2009-02-08 67 20

The hash was on a frozen bog (surprise?) near the Nikkaluokta road south of Kiruna, Sweden.

the ru

This hash was quite easy to reach, I only had to traverse 600 m on skis. There were two minor obstacles. First, there was a steep slope. Getting down wasn't a problem, but to get back up I had to take my skis off and crawl.

Then, there was a stream. It seemed frozen, but as usual I decided not to risk anything. And as usual, I later discovered that some parts of it were indeed open, so the ice couldn't have been very thick. These streams aren't deep so there isn't really any risk of drowning - the danger is getting wet and cold, especially at these low temperatures. Getting my skis wet and covered with ice is also a bad idea (heavy!). And it might not even be possible to recover them from the water.

Anyway, I had plenty of time, so I thought I'd go upstream (which actually turned out to be downstream!) and look for a safe way to cross... and found a bridge!

I was hoping to break the cold record and brought a thermometer, but it didn't go below -18.1 C (-19.6 C was the current record).

Back at the car I changed into dry clothes and had some hot cocoa and fruit soup (in separate cups, obviously).

The bridge
Open water
The customary animal tracks
At the hash
All of this is possible thanks to a sphere of burning gas lightminutes away


Sun 8 Feb 2009 in 67,20: 67.7552405, 20.1034115 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox