Some afternoon photos of hoar frost in Tromsø
Soldagen 2026
Although the sun has been above the horizon in Tromsø since 15 January, it always takes some days until it rises above the mountains south of the island. Today was the “official” soldagen, the “sun day” when the sun returns to Tromsø.
The first photos, however, I took today between 5:00 and 5:30. There was polar light all over the sky but when I reached a good spot it had already weakened. At least I took a photo of the trees covered in hoar frost – the result of a very foggy night two nights earlier.
Before lunchtime, I took an hour off and took the bus to Telegrafbukta in the southern part of Tromsøya. It is a good spot to welcome the sun after two months of absence. When I reached the beach I could already see the sunlit snowy mountains in the north. What a beauty!
I joined some winter swimmers and took a dip in the sea. Water temperature 3.9 °C and sorry—no photos. The sun had vanished behind a mountain but luckily came back and stayed for a while. That’s always a special moment and I was amongst hundreds of other people celebrating this hour of resurgence.
I look very overdressed with this heavy down parka considering it was only -6 °C, but I like to have it extra warm after a winter bath when waiting for the bus back to work.
With the sun, the days get longer and longer and even shortly before 16:00 the western sky was still glowing in warm colours. Fifteen minutes later I saw another aurora between the frosted trees.
Unfortunately the last photo is out of focus. When I realised it the aurora had already almost disappeared again. Often you have to be quick to take pictures of the northern lights.
A weekend ski trip to Trollvassbu
It’s not the first time that Annika and I have visited the mountain cabin Trollvassbu. This time our friend Christine joined us on this ski trip.
At 10 o’clock we set of, Christine and Annika with backpacks and I with my camera backpack and pulka. And since there is a lot of space in a pulka – for example for all our sleeping bags – we could bring lots food with us for the evening and next day’s breakfast.
Navigating there has never been easier. Since it hasn’t snowed for twelve days the backcountry ski trail was not snow-covered and was very easy to follow. I have taken pictures of all the mountains already last year, but that’s no reason not to take more:
And there lies the mountain cabin Trollvassbu.
At first it was pretty crowded inside, but many were just on a day trip and didn’t stay overnight. Nowadays the head torches are so bright, that skiers can leave in the afternoon as well after it had become dark.
Like many mountain cabins, you heat Trollvassbu with a wood-burning stove and fetch water from the river nearby. It seems to be open all winter.
While I was taking long-exposure shots of the river, Christine was preparing a luxury dinner: reinskav with Spätzle. Reinskav is shaved reindeer meat and Spätzle traditional egg pasta from Swabia in the southwest of Germany. Thanks for cooking, Christine – so delicious!
In the evening it got warmer, and during the night the wind strengthened and turned very gusty. The next day showed that Yr, the Norwegian weather forecast, had been correct: it really had started raining.
After a long breakfast we got ready to leave Trollvassbu and ski back to the car park. This time the landscape looked colourless in the rain and the photos came out nearly black-and-white.
To our relief the wet snow did not slow us down and soon we arrived at the car park apparently guarded by this snowman with the top hat.
Now came the most dangerous part of our ski tour: crossing the car park that has transformed into a huge area of wet ice, which was almost frictionless. But no one slipped and fell, and we packed the car with all our wet stuff and left.
The weather on our way back could have been much better (and much worse), but it was fun to be out together. Shall we do it again later this winter?
End of polar night in Tromsø
Now the time of the polar night has ended in Tromsø. The sun rises above the horizon, though not above the mountains yet to be seen in town. This will take some other days.
Ski premiere 2026 in Tromsø
What do you do when it is Sunday, you sleep until 10 o’clock, have a long breakfast and want to go skiing, but the amount of usable light is quite limited? You take the car to the mainland, park by the Elvestrand Cemetery and ski to the lavvo of Gutta på Skauen (The Guys in the Woods). That’s what my wife Annika and I did today, when we slept until 10 o’clock, took a longer breakfast and wanted to go skiing.
With -15 °C it was significantly colder at the parking lot than in town. It took a while until the fingers got warm when we started skiing.
Behind us: the town of Tromsø on the island Tromsøya. In front of us after 2.6 km: the wooden lavvo.
It is an attractive destination amongst the locals, not only because it is near and the ski track is easy but also because the lavvo is open on Sundays between 12:00 and 14:00. A fire is burning and men – the guys in the woods – serve coffee and hot juice. The “lavvoboller” – the cinnamon rolls – that lie by the fire, you take yourself. Everything is free but a donation is always welcome.
