After a solid breakfast, it was time for skiing again. I felt the blisters straight away, but the pain wasn’t intolerable so I proceeded regardless. I took the trail from the hotel and I was aiming for the Andersborg cabin. At first it was easy – just follow the trail. But then at the highest point of the trail, you have to make a right turn to go up above the tree line. There are numerous snowmobile trails crossing the ski tracks so it’s just a matter of following one of them. But as it happens, I overshot my planned junction by about 200 metres so I took another trail up, less used but judging by the old ski tracks, not abandoned. But now it was deep snow and going up was a serious job because the snow ties your skis down and you slide half a meter down for every meter you gain. When I finally got above the tree line, I found out that the tracks were completely covered. I was looking at the next trail marking and the red X stuck only half a meter above the snow – at summertime, the markings can be 2 metres high! At this point, I gave up. I was not going to risk sinking so deep that I can’t get up again, so I swallowed my pride, got back down and folded back to the point where I originally should’ve taken the swing up. Once I was on the well used snowmobile trail, going got a lot easier. I took the trail towards Andersborg but the weather kept cloudy and the scenery wasn’t all that breathtaking, but as an experience to be skiing up there, it was quite a fantastic feeling!

I had a cup of hot chocolate at Andersborg and tried to figure out what to do next. I was determined not to let the blisters stop me, so I wanted to ski around the next bend to take a look at Stor-Skarven. But, again, the trail was completely snowed over and the snow was deeper here, so I turned back. The weather was starting to clear up also which didn’t hurt.

I was also starting to get very hungry. I had lunch with me, but there were no covered places to sit down and eat, and at Andersborg it is forbidden to take your own food in the cabin. So I thought that I would try with Malmbäckstugan instead, maybe they have a wind cover where I can sit down without having to go in the cabin itself. But, no such luck. So I turned back again and now I started to feel that I was getting a bit tired. It’s strange, you want to stay out there all day and just ski and ski and ski… but you just don’t have the energy to do it, so it was with mixed feelings I headed back. Regret that the tour was now coming to the end, but relief that I would soon be able to get some food in me, and most of all, throw away the chafing ski boots!

When I got back to the hotel, I had been out for 5 hours. Not bad! I was finally able to finish my lunch and then I got into the car and drove to Ånnfjället to check out the sunset. My feet were still hurting even when I was wearing my hiking boots which have never chafed me at all. This is not good… I have two days left of the holiday, and I can’t use any footwear! Anyway, the sunset was nice and I figured that I could use the same spot for the moonrise tomorrow. I was originally going to go up Funäsdalsberget for the moonrise, but if my feet hurt so much, I can’t do the hike. Or maybe I should just endure the pain… The view up there should be worth it!

Oh, and I have to mention lenses. Yesterday I had the 17-85mm lens with me and was shooting a lot at max focal length. Today I had the 70-200mm lens with me and was missing a wider focal length at times. The 24-105mm zoom is sounding better and better all the time!