Midnight sun on the Stor-Kjølen Jul 7 2025

Yes, I was tired Saturday evening after travelling back from Obbola to Tromsø. But the weather was so nice and I already had started thinking about going up the mountain Stor-Kjølen for experiencing the midnight sun up there. Finally I made a decision. Let’s go. I packed water, a camping mat, a sleeping back, but most of all my camera equipment and went off. It is only a twenty minute drive to the lake Finnvikvatnet on the island Kvaløya where I parked my car. From there it is round 5½ km to the top and a good 500 metres of elevation gain.

When I start my tour at around 10 o’clock the sun is low. The sun is low, but it won’t set tonight – and not for the next twenty days either. The landscape glows in warm colours. The ground is dry, but soon I cross the first tiny snowfield.

The path winds its way through grassy terrain scattered with stones and rocks. Stray snowfields lie on both sides of the path and the radar station on top of Stor-Kjølen has come into view.

The first lake flanks the trail. Slowly, the terrain is becoming rockier.

I look back and already now the hiking tour was a success. Lakes, hills – some grassy, some rocky – and at the horizon a mountain range. So beautiful in the warm light of the low sun.

For a while, grassy patches and rocky ground alternate …

… then the altitude takes command. Only snow and rocks are present and the vegetation is reduced mostly to mosses and lichens. I have to cross a large snow field but the ground is not slippery.

But then I arrive on the stone-covered plateau of Stor-Kjølen, where I can see a small cairn in front of me, a tall cairn marking the summit and the radar station. And if you look closely you can see a small cabin in front of the station. It’s a shelter for hikers. I’m alone, so I can use it for the night.

I want to take photos of the midnight sun, so I start experimenting with some sun-facing shots. These photos are much darker than reality. While the light is warm, it is still bright daylight.

The mountains and the sea all glow in hazy orange hues when I look against the sun.

But I have a mission – taking a photo of the midnight sun. Here it is. Unfortunately there is a small, transparent cloud in front of the sun that makes it look like a white splotch instead of a circle. Bad luck!

Bad luck? Not really. We have summer time, so the lowest position of the sun is one hour later – or a bit more accurate 0:48 due to local solar time. So I had some spare time to take more photo from the stone-covered flat top.

Some island, then the open Norwegian Sea

Then it was time: The sun as its lowest position. Ok – I was three minutes late, but the solar path is so flat that it doesn’t matter when taking photos. The light is the same. And eventually the little cloud was vanished.

Just a selfie with my mobile phone, then it is time for bed, at last. (A down hoodie? Yes – it is windy and only +5 °C.)

I enter the shelter, roll out my sleeping mat on the floor and lie down, using my sleeping bag as a blanket. Cluck-cluck, cackle-cackle! What’s that? I peek out of the door and see that the hour of the ptarmigans has started. All around, these galliforms dart about, filling the air with their typical clucking. I am too tired to start another photo hunt so I just take some snapshots. (These photos are heavily cropped.)

But then it is finally time to sleep. The shelter is filled with light, the camping mats (I found another one in the shelter) are thin and the ground is hard. But then I doze off and …

Sleeping (No, not true – taking a selfie of me pretending sleeping)

… sleep. At least for a couple of hours.

To part II >

Umeå—Arlanda—Tromsø Jul 5 2025

Today I travelled back from my home home in Obbola, Sweden to my work home Tromsø, Norway. Again it had been impossible to book a train – there is a lot of trouble with the Swedish railroad – so I took the airplane once more. I was lucky, I only had to change in Arlanda.

Annika brought me to Umeå Airport and at 8:15 I departed in beautiful summer weather.

First we flew eastwards and I could even see our house in Obbola! It was however too tiny to be photographed by my mobile phone. Then we headed south.

In Stockholm it rained.

In the afternoon I continued my journey. First it was cloudy but in Northern Norway it cleared up and I could see the snowy mountains – yes, there is still quite some snow left in higher places.

At half past six I arrived at my home home again. Back in Tromsø.

Dundret Jun 29 2025

It rained a lot in Gällivare when Annika and I were there some days ago. On Wednesday however the weather forecast said there’d be a bit of sun in the afternoon, so we planned to hike on the Dundret. Dundret is just around the corner and a solitary mountain, a so-called inselberg. I skied up there in Winter 2012. In summer you can take your car and drive up almost all the way.

Indeed it had stopped raining and we had some sun and blue sky when we started our hike.

