fun sport ever invented.

Thursday

Our plan for Thursday was to go to Chammona Tuoi hut first and maybe do some light skiing afterwards. The plan quickly changed after Martins hyperglycemia, so we took a rest at the hut but we did some avalanche rescue training after dinner.

Friday

On Friday, we climbed Hintere Jamspitze (3156 m) without trouble in great weather with awesome views.

Great view

On the way down I made one of my best ski runs ever on an untouched steep slope (about 36 to 38 degrees). The snow was getting wet and heavy and I fell in the middle of it, but it was pure joy and I had to shout at the whole valley when it was over.

You can see the place where I fell

Even though we were taking it easy today, we were already at the hut at 1 pm and just relaxed before the big trip the next day.

Saturday

We woke up at 5 am to get an early start. I made a mistake of not looking into the map for 2 hours and just followed the main ski track on the La Cudera glacier. We crossed the wrong saddle and ended up under a peak we didn't plan to climb – Silvrettahorn (3244 m). In the end it turned out to be a very lucky mistake! We wouldn't be able to climb Piz Buin (3312 m) with our equipment anyway; our plan was to climb as far as possible and for Silvrettahorn we only needed an ice axe and crampons. The view was breathtaking.

Piz Buin (3312 m) and Ochsentaler Gletscher

Piz Linard (3410 m)

The return back to the hut was a bit too long and annoying, especially with the wind blowing snow on our faces on the glacier. At least the last meters were a very enjoyable downhill ride. After returning back to the hut, I learned some useful facts about Kussmaul breathing which you get during diabetic ketoacidosis. Luckily Martin didn't die in the end, so we survived another great trip in the mountains!

As usual, a selection of my photos is on Flickr and an album merged from 2 cameras is on Google Photos (with David Hasselhoff).

Ski mountaineering in Žiarska dolina

Every year around New Year me and my friends go to the mountains. This time me, Martin and Kolo chose Žiarska dolina in West Tatras in Slovakia. The weather before our trip was very hot and most of the snow disappeared from the mountains. As we approached Tatras and saw the grassy slopes, I became quite sceptical about the conditions, but in the end it turned out to be one of my best ski touring trips.

Sunday

We first went to Smutné sedlo (1965 m, sad saddle in Slovak), to do an easy ride and check the snow conditions. The ascent was icy and Martin had some trouble, since he didn't have ski crampons. We had to wait for him and Kolo used this opportunity to make two rides from the saddle.

Since the weather was great and the snow was okay in the upper parts, we decided to go to Hrubá kopa (2166 m). The ascent was very steep and again, Martin was a bit slower, because he didn't have an ice axe but Kolo created nice snow stairs for him and me.

Climbing the chute using stairs in the snow. We skied down the same way.

Western view with Baníkov (2178 m)

The descent has been my hardest ride ever. I had ice on my binding and it released once in the beginning because of that. I carefully cleaned it but after that I wasn't confident enough to do quick turns down the steep 40-degree chute on hard packed snow. A small mistake and released binding would send me onto the surrounding rocks.

The sky turned orange after we skied the chute.

Monday

We decided on an easy trip to Žiarske sedlo (1917 m), since we didn't see snow elsewhere. While approaching, we saw that the nearby peak Plačlivô (2125 m) was completely covered in white and looked easy to ski. Martin was afraid of getting hypoglycemia, so he staid in the saddle and took awesome pictures, while me and Kolo went up. We had breathtaking views from the top and there was almost no wind, a perfect day in the mountains!

Kolo and me climbing up with ice axes. We skied the same line.

Sea of clouds with Kráľová hoľa in the background

The ride was less steep than the previous day and the snow much better. As a bonus, we had the whole mountain and surrounding valley only for ourselves. Žiarska dolina is full of great ski lines, so we have to return some day.

Small selection of my photos is on Flickr and an album merged from 3 cameras is on Google Photos.

Kebnekaise, the Arctic journey

In March 2008 me and Kolo hiked for a week in Morocco in High Atlas in altitudes ranging from 2500 to 4000 metres carrying everything we needed in our backpacks. Precisely 5 years later the two of us planned a trip of similar difficulty, a week of ski touring and mountaineering beyond the Arctic Circle near the highest mountain in Sweden, Kebnekaise.

After months of research and preparation I was really excited to go. Well, not so fast! 4 days before we were supposed to leave I got a 40-degree fever and could barely move. Maybe it didn't make sense for Kolo to fly to Sweden from Boston after all. Luckily, just a few hours before his flight the doctor told me that even though I had influenza, I could be skiing on Monday or Tuesday.

