A track went away and
left us alone on the Kola's winter route. Finally we are here. We are planning
to ski about 40 miles across the plain and then make a couple of passes
on the Hibins Mountains. We're doing it to prepare yourselves for another
route on Subpolar Urals.
It's a beginning of
November and snow just started to cover the land. The weather is still
pretty warm. As a hiker's song says, "The snow is still melting and snatches
at the skis." Here and there the red bilberry shrubs are scattered. These
berries are very tasty.
The nature of the plain
part of Kola Peninsula is pretty same as in the South Karelia. There is
also a lot of small and big lakes. We are several hundreds of miles to
the north, though. It can be noticed on the dark and stunted trees.
The northern spruces
are different from their middle country relatives. Their almost black needles
are the sign of severe Kola's climate.
Kola's rivers happened
to be insuperable barrier for us. That autumn was warmer than usual and
rivers didn't freeze on time. We tried to make some kind of wade using
plastic bags, but water was too deep to cross the river.
Unfortunately, the
only thing we can do is to go back. We are still sappy and can go forward,
but there is no way to do it.
However, the weather
is so mild and pleasant, that we are happy to do everything.
Victor is our coach.
He's thinking how to fix this broken ski. Victor is not only ski hiker,
but also an experienced mountain climber. His sister was one of the girls,
who died in so known tragedy on the Pamir's Victory Peak.
It couldn't be boring
or bad there. The only thing we need is to absorb as much northern calm
beauty as we can before we'll come back to the Moscow.
