Handy scale in Alesjaure
At nearly max weight for the trip with 11 days worth of food
One of the issues with ultralight or lightweight hiking is overcoming the fear of being unprepared for the conditions. It’s something you learn with practice but that fear comes back when you face a new set of conditions. This is particularly true when you’re about to travel to an isolated place with potentially severe weather.
Shelter / Pack / Sleep system / Clothing / Shoes
Nordkalottleden was a bit off the typical 3 season conditions of a temperate climate and I had to make a few adjustments to my gear list to reflect that. There was also quite a bit of uncertainty as I was not so sure about what to expect so it was a bit of a challenge to gather a gear list I could trust and was still reasonably lightweight.
As usual, gear and technique are one in this discussion. It’s not possible to understand one without the other so this will not be a fancy presentation of cool looking equipment but a hands-on essay on how my gear and me got together in the arctic fells.
Access / Ressuply / Huts / Maps / Transport
Planning for this route wasn’t easy. There’s little information, either on the net or in print, and only little bits can be found in english. In the following lines, I’ll try to fill that gap from the (necessaryly limited) perspective of a one time hiker. Don’t expect a deep knowledge from the area. I’ll just try to provide all that info I couldn’t find easily, if at all, and I know now.
Terrain / Hiking / Trails / Signalling / Infrastructures / Weather / Obstacles / Season
The Lapland highlands
The northernmost tip of the route goes through the arctic tundra. Actually, I think it is not yet technically tundra as the terrain Nordkalottleden goes through is still forested and as far as I know the tundra is tree-less by definition but on this rolling hill landscape trees are small and the route often takes the high areas on the hills where trees are absent.
Expectations vs. Reality / About hiking in Lapland / People / Pace / Would I do it again?
Beyond the gear, the terrain or resupply logistics, there are memories not so straightforward to talk about which are yet a good part of the experience.
Tornetrask with a low “roof”
The blurred letters say “Nordkalottleden”
“What the hell am I doing here?… I want to go home…”
It eventually happens in most trips. There comes a moment when your morale weakens and you start wondering if it’s worth it. Usually, you soon decide it is, after all.
The Pyrenees stretch between Atlantic and Mediterranean. While the mountains create quite a weather of their own, the influence of the two seas clearly shows. The western Pyrenees are wetter and greener and since the atlantic weather systems usually approach from the northwest, the northern side is also damper than the south.
Camp below the Gran Astazu walls
| Where | Pyrenees |
| When | July/August |
| Distance | 800 km / 500 miles |
| Length | 29 days |
The Pyrenees are a magnificent range and it’s been amazing to cover their length through all the varied landscapes and environments within. I could see the range develop and fade away, it was like traversing its life story more than its length.
The High Route is as wild as it gets. 29 days, a good ratio of glory vs. misery and a great feeling about the long distance hiking coming home
If you don’t know about the Pyrenees but you do about the Alps, I can use that for an intro into the former. Compared to the Alps, the Pyrenees are not as high, not as wide, not that much in the middle of urban Europe but still high, rugged and, in a way, still wild. The Pyrenees are usually the destination of choice for those visitors who want to try something different from the Alps, who are tired of the overcrowded, overurbanised world of the Alps or who simply want to backpack without having to worry about crossing glaciers.
After four years in a row visiting North America, this summer the hiking’s coming home. It’ll be not a little bit less exciting while I’ll be tackling a solo traverse of the Pyrenees, sea to sea over the Haute Randonnée Pyrenéenne, the wildest and most rugged of the three routes that cover the distance from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. 4 weeks and a strong will to finish but above all a stronger will to have a good time so no marathons here… I’ll try my best but the goal is in the trip itself, not on the finish line.
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