We started our trip as planned but the first day I stayed in bed at Kebnekaise fjällstation while Kolo went alone for an easy trip. On Monday I tried to ski but only for 3 hours, since my lungs were now fighting with a secondary bacterial infection and were still very weak.

On Tuesday we decided to go to Tarfala, another mountain hut in the area. The weather was horrible but at least we had the hut and the valley only for ourselves. In the afternoon we went for a ride on Isfallsglaciär. The snow was awesome but the slope was not steep enough for sufficient speed.

According to the forecast, Wednesday was supposed to be without wind. When we woke up, the Tarfala valley was silent. We started climbing towards Kaskasatjåkka (2076 m), but when we reached a saddle at 1800 m, the wind picked up speed again. We skied down in a complete whiteout sometimes not knowing if we were going up or down. Sometimes I hit a small hill but I couldn't see them, because everything was white.

We decided to take a shortcut through Kebnetjåkka lilltopp, ending with a downhill ride right to the doors of Kebnekaise fjällstation. "It's half past one, we have 5 hours to do this", said Kolo. I laughed, because it looked like 2 easy hours. Little did I know what was going to happen next. After we reached a plateau the wind got so strong it was difficult to maintain balance while standing. It must have been between 60 to 90 km/h, no wonder this is the windiest place in Sweden with a record of 292 km/h (and then the station broke). We turned around for the second time today and continued in the valley with less wind. We reached the hut just before six.

Thursday was the last possible day for ascending Kebnekaise sydtopp (ca. 2110 m), the highest mountain in Sweden. The weather was great, clear sky and almost no wind, so we made it without big problems. The view from the top was simply breathtaking.

Countless stones made the descent harder, but at least I trained skiing in 3-meter narrow snow fields surrounded by stones. After the hard part we were rewarded with a ride in an awesome powder just below Tolpagorni. After climbing 1800 height meters and 9.5 hours we were back at Kebnekaise fjällstation. This was one of the hardest day trips I have ever done and my lung infection and temperature between -10 and -15 degrees didn't make it easier.

On Friday morning I woke up completely exhausted and still coughing too much, so Kolo went alone for a ride in the sunny weather.

Finally it's time to go home after a week long Arctic experience. We will be back!

A small selection of photos is on Flickr and a full album on Google Photos.

Extreme Ironing in Oregon

I happened to be at a conference in Boston in June and it was a great opportunity to go hiking with Kolo afterwards, since he's living in Boston. We decided to go to Oregon and Washington on the west coast. I also met again CouchSurfers Adam, Grady and Jesse, who crashed at my place two years ago.

Adam and Jesse surprised us by picking us up at the airport. Later that day I also met Grady but he wasn't joining us for our trip, since he was off to Alaska. We played frisbee for a while and then prepared for the trip.

The next day we hiked the Eagle Creek trail, which is situated in a steep canyon. The topic of the day was extreme ironing. We had a lot of ideas for this extreme sport, but none of them turned out to be new. Apart from that we had some nice views, there was water everywhere and a huge waterfall at the end. Only Adam had the courage to swim in the creek, the rest of us just washed ourselves. Cool water, cool trip.

Later, when we tried to get some water at a camping place, we met the owner who didn't like what we were doing. He said that our license place was on file, but I heard "on fire". How could possibly our license plate be on file or on fire? Both didn't make sense, so we let it go. Before we found a spot for our camp, we saw Mt. Adams (12,281 ft; 3,743 m) in its entire beauty.

Our main goal was to climb Mt. Adams. The weather this year was crazy. The mountains received a lot of snow in May and June, so the avalanche danger was a bit high. The lady at the ranger station in Trout Lake warned us but we decided to give it a shot. We parked our car at Morrison Creek (4700 ft, 1400 m), since we couldn't continue to Cold Springs due to snow. On our way up we met two snowboarders on their way back from the summit. They said that the route is safe and there is no avalanche danger. Around 7pm we arrived to South Butte and decided to build a camp. The wind started to blow really strong, so we had to build windshields around our tents and also put the tents deep in the snow. We didn't have enough water, because we didn't find the spring at Cold Springs and it took long to melt snow with only one stove. The melted water tasted like sulphur, since we were on a volcano.

We decided to attack the moutain at 2:30 in the morning, so that we could walk on frozen snow. Even though it was quite cold and I had 1kg of snow to melt inside my sleeping bag, it was still hot inside and I didn't manage to sleep. The weather was almost perfect. Clear sky, -1 degree, but the wind was still very strong. We finally left the base camp at 2:45 with our headlamps on.