As in many Scandinavian hiking areas there are summer and winter trails. The winter trails are marked with red crosses that lead over the “kalfjäll”.

Kalfjäll is the Swedish word for the alpine tundra above the tree line. The dwarf birch growing here is technically a tree, but you wouldn’t think so at first glance. It has no visible trunk, and its branches sprawl low across the ground.

We splotted some flowers in bloom such as the mountain-Heath, the alpine azalea or the lapland lousewort.

Lapland lousewort (Pedicularis lapponica)

It got cloudy on our hike, but at least it didn’t rain.

After some hours of hiking (and some mosquito contacts) we arrived at the car and drove down again. On some of the slopes there was still a bit of snow.

For me Dundret is a mountain for hiking and back-country skiing, but it is also a ski resort.

Near the station at the bottom we were sitting for a while enjoying our waffle with jam and cream before we drove back to the Gällivare camping ground. When we arrived there it started to rain heavily. Good timing I would say.

And here two winter photos from Dundret when I was there in February 2012. Seems like ages ago.

A short summer journey in Northern Sweden Jun 28 2025

Annika and I are on holiday and spent this week to travel around northern Sweden by car, mainly to visit friends. Some stopps: Kusfors, Arvidsjaur, Nattavaara, and Gällivare.

Jar museum Rolig & Rusk

We took a short stop at the jar museum in Burträsk. Not to visit the museum, but the small flea market. If you travel in Sweden and love browsing at flea markets, look for the sign “Loppis”.

Smörgåstårta

In Kusfors we visited friends and got Smörgåstårta for lunch. This dish is very Swedish. While its “architecture” resembles a layered cream cake, the taste is savoury and contains ingredients like ham or cheese.

Summer flowers

When there are meadows or pastures in Northern Sweden there are full of flowers in summer. Here you can see for examples dandelions, butter cups, campions, and cow parsley. This patch is by our friend’s house.

A reindeer in the grocery?

Reindeers are typical for Northern Sweden and you have to watch out for them when driving a car. This fellow however is stuffed and stands in the display window of a grocery in Arvidsjaur.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…

There are many lakes in Sweden and in summer these lakes always come with mosquitoes, especially in the evening. Luckily they are late this year and I could take this photo without being eaten alive.

Old log cabin

We are spending the night at Renvallen Camping near Arvidsjaur. The camping ground is an old farm and some buildings such as this log cabin are pretty old.

Gravel roads

If you think, your car is too clean, use a Swedish gravel road in rain. The back of you car will be plastered with brownish-grey mud that even the strongest rain cannot wash away.

Sandviken beach

Yes, I wanted to take a bath at Sandviken in Gällivare, but my motivation went near zero, when I stood there in the steady rain looking at the shallow water with its gravelly ground.

Fat Tony’s

If you like burgers, you should give Fat Tony’s in Gällivare a try. Both atmosphere and food are great. And if you are there, do visit the bathroom.

Dundret

Just around the corner from Gällivare lies Dundret, a solitary mountain. When the rain stopped Annika and I took a hike there together with our friend Sascha and his malamute Roxy.

Tyre dealer

Stuff standing around in car garages has always its own aesthetics. The reason, why we needed a tyre dealer on our trip will be told another time (although you already may guess it).

Summer Café in Nattavaara

On Monday we passed Nattavaara. Alas, the summer café is closed on Mondays. On our way back it was open and we stopped to ate cake. Different volunteers come up for short stays to run the café and bake cakes. Most of them are from Switzerland or Germany which strongly increases the cake variety in the region.

Travelling through worlds Jun 7 2025

Some of you may know, that I live in two places. In Tromsø in Norway, my “work home” and in Obbola in Sweden, my “home home”. Travelling is not so easy, since the distance is 940 km by car. Normally I take the bus Tromsø—Narvik and then the train Narvik—Umeå, but I happens frequently, that the Swedish train does not operate this route. Yesterday for example I took the plane. It’s like travelling through different worlds.

Tromsø

Friday 11:00 – I am taking a promenade in the forests nearby. While the snow in the forests will soon be soon, the mountains will stay white much longer.

Airplane

Friday 17:00 – I am sitting in the airplane to Stockholm, now watching the snowy mountains from above until it gets cloudy below.

Airport Arlanda

Friday 21:00 – I am waiting for my plane to Umeå, one of the last planes for today. Less and less people are present and the shops are closing.

Obbola

Saturday 08:00 – I am home home. Compared to Tromsø everything is much greener . The weather is rainy and everything outside is soaking wet.

