Nothing but snow

Dates: 23 – 28.03.2019

Mileage: about 145 km

The only participant: Aleksei Trubetckoi

In March 2019 at last I managed to realize my long-time dream to see what the tundra looks like before the snowmelt, when there is nothing but snow.

Two years ago my attempt failed, a year ago I could not go at all. Three weeks before this trip it was other attempt, but I was driving from Karasjok too slowly and realized that I would not have enough time to pass the route. Then I had to return. But later this month I was able to find time again. This time I started from another point and finally reached the places I wanted to see.

The starting point was the Norwegian village Tanabru. The trip area is here

In more detail the track looks like this

The track turned out to be linear. That is, I started from Tanabru, reached the tundra plateau and returned the same road. I had been to Tanabru about 6 times already, but previously I visited it at other times of the year, in September or in May. It was interesting to see familiar places in winter conditions. I often take with me something to read (not the whole book because it’s too heavy, but the printout of several pages). I like to read Naomi Uemura’s book called «Alone with the North» and I recall the quote from it: «At last I came back. I came back alone to this world which is icy, cold and severe but nevertheless wonderfully dear to me.»

The bus arrived to Tanabru during the night of 22 to 23 March. I left the village, biked about 3 kilometers and set up my tent. Along the river, trees are everywhere. There is a lot of powdery snow, therefore it’s rather difficult to mess with the tent. I didn’t have snowshoes with me, because I had rather heavy equipment even without them. But when I had made paths, it became more comfortable to move. Though making paths takes me a lot of time. This is what the camp looked like the next morning:

23 March

In the morning I packed my things and went to the north along the Tana river. The weather was perhaps too warm, maybe temperature was even a bit above zero. This year the spring came early, usually in late March the weather is still frosty. Two years ago at the end of March the temperature dropped to -30°C at night. But this time wet snow rather disturbed me because contact with snow made all things also wet quickly.

It was calm. There was already very few snow on the road. As a whole it was rather boring start to the day – the plain with crooked northern birches and dirty spring road. But after lunch I reached fjords and of course it was getting more interesting. When the road came to the sea, it became relief and leaded upward and downward. This is a small lake located on the upland:

I couldn’t ride on my heavy fatbike when the road leaded up and I just walked. On the downhill I was pumping the brakes because here asphalt was already icy or even covered with snow and ice. In general, like last time, the speed wasn’t good enough. In a day I passed only 45 km and set up my tent on the fjord bank. It was a rather beautiful place. This way it looked like in the morning:

The sunrise was early, I didn’t know exactly when. I waked up at half past six or at seven and it was already quite light. It got dark at about 8-9 p.m. If I stopped moving at about 6 p.m., then I was just in time to make everything in the camp before dark.

24 March

In the morning it was -8°C and the snow stopped sticking around at last. The sky was clear, the snow blinded and I rode using mountaineering sunglasses. This day I had to go up to the plateau. The gradual rise is from sea level to about 350 meters altitude and it was spread over several kilometers. This is a photo from about its midway point:

With altitude vegetation is gradually disappearing and you can see fascinate open spaces of a snow surface:

It took me some time to ride to the beginning of rising, then I rose upward slowly, therefore when I got to the plateau the evening was already coming. I decided that the camp would be on a hill, moved there all my luggage and pushed there my bike. Usually it’s not very logical to put a camp on a hill, but firstly there snow is denser and accordingly it’s more comfortable to walk. And secondly I had rather accurate forecast and it said that wind would be fresh but not a gale. That was just what I need because I wanted to test wind resistance of my tent. Besides the place was beautiful:

It was a good thing I began to make my camp earlier than usual. As wind was expected to be fresh I built a wall around my tent though the wall wasn’t high. Maybe I hadn’t got the hang of this yet but it took me a lot of time. And even my snowsaw came in handy. The snow was compressed but not like stone and I could cut it with shovel but in this case I wouldn’t be able to make so smooth bricks.

That night, indeed, was windy. Also it snowed and the tent was a bit buried in the snow:

This is the view looking down the camp:

The number of days off was limited, therefore I decided not to waste time relocating my camp but on Monday (25.03) just to ride on the plateau without my equipment, then to return to the camp and the next day to ride back to Tanabru.