It was pretty tough. We couldn't stop for more than 2 minutes, because the windchill was so strong. I hoped that the situation would improve with sunrise, but it didn't. Jesse took a lot of pictures and his gloves weren't that good, so his hands were cold. At that time the wind was so strong that it almost blew me off from the path. Since I had experience with frostbites, I decided to descend with him and help him in the camp. We all high-fived, since we reached 10000 feet (3000 m) and Kolo with Adam continued climbing. Luckily, Jesse's situation turned out not to be serious. Kolo and Adam managed to get to the false summit (11,500 feet; 3,510 m). We all slept in the base camp for a while, until it became hot inside the tents. We descended back to our car and it started snowing right after I put on suncream and felt really hot. Even though we didn't manage to summit, we had a lot of fun, stunning views and we all learned something new.

The plan for the next few days was to climb Mt. Hood (11,249 feet, 3,428.7 m). Jesse and Adam didn't have time to join us, so Kolo and I rented a car and headed to the Mt. Hood area. Weather was pretty bad. It was raining and when we reached 5000 feet, rain changed to snow. The parking lot at Timberline Lodge was covered with 15 cm of new wet snow. It didn't look good for us. New snow means avalanche danger, so the next day we only did a short hike in the safe part. I didn't feel good at all, so I just hiked to 8000 feet and Kolo continued higher. Again, we didn't manage to summit but at least we took some great pictures.

All in all, it was a great week, apart from the donut incident at the aiport. I really like this part of USA and I hope I will return some day. And I would like to thank Jesse and Adam again.

Photos are on Google Photos and Flickr.

Frostbites in Low Tatras

It's been a long time since Kolo and me went to the mountains together. We decided to go to Low Tatras in Slovakia in winter. This time Martin was supposed to join us, but he got ill just few days before the trip.

So here we are. It's January 2, 2010, 8:00 AM and we start our trip from Čertovica (1238 metres). The beginning is pretty steep, but we are rewarded by great weather with good visibility. There is not much snow, roughly 40 cms and walking is easy. Just after we had put our crampons on, light fog appeared. However, it created a stunning scenery and Kolo spent a lot of time lying on the ground while making pictures with his fixed-length lense.

After the lunch at the mountain hut Štefániková chata, we ascent to the highest mountain of Low Tatras, Ďumbier (2043 metres). We are exposed to fog again, but this time pretty seriously with visibility between 10 and 20 metres. A couple of times I saw only snow and white fog around me, which drove me crazy. It felt like I got blind. After two hours of hiking we managed to get to another mountain hut, Kamenná chata. The fog left marks on our personalities. See photo.

I am not a big fan of panoramatic pictures, but this time I couldn't resist and made one from Chopok (2018 metres), a mountain that is near the hut. Enjoy!


It's three o'clock, just one hour before sunset, so the best option is to sleep in the hut. For the rest of the evening we eat and read. I forgot to take a book and the only thing I had were 2 scientific articles. Still better than nothing, though.

The weather in the morning is exactly the same as the forecast said. -18 degrees and wind speed is 72 kms per hour. And snow and fog. Therefore we decided to descent 500 metres and avoid the highest parts of the ridge. It's hard because we don't see the path and sometimes we have to go in deep snow.

After an hour we finally arrived to Kosodrevina hut. It is a communistic building with a special smell, so we left it as soon as we drank our teas. The next hour was really good, weather improved and we saw the sun for a while. At this moment I thought that we will successfully get to our goal, cottage Ďurková. However, it turned out that the second half of the traversal path has not been used for a while, and thus most of the time we were passing through deep powder snow. Moreover, the wind started to blow again. And it was still damn cold, I would guess -15 degrees. It took us 3 hours to get back to the main ridge, instead of expected 1 hour. In the Poľana saddle we met a group of other tourists. Since it was late, we decided to descent together. At this point I was really exhausted. But luckily I had only to follow other people who knew where to go.

When we got to Jasná, it was already dark and I finally realized what happened to my fingers. It started to hurt. I got blisters on 3 fingers the next day and that means frostbites of second degree. Today is almost a month since the accident and I can use 8 and half fingers for typing -- one hurts just a bit and the other one will need at least another month to recover. The injury was so severe, because the finger was broken a while ago and I cannot move its last part properly. And thus the blood didn't circulate there.

You can now be sure that every time I will go somewhere in winter I will have at least 2 pairs of good gloves. Yesterday I bought a new pair and tested them in -15 degrees in Stockholm. And tomorrow I'm flying to Harbin, China, where there is -27 at the moment.

See photos on Google Photos and Flickr.