second half of sweden trip...a bit rammbely

We got up relatively early around eight and after a relaxing breakfast in the kitchen of one of the sleeping dorms we began our ascent of Kebnekaise the highest mountain in Sweden which at just over 2100 meters is arguably more like a large hill. Nothing quite like beginning the morning with a large steep hill. We headed back the way we had come the day before and about 30 minutes later took a hard right and headed straight up out of the valley. The first hill came out into a large boulder filled bowl where we could get our first glimpse of the summit. From there we climbed up about 500 meters to the base of the next ridge where we could see over into three more glorious valleys and from there up another 400 never-ending meters to the top of a hill I thought would bring us to the summit. On top of the hill was a rock city built by climbers. The entire hill top was covered in small rock piles built so that it appears to be a fairy village. From there we had to descend about 700 meters before climbing the 1000 meters to the top. We eat our pitiful lunch of tube cheese and wheat crackers at the base of the mountain and then struggled our way slowly up the sheer boulder filled way to the top. About 260 meters from the summit we reached an emergency hut where I seriously considered stopping and calling it quits but then after a bit of a rest we all kept going. The final 200 meters climb we had to walk through knee deep snow which given the blazing afternoon sun was very was slow going. The summit was set up on a nipple of snow at the edge of an expansive snow field and from the top you can look over something like 20 percent of Sweden and I think also on into Norway. The was a flag planted on top that just said Sneaky Steve and had a silluette of a man wearing sunglasses and generally looking very sneaky. Given the level of exhaustion that has already set in for me the glissade down the nipple really invigorated me. From the edge of the snowfield things got more difficult as tired knees and ankles had to navigate ´the steep and often unstable or nonexistent trail. About half way back down into the high valley I fell as the rocks I was standing on slid down the mountain. I was surprisingly ok, bruised in many places with hurt pride but no broken bones, after doing a complete summersault and landing pretty much on my feet. At the bottom of that valley we decided it would be a good idea to walk through the snow rather then around as we had done on the ascent and found out that underneath that snowfield was an icy lake. The numb feet took some of the pain out the 700 meter climb up the next hill and by the time we had gotten to the top our feet were warm again. After leaving the summit we had split up into two groups Adam and Bianca, the must stronger and faster group, left us somewhere shortly after the emergency hut so that they would be back in time to buy snickers for everyone before the shop closed. When I fell on the first hill the faster group was already half way up the second climb. We, the slow group, got back a full hour and half later then Adam and Bianca. From the bottom of the second hill we glissaded down a massive snow field into the bowl saving ourselves about half an hour of walking and lifting our spirits immensely. The next day we lazed around at the station and took a really nice sauna. In the morning we said goodbye to three of our companions. Anna, Todd, and Geheert walked out to Nikkuluakta and Daniel, Adam, Bianca, Jeff, and I continued onward. After a teary goodbye we walked 10 kilometers back through the valley we had come in through and then south up into the mountains where we found a glorious campsite on the edge of a lake. The weather was a bit stormy so we spent the night playing music and cards in Bianca’s tent. In the morning we walked down back on the Kundsleden and followed a brilliant blue river down into forested land seeing trees for the first time since the second day of the trip. We camped that night on the edge of a wildlife preserve at the bank glacial river and had a much needed campfire. Day three of the second leg brought us all the way through the nature reserve and across a massive lake that we had to row across using two boats and bringing them back across. On the other side of the lake there was an emergency hut where we ended our day at lunch spending the rest of the day baking in the hut with the woodstove going. For Dan and I that was the last night out on the trail. The next day we hiked up about 800 meters before descending down to Vakkoluakta where we would spend our final night camping on the banks of a massive lake. We had run out of fuel for the stove the day before and had then used the woodstove in the cabin and the last night since the hut did not carry the type of fuel we needed, we cooked on a big open driftwood fire using a grill we found near the campsite. Saying goodbye the next day was quite painful and full of promises and dreams of reunion trips and photo exchange. Honestly it felt like leaving a piece of myself behind with each person.

long awaited swedish post...but only the first half ( I know its long read as you will)

