Ski-touring in Sarek National Park
1. Sarek, the last frontier
Few places on Earth have no phone and internet. In this connected world it is hard to imagine a place which has no more communication beyond a patchy satellite link. No amenities nearby, no people, no hospitals. Sarek is such a place. A patch of wilderness in northern Sweden, ca. 76degN. Cold and forlorn, you either love it or you hate it. In early 2019, two IT engineers and a lawyer decided to venture across Sarek from south to north on skis, pulling their food and accommodation in pulks behind them. The only assistance available was through an InReach link-up delivering weather warnings by a trusted friend.
2. A walk in the park
Yes, Sarek is a park. A national park. Technically then, it was a walk in the park. The walk in the park started with the coldest day of the expedition with heaviest snowfall, and almost 20 km, mostly uphill. Thankfully, we were the strongest at that point, the energy was not depleted but exertion yet to come. Unfortunately, the pulkas were the heaviest with all the food for 2 weeks.
With open wound on left shinbone, nicely duct-taped to avoid further damage from ski boots we carried on, enjoying short brakes for chocolate and tea huddled under a tarp designed to shelter us from the wind.
The third day started pleasantly. We were entering Rapa Valley, gliding on skis, following frozen river. The first sign of incoming troubles came from the ground. It was snow, which started to strangely build up under skins of our skis. Then the nature, somehow became quite like if it was compressed by a hand of a nordic giant. Finally, it was inReach: “Storm is coming, look for shelter” texted Dominik. One hour later, seeing our constants movement: “Hurricane coming from the Atlantic, quickly find shelter for the night”, seeing we are still not stopping: “Shelter now” repeated every 10 minutes until our stop at the bend of Rapa river.
Still without a single blow of the deadly force, which run a ferry ashore off Norwegian coast, we started to dig a hole behind a steel box of an old weather station. We walled ourselves, filled stomachs with food and went asleep. At nigh, the Valkyrie charged through the Rapa valley.
3. The show must go on
Days and nights followed in the same stormy pattern. With the exception of a couple of extraordinary sunny hours, we powered through the day, heading North, which was against the wind. At midday, covered under a tarp, we had our 5 o’clock, and in the evening we set up a tent where we boiled water on an open gasoline burner for our dried, high calories food rations, and we braced for the night’s outing of Valkyrie in our valley. No, going outside for a relief during the nigh was not an option. However, a wide mouth bottle can create a cosy warmth in a sleeping bag.
4. Rescue
A roar of engines woke us up one night. A surprise in an empty wilderness where no-one is allowed to use ski-doos. A team of two ski-doos came to our tent. Two men, dressed in overcoats so thick they looked like astronauts shouted something in unknown language. Seeing confusion they repeated in English. They were Sami, who are exempted from limitation on motorised vehicles in Sarek. They were looking for a skier who went missing. Learning we have not seen a man they were looking for, they continued into the night leaving us with a conviction that Sarek must be respected.
5. The finish
14 day long ski journey ended at the great Akka hut were, despite hut warden’s objections to our smell, we went directly to a sauna. From there, we took a bus, train and airplane to get to our homes. Each vehicle we used to get home underwent some kind of accident or malfunction as if Sarek realised it treated us too kindly, and wanted to give us a farewell warning.
6. Credits
This expedition was planned by Greg Annandale, who ventured into the Sarek for his third time. Greg was accompanied by Alex Thomas, and Wojciech Jarosinski.
We started at Saltoluokta, then headed to Aktse, from where W and N through Rapadalen. We celebrated Greg’s Birthday in Mikkastugan and negotiated our way to Akka, from where we took the bus S to Saltoluokta.
Text: Wojciech Jarosinski