We sat there for a while and then headed back taking a slightly different route. It had become darker and the light had changed.
At the parking lot we put our stuff into the car and I drove back. Around 15 minutes later we were back at the flat in Tromsø, where I took a final photo of the view from the balcony.
The time from deciding “let’s do it” to being back in our flat in Tromsø was less than three hours. Another reason why Tromsø is a cool town to live in.
Crisp and clear winter
After ten centimetres of snowfall, the sky cleared during the night and temperatures dropped. I woke up at one o’clock simply to see the full moon with a halo and Jupiter nearby. I resisted the urge to go back to bed and went outside to take a photo. What a beautiful sight, especially in combination with the wintry coast.
I also took some photos of the snow and the ice at the coast tonight. Nine hours later the sun managed to climb above the cloud layer that had gathered on the open sea. Time to take a photo of the same scene again.
I guess this is my favourite combination of winter weather: first snowfall and wind, then a clear sky and cold air. I took two other pictures from the same place. You can see the sunlit ice fog on the horizon, which forms when very cold air meets the open sea.
At noon my wife Annika and I took a promenade to the beach Vitskärsudden. The sea was still open, but a layer of ice had begun to form along the beach. The small harbour on the other side of the breakwater was covered with ice floes. When the sun is low ice and snow in the shadow often look blue, while in the sun they look orange.
13:52 – fifteen minutes before sunset – the landscape became even more colourful. We were back at our house in Obbola and I took some photos through the windows of the winter garden that were covered with frost. The temperature had dropped to -16 °C.
Now it is 17:37 and I sit writing this blog article. The temperature is now -20.4 °C. When you are outside at minus twenty degrees and inhale through your nose it tickles, because your nose hairs freeze. If you think that is cold, in Gielas in the Swedish mountains -40.7 °C were measured at 10 o’clock.
Tomorrow I will travel back to Tromsø. Then it will be a while before I see the sun again, as the polar night lasts until 15 January. It will also be less cold, but more snowy. At the moment there are 67 cm of snow there. And the great thing: winter has just begun!
My first winter paddling 2026
It may not look like the ideal conditions for kayaking: -10 °C, snowfall and winds of 7–10 m/s, according to SMHI. Anyway, I wanted to open this year’s kayak season today, though not for a long trip.
It all start with dressing properly: stay warm, stay dry. Then I dragged my kayak to the small bay. I was lucky, the ice was thick enough to cross, so I was in the water within minutes.
I followed the coastline southwards. I would have loved to come closer to the photo scenes, but there are a lot of underwater rocks there and the waves were breaking on the shore. So I had to keep my distance.
Paddling became much easier with every metre away from shore. Most rocks were covered with ice, a result of the cold, windy weather over the past few days. The sea was open but some long bands of wet ice floes were drifting on the open Baltic Sea.
I turned right and headed to Vitskärsudden, our nearest sandy beach.
I turned my kayak and paddled the same way back. First to the south, then south-east, and finally east
And then home again, which lies to the north-northeast – that’s where the cold wind and snow come from. I can feel the cold air behind my face mask. Time to put on the ski goggles. (Nice side effect of being bundled up like this: you do not have to smile on your selfies ;-) )
I tried to take some more photos but was blown back by winds with around 1 m/s. Time to reach the ice edge – from there it’s less than 100 metres home.
The 3.8 km took me an hour. Partly because of the wind, partly because my neoprene survival suit is pretty stiff but mostly because of the photos I took. Even though my iPhone, in its waterproof case, hangs around my neck, it always takes time to put off the warm mittens and put the paddle aside.
Despite the forecast, it has been snowing all day and the kayak lying on the terrace is covered with snow. The survival suit is still drying in the shower. Sleeves and legs were encrusted with ice when I hung it up.
Low water level in Obbola
On the evening of 23 December, it got colder and frost patterns formed on the windows of the unheated winter garden.
It takes some effort to cross the new layer of ice in the bay when my wife Annika and I go kayaking on the morning of Christmas Eve, but we manage and most of the sea is free of ice.
Two days later – on 26 December – the situation has changed. It has become much warmer – up to +7 °C – and the ice is gone.
Yesterday – on 29 December – the water is gone as well, maybe caused by the storm Johannes that crossed Sweden two days before.