Fremdriftstak May 23 2025

Monday 19 May

On Monday I joined a kayak training on fremdriftstak. That’s Norwegian for forward stroke, the most basic kayak stroke. We had two experienced trainers, one for the euro paddle, one for the Greenland paddle. I joined the euro paddle group and learned some new details that hopefully will help me kayaking a bit more effortlessly in the future. The weather was a mixture of sun and clouds and the last hour it rained. Doesn’t matter, we are fully waterproofed when on the sea anyhow.

Thursday 22 May

Yesterday was the regular Thursday paddling with eighteen eager kayakers and fantastic spring weather. I joined the group kayaking to the island Grindøya as the week before. While the tour leaders told us about their plans and checked, that we all know the basic communication signs, the colourful kayaks had already been brought to the shore.

My own kayak is in Sweden so I always rent a kayak from the kayak club. A good opportunity to finally test another model. I had used the same on Monday, now I checked it a bit again while waiting for the others to join.

The boat houses of the kayak club Tromsø havpadleklubb

We paddled to “Monsterbygget” – a large cuboid building that is one of the favourite orientation marks for kayakers. There we split and our group of eleven headed west to the island Grindøya.

It is round 2.5 kilometres to the southern tip of the island. A good opportunity to recap my learning from the Monday training. It went well but it will take time until it is in the muscle memory. At the small bay with the sandy beach we parked our kayaks. This is one of the two locations where you may enter the island during the bird breeding season. Time for a break, enjoying the sun, drinking water and eating chocolate.

Kayaks at the beach of Store Grindøya II

On our way back we paddled along the western shore of the island. We saw a lot of eider ducks and other sea birds that I cannot name. After two kilometres we had passed the northern tip and were heading back to Tromsøya crossing the strait Sandnessundet.

This is a great season for paddling, especially on such a sunny day. The coast is green, the sea is blue (and very cold) and the mountains are still covered with snow.

In the south we could spot a ship. Where will it go? We decided to wait. The ship was sailing along the strait and since ships are not only much bigger than us but also much faster we decided to paddle back a bit and then to a sea mark north to wait for the ship to pass.

First the ship’s movements were hardly visible but when it approached it seemed to become faster and faster. While it was passing we spotted another ship in the distance, this time in the south and decided to cross the strait instantly. I took two photos, then I had to keep up and since we wanted to cross the strait quickly I didn’t make any further photos.

At half past nine we were back at the boat houses. Takk for turen – thanks for the tour!

Today

I’m proud. I paddled 11.3 km yesterday and I don’t have any pain in my right arm as occasionally after other tours. Just for that the training on fremdriftstak this Monday was a full success. Thanks, B. for your tipps and advice.

These are the two recorded tracks from kayaking to Grindøya. The first one from last week, the second one from yesterday.

The snow is melting May 14 2025

Fifteen days ago: 98 cm of snow in Tromsø, measured at an elevation of 100 metres. Yesterday – two weeks later – 31 cm of snow are left. And so my walk home also looked like. Somewhere between the winter still hesitating but spring approaching anyhow.

Tomorrow the summer working hours start and till September I’ll have to work only seven hours a day. Yay!

The following day my car will get summer tyres.

And on Sunday – four days from now – the time of the polar days start where the sun won’t set before 26 July.

I can’t ski, but I do Apr 12 2025

Let’s face it. I am a lousy skier. My technique is mediocre when I ski uphills and reduces to ε > 0 when I ski downhills. With the lack of technique there is empty space for panic that settles in when I’ve got too fast. But I do love skiing so I do it anyhow. And that’s a thing I’m slightly proud of.

Today I wanted to used the beautiful winter day to do something with skiing. I take the car to the neighbouring island Kvaløya with two destinations in mind: Kattfjordvatnet or Finnviksdalen/Krabbelvdalen. On the bridge to Kvaløya I make up my decision: Finnviksdalen/Krabbelvdalen. More possibilities. So I turn right.

At 10 o’clock I start my tour from the car park by the road 863 and head in the usual direction. Well, that didn’t work, the mountain stream is open. So let’s take the bridge by the car park. That works. I have to cross another mountain river but that is easier, since it is covered with ice floes easy to cross.

I realise, that I already have made up my mind: Going up the mountains to Kraknesaksla (335 m) or to the Jerremaš (467 m). It’s the mountains massif behind these trees:

I check the avalanche situation in the Varsom app. Looks good! So I continue the tour although I am surprisingly bad prepared: I have forgotten the sun blocker and something to drink. The sun has come out and I use my anorak hood to protect against the radiation although it is a bit too warm. And water I can drink from the next stream, although I do not get a lot using only one hand for scooping.