The journey to Kiruna in the north of Sweden’s arctic wilderness by plane took less then three hours, a small fraction of the time it would take us to return to Stockholm on the train even starting about two hundred kilometers south of where we began our hike. But that is a story for a later date. This entry is an account of the Couchsurfing Kundsleden Adventure of 2009. Upon arrival at the Abisko Tourist Station where our two week backpack would begin, we began to wonder how we would find the others in our group the majority of whom we had never exchanged a single communication with. Daniel and I started by stashing our bags having a stretch and contemplating the reality of our undertaking. To many this may sound like a ridiculous or even dangerous idea, not the 130 km wilderness trip including a summit of the highest mountain in the country and 24 hours every day of brutal arctic sun, but the commitment of two weeks worth of delicate travel plans to almost perfect strangers. However as we had anticipated and would re-affirm over and over on this trip, hospitality and community organizations like Couchsurfing offer platforms for people to develop positive connections if treated with goodwill can become conduits for fast friendships and opportunities for skill sharing and inspiration. Enough of the plugging and back to reality, while I was setting my bag down in the hallway of the tourist station I saw a woman to my left who looked suspiciously like the woman organizing our trip. It turned out that she was and the eclectic group accompanying her would be our companions on the adventure. After a brief set of introductions we settled down to cooking our first meal together and divvying up our food supplies. Bianca’s original plan was that we would walk only two or three kilometers on the first night as we did not begin hiking until about 6:00 in the evening. It turned out we all had a lot more energy then anticipated and with the help of the consistent sunlight we made it about eight kilometers to camp at a locked up winter camp for the Sami reindeer people. Over a second dinner, coffee and a campfire I finally really learned everyone’s names and in the morning I took my first swim inside the arctic circle. Day two we took a leisurely pace and enjoyed marvelous weather. About five kilometers into our day we arrived at the first supply hut, one of many huts along the Kundsleden which are placed conveniently about a days walk from each other. Near the hut was a beautiful swimming hole in a snow melt river where we founded the bare back club which would remain our tradition for the remainder of the trip. That night we camped up in a pass opposite another Sami camp on the shore of a lake from which glorious snow capped mountains could be viewed in every direction. This is where I started to feel scared. Fears that would latter prove mainly ungrounded pushed into my thoughts. Would we be going into those snowy passes, if these were not the highest mountains in the region what would our approach to the ceiling of Sweden be like? I don’t have boots adequate for hiking in snow. What are we getting ourselves into? I did not worry to much though as none of us was outfitted for spending much time in the snow including our trusty leader I figured we would somehow bypass the majority of the icy white stuff. On the third day of hiking we encountered a difficulty I had known was coming. Over the course of about three miles we had five shoes off stream crossings. We made it close to 13 kilometers that day our energy bolstered a bit by the meatballs we could look forward to for dinner purchased from the hut two kilometers from our campsite. After a leisurely breakfast the next morning we powered through the first five kilometers of our hike and decided to take a day trip from there up to see these two glaciers. Seven of us started out the journey with one of the group staying behind to guard our packs and rest his heel injury. We climbed up a valley following the path of the river which would lead us up to the glacier. About half way up we spotted our first herd of reindeer and frequently found antlers along the way. The climb up was a lot further then we had originally thought and many of us were not accustomed to our blisters yet so about a half hour after our lunch break four of us turned around. As we headed down we followed or chased very slowly the small herd of reindeer we had seen from earlier sometimes glimpsing them sillueted against the mountain surroundings and the sky. Given that we were exhausted and had no idea when the three others who continued on would