Today I have a day off and used the sunny weather to take a long stroll by the coast. The water level is even lower at –66 cm, so I walk part of my route in the Baltic Sea. Air temperature is around -8 °C and so you can see ice on the sea and on land, as well as huge fields of boulders that normally are underwater. Some photos from this morning:
Larger parts of the shallow bay Nagelhamnsviken by the camping ground Fläse have completely fallen dry. That looks pretty strange, when you know how it normally looks like.
The only thing we do not have at all in Obbola is any snow, but it seems to be a matter of days before it snows. And Tromsø – I’ll travel there at the end of the week – has 60 cm of snow right now.
A winter sunrise
My “work home” in Tromsø is about 340 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, and this winter the polar night lasts from 27 November to 15 January. It’s always something special to be south of the Arctic Circle at this time of year, where you can actually see the sun.
Today I walked down to the coast near our house in Obbola to watch the sunrise. Yes, people of Tromsø—the sun is still out there!
30 days – 30 photos
19 November – Obbola, Sweden
The morning is cold. -14 °C. The sea has been freezing over. At the horizon lies a layer of clouds. Will they bring snow? Ice fog indicates open water. Later this morning I walk Spåret, the local circular hiking trail. There is hardly any snow, but the ice on the ponds is covered with frost patterns.
27–29 November – Obbola, Sweden
The weather has changed back from winter to autumn. Rain and storm dominate. The crushed sea ice gathers in our bay and big waves roll up the beach of Vitskärsudden. Even the last tiny bit of snow has gone.
1–2 December – Obbola and Umeå, Sweden
We got some centimetres of snow and Vitskärsudden looks completely different. Our plan to take the car to the inland with our German guests however was stopped by the weather. Too slippery the wet and icy roads. At least we make it to Umeå, where parts of the river Umeälven are frozen over.
3–4 December – Obbola, Sweden
The snow is gone. On 4 December my wife Annika and I leave our house behind …
4–5 December — Obbola, Gagsmark, and Pajala, Sweden / Palojoensuu, Finland
… and we are on our way to Tromsø. First stop is the village Gagsmark in Sweden, where we visit friends and stay over night. Next morning we continue our journey. We pass Piteå and Luleå, leave the E4 in Töre and take lunch in Vippabacken, a small restaurant with a back-room museum. We buy food in Pajala and cross the border to Finland. We stay the night in the village Palojoensuu.
6–7 December – Skibotn, Tromsø, Norway
The road between Palojoensuu (FIN) to Kilpisjärvi (FIN) is lonely. Beside of the village Karesuvanto (population: 140) hardly anyone seems to live here and only a few other cars pass. As soon as we cross the border to Norway snowy mountain ranges come into view. Near Skibotn we see the first fjord and at a quarter past two we arrive in Tromsø.
Next day is the second Sunday of advent but I only have a single candle. I have to cheat with a mirror.
7–13 December – Tromsø, Norway
I am member of two choirs and Christmas is near. That results in a pretty busy week, where I have three rehearsals and three concerts beside of my regular work. The first concert is in the hospital, which is in walking distance. While Obbola was free of snow 60 cm lie in Tromsø.
After the second concert, this time with the Sami choir Romssa Rástát we got Northern lights. Annika and I watch them from the balcony. I try to make photos with my Nikon and a tripod as well, but the aurora has weakened and I had some camera issues.
On Saturday we open the skiing season. It is polar night, so we ski round noon, when it isn’t dark. In the evening I am singing the last concert, this time with the choir Ultima Thule in the Tromsø Cathedral, a wooden church in the very centre of Tromsø.
15–18 December – Tromsø, Norway
On Sunday Annika travels back to Obbola. I will take bus and train a week later (that’s tomorrow) and spend the rest of the year there, too. Will we get a white Christmas? Probably not. It is plus degrees and rainy weather both in Tromsø and in Obbola. While the Christmas decoration in the office building looks cozy, the streets in the centre of Tromsø don’t. Brown ice and sleet and water puddles dominate and it is extremely slippery.
On Thursday I have a special workplace: The research ice breaking vessel Kronprins Haakon lies in the port of Tromsø for two days. I walk down with my spiked Icebug shoes. On board of the ship I test some of my software components that read from the ship’s systems. It is always a relief to see your software to work in real life, not only with simulations. And I get a free lunch :-) . I get a bit nostalgic. I joined three scientific cruises on board of this ship. Will I ever join a cruise again, standing on the helicopter deck while we break through the ice? I hope so.
A photo of another Northern light in the evening ends this photo series.
