The quiet forest of Fulufjället

In March, Gauti and I went to Western Dalarna. Dalarna is the province which sometimes is called "the heart of Sweden". The midsommar tradition originated in Dalarna and the little wooden horse figures became one of the national symbols of the country. I love Western Dalarna because it has mountains, a crazy amount of snow and it is incredibly cosy. So March had arrived, but the ground was hidden under half a metre of crispy white snow and the temperatures regularly dropped under -10°C. I simply love this kind of weather and was practicing on my cross-country ski on the wide net of trails which is characteristic for many of the mountain landscapes of Sweden and Norway. Cross-country skiing became my new hobby during that winter. I was skiing on the slope of a mountain, over a mountain pass, around the mountain, through forests and through the bleak white landscape close to the top of the mountain. One day we went to the national park Fulufjället which hosts brown bears, the highest waterfall of Sweden and the oldest tree of the world. We were skiing through the quite forest but when the trail became steeper and more difficult we unbuckled the ski and walked the last kilometre to the waterfall. It was a wall of ice. No drop was moving. And I remember this little walk through the quiet snowy forest so well, carrying the ski on my shoulder which otherwise carry me so reliably. So I drew a picture of it.

Walking through the quiet snowy forest of Fulufjället national park in the Swedish province Dalarna ...

 

... carrying the cross-country ski on my shoulders.