return, we decided to ax our original plan to hike further and set up camp at the bottom of the valley on a small plateau above the banks of the glacial river we had been following. About two hours after we had set up camp the others arrived totally wiped. Apparently it was good that we had turned around as the glacier was another two kilometers up involving some climbing and walking over precarious snow bridges. What they said was they should have turned around and would not do it again given the chance but that it was amazingly beautiful and totally worth it. The next day it felt very strange to have my pack back on and I began the day with a bit of dread knowing that these would mark the highest point of the Kundsleden trail. After about six kilometers we reached the bottom of the hill. The first three hundred meters of climbing left me quite breathless and soon the ground was all mud and water making it difficult to keep my feet as dry and happy as I would have liked. About half a kilometer before the hut that would be our lunch spot we began encountering large patches of three foot deep snow. We stayed mostly dry by walking in the footsteps of others but as the day was quite warm and brutally sunny we often slipped through into the flowing water underneath. After a relaxed lunch with coffee and tea on board we continued up what would prove the most difficult but also fun leg of our journey. The next three hours of hiking would be almost 80 percent through snow. At the top of the pass we stopped for a rest to give our tired pruny feet a rest and look over what we had just accomplished. In hindsight we would have climbed up the ridge in the first place instead of coming up through the valley and thus avoided the majority of the snow. From the pass we headed down into the net valley which had far less snow due to its southern exposure but was still quite wet going. Out camp for the night was at the bottom of the valley and very exposed. This was the first night I remember being really cold. Our dinner that night was rice with soup but we were all so hungry that we had a second dinner of pasta and tomato sauce to keep us warm. I don’t think it has ever taken so long to boil water. Day six of our hike began very cold as we were in the shadow of a large hill (I dare say mountain). We walked the six kilometers to the supply hut where we had a scrumptious lunch of Swedish wheat crackers with cheese spread, jam, salami, and canned mandarin oranges. It was slow going from the hut on a full stomach with our feet still swollen a bit from the foot bath we had exposed them to the day before and I think for some of us the last ten kilometers were a bit of a death march. Close to the end of the hike we stopped at a beautiful swimming lake which left me feeling much more human then any bath I have ever taken before. That night we shared a massage exchange and spent time in the tent playing cards to escape the swarms of mosquitoes which harassed us constantly day and night. That night we left the fly of the tent open a bit and I awoke to the sound of sprinkling rain on nylon. After collecting the clothes we had washed and putting them under the vestibule I went back to bed dreading a bit what the morning would bring. It never really rained that night and in the morning the rain was still a bit off. We decided to pack up without having breakfast and so we walked the first six kilometers including a nasty cold uphill bit (can you feel the hunger talking here) before breaking down and cooking some porridge and coffee. Our choice of breakfast locale was by far one of the most beautiful places where I have had the opportunity to eat. We sat shivering on the shore of a half frozen lake wind and mist chapping our skin and couldn’t have been happier. After breakfast we started our decent into the valley that would take us to the Kebnekaise Fjällstation where we would spend the next days climbing and resting and where we would part ways with three of our companions. About two kilometers down the hill the rain finally hits us. The last nine kilometers were really some of the longest in my life. The damp cold and exertion made me nauseous and I had to stop and throw up a number of times on the way. At the station we pealed off our wet clothes and sat gratefully in the first heated room we had seen in a week. Dan and Todd wanted to eat dinner at the restaurant and offered to buy me dinner as well so that night four of us eat at the restaurant and the other four had some chili at the campsite. The next day would begin our ascent of Kebnekaise and the second half of our journey.