The terrain descends a bit, I cross a ski trail. Then it ascends and I am skiing uphills. Mostly I zigzag because I do not have climbing skins with me either. That is working better than excepted. When I look down behind me I get a bit nervous. Every metre I climb up I’ll have to ski downhills later. Did I mention, that I am a lousy skier? I think so.

But I feel always so rewarded when I am above the timberline leaving all trees below.

I pass the small cabins by the two small lakes whose name I do not know …

… and head to the mountain top Kraknesaksla. Since I have been above the timberline I have beautiful views on the sounds east of Kvaløya. First Sandnessundet, then Kvalsundet. That’s so fascinating, this together of sea and mountains. Down there – the island Tromsøya where I have my “work home”.

At the cairn on the summit of Kraknesaksla I have to put of my skis. Too icy and too many rocks. But what a view!

I continue my tour. For a while I can see the Kvalsundet, …

… then I leave the eastern slope behind and head to the next mountain. While I have been alone for a while I now can see some other skiers in the distance. The weather is constantly changing and so the light. Sometimes it is cloudy that the snow is without any contrast at all. That makes it impossible to tell if the ground slopes up or down. And then, minutes later, the sun comes out, the sky is blue and I can “read” the snow again.

I reach the top of the Jerremaš (also called Austeråsfjellet) but here I’m not alone. Three skiers are sitting by the cairn enjoying the sun. So – no photo here. Anyhow I’ve got quite thirsty again and decide now to take a break. Now comes the part where I have to ski down and it wouldn’t have been so hard because the slope is not so steep and there is plenty of space. However more clouds have been gathering and it even started snowing a bit. Visual terrain information: not available. Colours neither.

Hmm, I don’t like skiing downhills in these weather conditions. When I finally reach the first sparse birch forests I am relieved, because now I can estimate how steep the slope is. Slowly I continue skiing down, passing another stream that is mostly snowed over.

After more zigzagging down I reach Finnviksdalen, the other valley. This looks pretty different from Krabbelvdalen because of the prepared cross-country ski trails. There are also more people around. From now on it is a bit more about skiing and less about taking photos. The last ones I make show the trail and the hexagonal cabin where skiers use to take breaks.

Cross country ski trail in Finnviksdalen

I however am very thirsty and quite exhausted and so I continue to the car park where a bottle of water awaits me. 17.5 km skiing and – according to the Runners app – 603 metres in altitude later todays skiing has ended. As always: I’ve never regretted being outside and this was another example of having a great day.

The following events: buying sushi and a coke · driving home · eating · taking a hot shower · taking a nap · being pretty lazy · talking to Annika on the phone · editing today’s photos · writing this blog article.

Visiting Kronprins Haakon Apr 6 2025

Last Thursday I visited the icebreaker Kronprins Haakon in the port of Tromsø. Not to join an expedition but only for a couple of hours. I wanted to check some code that is supposed to run on the ship later this year. This is part of my work as a software developer and data manager at the Norwegian Polar Institute. When I run code in the office I always have to simulate the systems running on the vessel and I was glad that the software actually worked with the real ship’s system as intended.

“Takk for sist” – thanks for the last time – you say in Norway, when you haven’t seen each other for a while. I’ve been on several cruises with Kronprins Haakon and so I know part of the crew and they know me. “Takk for sist, Roy”. “Takk for sist, Ronny”. “Takk for sist. (I forgot your name, sorry.)”

This year, the budget is far too tight to allow me another cruise and no one knows next year’s budget. But three expeditions I’ve done already. Since I’m a software developer I wrote some code to create the ship’s tracks from these expeditions as “GeoJSON”, a file format that you can easily load in the open source GIS software QGIS. Here is a Screenshot I made. Greenland to the left, Svalbard to the right:

Tracks of Kronprins Haakon on the cruises I joined.

Arven etter Nansen JC3 · Arctic Ocean 2023 I · Fram Strait 2024

Just now (2025-04-06T19:31:54Z) Kronprins Haakon is in the Svovelbukta in southern Spitsbergen. I however will continue office work in Tromsø tomorrow and improve the code I’ve written. Hopefully I can try it out again when Kronprins Haakon is in Tromsø again. There are several opportunities.

Gutta på skauen Mar 30 2025