Untracked

 

After a peaceful night along the railway tracks, we crossed the Arctic Circle and arrived in winter wonderland around 9 am this morning. With clear cold skies above, Anna and I could not resist going for some cross-country skiing in the faint daylight. Soon however, we discovered that there were not tracks on Luossavaara, so we had to make our way through decimetres of fresh snow, but the experience of being all alone in this Arctic landscape definitely made up for it. Just as in Skatås where I have been able to go skinny dipping with no other people in sight almost every day as part of my summer morning runs, it is always surprising that so few people take advantage of the great outdoors and seem to rather prefer life in front of TikTok or whatnot.

On the train yesterday, I almost finished reviewing the dissertation from the University of Málaga that I have promised to do before the year is out. I also had a moment to research possible UTMB qualifying races for 2025, thinking that maybe I should trade Halland Ultra-Beach for a qualifying race like the one in the Julian Alps that for so long has been on my radar.