Saturday, February 19, 2011

Jack Frost?

Another Saturday, the weather forecast had promised sunshine, that's positive, the temperature was negative though, way negative! The thermometer showed -15 when I left the appartment!

The massive snowfall that was a while ago is still on the ground since it has been cold ever since, thankfully the snowmobiles had made tracks and most of them is usable.

The plan for the day is to try make it to the island Sollen in the middle of Väsman, been close there earlier but was too tired to check it out then.

Took the straightest way out on to the ice of Väsman, followed the track next to the frozen stream.


Minus 15 Celsius and still open water!


Last night there was a mist coming from the lake and some of it seemed to attach it self to the tree branches.


10 minutes out and my glasses was foggy all ready, this was promising... Not!


Despite the cold the view was fantastic!




Time to enter the ice!


Hardly any wind today, thanks for that! :)


I'd better choose the right track! The two island I visited earlier on the right and behind them the goal for the day, Sollen island.


No wind but the but my speed on the bike and the moisture from my breathing made me look like Jack Frost! :)

Yes, that's frost behind my glasses, time to buy new contact lenses. Premiere for a gift I got from Tobbe (and Anki?), a pair of ice prods, think the ice was thick enough to take the weight of a loaded truck but since I got them anyway... :)


Managed to get some distance from Ludvika.


Not the best snowmobile track but it was going in the right direction, I was sweating like a hippo despite the cold, had to work for every meter!




More people on the ice.


Not so far now...


Finally!


Decided to make camp on the sunny side!


Had to defrost my glasses! :)


A older couple came the same track as I had come and approached me, had a small talk while the fire was catching on. They had seem me on a distance and could not figure out what form of transport I was using, they has excluded snowmobile since I looked to tall and there was no noise and then they had seen the track and got more confused. :)

They were using skis and thought they never catch me and that I was already in Sunnansjö when I rounded the island, the were curious about the poogies since they used bikes to commute in to Ludvika.


The makeshift camp site. Next to a fallen tree.


Some "green" leafs...


The water in the waster bottle had partly frozen.


View towards Sunnansjö.


Grilled some sausages and had a hot cup of coffee, sent some smoke signals after that...


Testing the zoom...


Noticed some icicles in the pine tree.


High time to start thinking about getting back to Ludvika before the sun sets.


Didn't help that I got rid of the frost in my beard at the camp fire, got new frost just moments later!


Decided to try some new tracks on the way back.


The last few hundred meters before I was on solid ground again was really tough!


Still fantastic weather but all I cared about was getting home as fast as possible. Not freezing but exhausted!


Was running the tires really deflated so it was straining to pedal even on hard surface but I had no wish to stop and inflate the tires this close to home.


Managed to beat the sun!


Finally back home! Didn't ride that far but the few kilometers I rode was tough!


Still a great day out, I just hope the temerature goes up soon! =)

The Rochefort 10 and a splash of Belvenie Double Wood sure tastes fine right now...

GPS-plot:

1 comment:

  1. The Väsman ice is treacherous, it cracks up into partly open channels here and there. Snowmobiles go fast enough to go over them with out any signs, so I'm happy you use the prods! :)

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