A quick (and dumb) visit to Sweden
Summer vacation, day 6 (cont.)
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 10.07.24 | Máddåjvve | 950m | 105m | Arjeplog, Sweden | – | MAP |
Wednesday: After hiking Solvågtinden, I left Anne and Karma back at the cabin at Storjord and drove in the direction of the Swedish border for some pictures of Solvågtinden from the “right angle”.
The mountain looks even more majestic from this side.
But, as long as I was so close to the Swedish border, I might as well hike a mountain on the Swedish side! That would be a great way to end an already great day. Famous last words…
I studied the map and found Máddåjvve as the only candidate. On the Peakbook app map, the high contour was 940m and the saddle to the higher top Bäno was between 860 and 850m. Not enough to make this a top with a prominence of 100m. The top just HAD to be higher, and the saddle HAD to be lower. Only then, this would be a “legit top”.
On my Navida app, the top was 950m, but lacked resolution near the pass. But this was what I needed to head out and investigate. I decided that, unless other information surfaced, I would conclude if this top had 100m prominence, based on my waypoints.
I stopped by lake Kuoletisjaure on the Swedish side of the border. There were lots of cars here, and I understood that this was a popular starting point for trekking via mountain cabins.
I decided to not follow the established path and headed off-trail in the direction of my mountain.
I’ve used a GPS for decades, but right now I was “between GPS’s”. My old Garmin 60S had stopped working and the only one I could get my hands on, when I needed one was a Garmin Oregon. I hate it and refuse to use it if I don’t have to. Besides, the modern apps are quite alright. The only problem with my Navida app was that it could tell me 20 things about my current position, but not the height.
The height would remain a secret until I uploaded the track on my PC MapSource app. I’m not smart enough to do coordinate math on the fly…
So, when I reached the first top, I didn’t know if it was 940m or 950m. Or higher.
There was another top – possibly lower, possibly higher, 300m to the northwest. I had to go there and take a waypoint.
I decided to treat myself with a selfie…
After a few minutes, I was on the western top…
Now it was just a matter of finding the saddle. On the Peakbook app, I remembered that the saddle between Máddåjvve and point 921m was lower than the saddle between point 921m and Bäno.
For all I know, the reality may be the opposite, but I went with the information I had. I assumed Anne was expecting me back soon, and so I started jogging. I faced only one small challenge on my way to the saddle.
The saddle was quite wide, but I could see wetlands to my right and no water was passing through the point where I was standing. As such, I concluded that this was the saddle towards Bäno. Normally, we’re trying to be much, much more thorough in this kind of research but I was in a hurry. I will leave it to others to prove that this is NOT a mountain with a prominence of 100m or more.
From the saddle, I sat a direct course towards the path that would take me back to the trailhead. When I found it, the path went on and on and time passed. I was still jogging.
But eventually, I made it back to the car and 20 minutes later, I was back at the cabin on Storjord – dying to get the waypoints and track uploaded to my computer.
The waypoint for the first top was 949m. The waypoint for the second top was 950m – matching the height on the Navida app. As for the waypoint in the saddle, it read 845m. Great news. That meant I could set the prominence to 105m. Even with some inaccuracy, this is enough to call the top a “legit top”. This was really the icing on the cake – meaning a great finish to an already great day.
But the “cake” was sour. When I got back to Storjord, my left knee was aching. and I had a feeling that I had been doing something terrible dumb. But at least, I got the pictures of Solvågtinden that I wanted…
More about the knee in the reports to come, but as I write this (Aug 17th), I have standing orders from one Doctor and one Chiropractor to stay away from any mountains. Fortunately, biking is OK…
And it occured to me to check the Swedish online map! Here I can see that both tops are at least 949m high and that the pass is between 844 and 841m. So, this is a top with a prominence of 100m for sure!
Trip statistics: 8,6km, 500 vertical meters, 1h:32m