Birdbrain by Johanna Sinisalo

Author:Johanna Sinisalo
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Epingsoft
Published: 2012-01-23T22:00:00+00:00

JYRKI

Once we move above the treeline we find ourselves in the clouds, completely enveloped in mist. Visibility is only a couple of metres. Once the forest disappears it is swiftly replaced with boggy marshlands. There must be some directive to protect sensitive alpine plants and vegetation, as the path continues in steps along a series of duckboards, all the while moving in a steep incline.

It’s almost a relief. At least on these steps you can sit down for a moment, take a good gulp of water and unwrap a muesli bar.

The air has been damp throughout this leg. Now the water is starting to condense into droplets on my arms and in my hair. It's only once you stop for a minute that you realize how cold it is. Out here, climbing up to eight hundred metres has the same effect as climbing two thousand in the Alps. I have to put my jacket on straight away.

When there are no trees there’s nothing to hold back the wind. It comes right in across the sea. This high up you get a real sense of its ferocity, biting and penetrating. The strongest gusts can make you stagger to maintain your balance.

The wind isn’t just wind. It’s cutting. It howls and gnaws.

Never was suncream as pointless as today.

I try to chew the muesli bar, but my mouth is almost too dry. I wonder what’s wrong with my eyes. Why does the surrounding mist suddenly seem so stripy? Then it dawns on me: it’s raining harder now, and the water is coming down as sleet. Horizontally. Or snow. Or hail. In its solid form, the water strikes my cheek facing towards the sea with such force that a moment later the flesh is tingling and sore.

I look at my hiking poles, particularly the crippled one, and it pisses me off so much it hurts.

I pull up the hood on my hiking jacket and stuff the muesli-bar wrapper into my pocket. I grab my poles and stand up.

‘The path won’t walk itself,’ I tell her.

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