photos from Lappland

hey guys here are the photos from a 15 day trip in the swedish wilderness. I will tell you all about it when I have recovered more energy. Until then check this out:

photos from the Netherlands and out one day Cologne

here´s some more photobucket pics. Turns out Flickr has a 100MB per month limit so its back to this until July
so heres the photots mates

The Netherland´s and the Journey to Sweden

From the flight from London, we arrived in Amsterdam at about 9:30 and made our way directly to our hostel where we dropped off our luggage before going on a walking tour of the city. Our self-led tour led us to a small café on a quiet canal where we had a relaxing lunch. Our room was ready at 2:00 so after lunch we headed back to the hostel for a nap and shower before our big adventure to the red light district. After our nap we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the park near our hostel which is situated right in the middle of the museum district. Then we headed over to the Leidsplan for some Indian food. From the restaurant there was a really nice view of a cobblestone alley which was great for people watching and the waitress told us all about how to make what we were eating. YUM! From there we visited the Rembrantplan for a few beers and finally delved our way into the red-light district. It was like the Disneyland of prostitution. Women standing in lit up windows wearing nothing but bikinis, apparently they do have to wear that now with the conservative government you know, line the streets between sex clubs, greasy kebab stores, and coffee shops. For those of you who have visited this part of Amsterdam before it is probably a bit smaller then you remember. The recession seems to have hit the district hard. We walked the whole six by three block grid in a couple of hours enjoying the bath of neon and the oddness of it all. On the way home to the hostel we got a bit lost and ended up having to take a taxi to save our aching feet. The next day we had breakfast at the hostel and went out to explore some the nicer sides of the city before we had to catch our train to Vreizenween, a small town in the northeast of Holland where our next host lives. First we made a swing by the Van Gough museum but even ten minutes before they opened the line was horrendous so we compromised and went to the Rijks museum instead. Afterwards we went to the Waterloo market to check out the Dutch version of a flea market and I ended up buying a bike lock and bell for about five dollars. In the afternoon before our train Todd went to do the Heineken Experience and Dan and I headed back to the hostel so we could grab our stuff and meet him at central station. One thing Todd forgot to tell us was that his backpack was is luggage room number one not luggage room number two with all of all luggage so before we could leave we spent a good 15 min thinking that all of Todd’s had been stolen. Once we starting thinking logically we figured out what the problem was and finally got the hell out of the hostel’s crowded lobby. The train up to Vreisenween only took about two hours and our hostess Sabrina met us at the train station. She lives with her parents and younger sister so we got to know a bit about the whole family and are welcomed back anytime. It was a bit nice have a mom around for a bit. The first night we had spaghetti Bolognese and this tasty vanilla-chocolate pudding which comes separated in a milk carton. We slept in until noon the first day and generally spent the day lazing about as seems to be our first day routine everywhere we go. In the afternoon we walked around the little city close to them called Alemo, saw some shops and enjoyed a nice beer on the canal. That night we cooked dinner for the family. We had not made a very good plan and arrived at the store about 20 minutes before it closed so we ended up just having baked chicken breasts and a nice salad. Around 10:00 we headed out to meet some of Sabrina’s friends at the pub back in Alemo. Apparently asshole is something like the national card game of the Netherlands. When I suggested we play it sometime during the night I was genuinely laughed at and educated on the longstanding Dutch asshole tradition. The next day Sabrina and her sister drove us all the way to Cologne in Germany where we would have to wait until two in the morning to catch a bus to the apparently obscure airport out of which I had booked our flight. Note to self: when you fly with Ryan Air it is never convenient. So we spent the day walking around Cologne with Sabrina and sister in tow. We spent a lot of time exploring the famous Dom. Before meeting up with a big group of couch surfers who happened to be having a tapas dinner night to welcome someone home. The dinner was fun and I met a few people I would like to come back and visit. Afterwards we went down to the river in a huge group to kill some time and drink beer which seems to be a central social activity most places that we have been. We did that until about one in the morning when we headed over to the bus station to catch our airport line. The walk along the Rheine is really quite beautiful and the views of the Dom at night are amazing. It turns out Frankfurt (Hahn) airport is an old American military base that Ryan Air is leasing from us. When we got the entrance I thought maybe they were taking us to a concentration camp or something, not really but it was a bit creepy. After the terribly long night and three hour wait in the airport our flight was surprisingly nice. We got really lucky and sat in the emergency exit row so we all had mega amounts of leg room. Stockholm (Skanska) is just about as much a part of Stockholm as Hahn is a part of Frankfurt so following the flight we had another two hour bus ride to get into the city where-thank god- our friend Linn whom we have been staying with, met us at the bus station. As you can probably guess we spent our first day here in Stockholm sleeping off the exhaustion from our journey so we did not see much of the city or even Linn’s apartment until the next day. I will tell more about Stockholm and our adventures here when I have a bit more