25 March

During the day the temperature was about -5-7°C with winds out the west at 5-8 meters per second. It was sunny and landscapes were amazing. Maybe photographing took me more time than riding. There were endless snowfields stretching to the horizon. They looked a bit like the frozen sea. The views were unreal, unusual, almost alien. Indeed, there was nothing but snow there. I really like minimalism and rigidity of lines tracing snow hills.

Also I tried to ride my bike on the virgin lands. In general, there is some prospects in this regard. But I got lazy to make flat tires and later to reinflate them though it’s the main key point for any fatbike. Tire pressure affects all-terrain travel capability very much. To ride on the loose substance you have to make tires more flat. But I did it only for the front wheel. And even in this case in some places I could ride like on asphalt. Probably if you attack this thing seriously, then you can create and pass some off-road route.

The plateau is not totally flat. Here and there are several small rocks and they make the landscape more picturesque:

By the end of the day I returned to the camp. Everything was fine, I only had to clean my kitchenette

26 March

At night it snowed again but there was a calm wind and the snow wasn’t blown. Next morning everything around was covered with the whitest blanket of snow. It was fantastically beautiful. Besides, that day was partly cloudy and lighting changed often. This landscape was one of the best in the whole trip:

Well, in the morning of March 26 I left the plateau towards Tanabru. When I woke up it was sunny but while I was packing up it began to snow. I decided to wait a little and the sun appeared again:

There are high hills on descent from the plateau and I wanted to go up to one of them. But while I was riding to them the snow started falling:

I almost became upset because there was no sense to go up in such conditions – I could see nothing. While I was thinking what to do, snowing stopped. Actually, during the day snowing and the sun succeeded each other about 10 times. In general for this area it’s typical that the weather changes often but that day it changed kaleidoscopically. I went up to the hill after all. Its height is about 400 meters above sea level. On the top wind was very strong. This is the view to the plateau (not from the very top but slightly below):

And this is the view from the top to the fjord:

This is the landscape on descent. I just liked the shot, woody debris gave it some surreal:

It is the opposite bank near the fjord:

By Tuesday evening I reached the same place where I slept three days ago. I decided to stay there again because it was convenient that all paths were already made.

27 and 28 March

There were only last 48 km to Tanabru. I thought that I could pass them for 2 days slowly as the next bus to Rovaniemi went only on Thursday night. On the way I hoped to go up to one more hill (its height was about 500 meters above sea level) but this time I had bad luck with the weather. As a whole that Thursday wasn’t a good day for me. In the morning the wet snow was falling and I was waiting in the tent until it stopped.

I didn’t count on wetness and took the avizent jacket with me, not a membrane jacket. Avizent is a windproof and breathable material. Besides, it’s really inexpensive and serves long years. Its only flaw that it’s not waterproof.

The sky cleared a little, I made breakfast and had almost packed up. But at that moment it started raining. It was really surprising. I was ready for low temperatures, including -30°C, but not for raining. And I had to wait in the tent for about 3 hours until the rain stopped. After that, I didn’t think about the hill anymore and hurried to Tanabru as the weather allowed me to go.

I was lucky it was clear in the evening. The temperature had fallen a bit below zero and it couldn’t be raining. I had a lot of time until the bus arrived. I took out my mattress and sleeping bag, lay down and began to watch beautiful northern lights. When it finished I slept a little and woke up because the snow fell in large flakes onto my face. I went under the roof of the petrol station, waited for another two hours and after that got on the bus.

The main equipment:

Fatbike: Author Su-Mo

Luggage carrier: Tubus for fatbikes

Tires: Chaoyang (studded), at the front wheel 4.9, at the rare wheel 4.0 (I can’t use wider tire at the rare wheel)

Rucksack: Aldika-90

Tent: Redfox Explorer

Sleeping bags: Sivera Inoch and the thin blanket by Bask (this package fits for -30°C, though the temperature didn’t fall so low)

Short inflating mattress Trangoworld + usual EVA mattress 1,6 mm

Burner: OptimusNova+

Pot: Fire-Maple (with integrated heat transfer fins to the bottom)

Snowsaw MSR, snowshovel

I don’t know if there is sense to describe my clothes. It wasn’t too cold and I didn’t test it well. As a whole, I followed the standard approach: three layers (next-to-skin, warm and windproof), synthetic materials. This time I didn’t use down clothes at all.

It’s important to have good sunglasses. They must fit closely to stop light coming from the side or from below.