lots of catch up

So catching up…Our last few days in Germany were spent in Anni's apartment and hanging about Esslingen, possibly one of the most adorable cities in the world, and Stuttgart, a short train ride away. Our first night we enjoyed getting to know her quirky roommates who will both be hopefully my long standing friends. The next day we walked about the city a bit checking out the old city where there is a really beautiful medieval church and market square which houses a really quaint used bookstore next to a open pavilion with a refreshing fountain. Perhaps you can tell by the number of adjectives in the last sentence that we really enjoyed the old city. Later that afternoon Todd and I went out and met Anni's roommates for a drink before having a small dinner party for which I cooked my now well established mango, garbanzo bean curry and followed that by going out and enjoying some wine in the park. The next day we lazed about because it was raining a bit, tried unsuccessfully to find a luggage store, and organized our bags. In the afternoon Anni`s cousin dropped by to spend the night. In the evening we went out to Stuttgart to have drinks with some of the people from the dinner party and another aupair friend of ours Max who happens to live in Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a beautiful city and I ended up enjoying myself so much that I had to walk the whole way to the train station barefoot crooked on Anni's arm for support. Word of the recently wizened: don't mix Sekt with Erdbeer liquor with white wine with Fig Vodka. No matter how good it tastes or what stomach of steel you think you have. Just say no. What would have been another late morning was destroyed by Todd's sudden early morning (f-ing 7:00 am) desire to cook breakfast for everyone. I’m not knocking it the breakfast was really quite tasty. After a very slow morning we toured more of Esslingen with Anni and her cousin Simon and even made it up to the one spot we had been meaning go to from the beginning. Above the city the hills are covered grapes for a few local vineyards and at the top of the hill runs the remaining side of the medieval city wall and fort tower fortifications. From there is an amazing view of the valley which extends for a few towns in each direction. After the long trek up the hill and a break to eat some ice-cream for, we headed over to the park to the roomies and say goodbye to Anni as she had to go to a birthday party back in Seedorf. Lacking much energy we slowly picked our way home to pack and recharge for a barbeque we had been invited to by some friends of Anni from school. Around 6:00 Vera, one of Anni´s friends from school who is really rad, came by to collect the five of us for the party. Michaela’s garden, where the BBQ was happening was nice a cool with a laden cherry tree and a stone BBQ. Michael, Vera, Todd and I walked over to the grocery store to pick up bread and things to be grilled and came back to freshly made salads and good company. Throughout the night the barbeque grew and grew until there were maybe 15 people when we headed off to Stuttgart around midnight. We spent most of the night sitting outside of the clubs as most of the places we went were packed and the ten of us all prefer different types of music. Ultimately we ended up going to three great clubs and heading home on the night bus at 4:15 in the morning. Needless to say we slept in a bit the next day and did not get up until around 1:00 in the afternoon. Daniel and I went out to get some lunch a bit later and as everything else was closed because of the bank holiday, we ended up at a small Italian restaurant. Around 4:30 we left Anni’s apartment and her roommate Marcus drove us to the airport. On the way we got stuck behind a four car accident and we were literally parked on the autobahn for about 30 minutes. The flight over to Stansted was uneventful following a ridiculous check-in process. After we had checked our bags I realized that I had forgotten my passport in my backpack and had to get my bag brought back out and then check it back in. After that I was really paranoid about them losing my bags but everything came out on the other end so everything worked out ok. After an hour and a half wait at the airport our friend Leigh picked us up and took us back to his house outside of Chelmsford which is as he describes it the beginning of the ass end of the middle of nowhere. His village literally consists of two or three houses and a pub which only serves food two days a week and is run by an 74 year old man. We did not get to his house until about midnight but Leigh’s mom and step-dad stayed up and had tea with us before we all crashed. The next day we had our typical late morning and spent some time watching Sleeping Beauty with Leigh’s mother’s god children. After that Leigh drove us over to a small fishing town called Molden where I got to have a Pukka-pie which is a pot pie that is pukka or tasty. In the evening we had a couple of pints at the pub next to his house and then had a tasty spaghetti dinner made by Leigh’s mom. After dinner Leigh’s stepfather taught us an interesting game called 3-5-7 that he learned from a Peruvian monk while he was stranded in the Andes for eight months. In the morning we met up with two of Leigh’s friends from neighboring villages and took the train into London for the day. Our first adventure in London was a visit to the British Museum followed by a walk over to Buckingham palace. It was the Queen’s birthday but we spent to much time at the museum and getting lunch and missed her arrival at the palace. After a nice walk through the park where we got a view of Big Ben and the Eye we went on a shopping mission in Camden Town followed by a nice hour and half relaxing in a pub close by. We got back to Chelmsford around 6:00 and went out to dinner with Leigh and Sarah at an Italian-American restaurant. Before going to sleep we had to pack as we had to leave the house at 4:00 in the morning to get to the airport in time for our flight. The drive from Leigh’s to the Gatwick airport led us through some really beautiful parts of the English countryside and we also got to see a beautiful sunrise. On the way to the airport we were all wishing that we could stay longer in England.

photos from England

the diatribe will soon follow but here are the photots from our 72 hour visit to the United Kingdom.