Today I saw the sun for the first time this year. Polar night in Tromsø has already ended one week ago but it always takes some days until it rises over the mountains. Yesterday it was cloudy but today was the day. Welcome back, sun.
This is a shot by mobile phone. I may have taken better photos with my small Sony camera but I forgot it in the office.
Just some photos from Obbola in the last days.
A flock of fieldfares in our rowan tree ❦ an icy morning by the coast ❦ sunlit ice fog hovering above the bay Vitskärsudden ❦ three roe deers eating rowan berries, leftovers of the fieldfares’ meal.
| English | German | Swedish | Norwegian |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fieldfare | Wacholderdrossel | Björktrask | Gråtrost |
Clouds are moving eastwards where they block the low hanging sun, but here and there the sun peeks through holes giving the whole thing a dramatic touch.
It is chilly and ice fog hovers over the sea. I take a promenade by the icy coast.
It is quite clear and not too windy at temperatures round -12 °C. Yesterday I dug out the kayak from the snow, today it is time to take a tour. It’s a short but a beautiful one.
After the tour the line for the kayak rudder was frozen. The kayak is a bit too large for taking it in so I had to improvise a bit. Well, it worked.
Today is the day of winter solstice. We could see the sun rise at 09:25 while having a comfortable Sunday morning breakfast. Today’s motive: the rowan tree under which Annika and I got married in 2020, taken through the windows of our living room.
It was four days ago that I arrived in my “home home”, Annika’s and my house in Obbola. And we got some winter weather. First we got twenty centimetres of snow. We took a Saturday promenade to our favourite beach Vitskärsudden which looked like this:
It continued snowing and blowing the whole Saturday but then it cleared up in the night and Sunday morning the sky was clear at temperatures round -12 °C. I waited until 9:20 to watch the sun rise over the sea.
Later that day Annika and I took the very same promenade to Vitskärsudden again but it looked so differently in the sun.
In the night it became stormy. We have experienced some storms here before, but this was the very first time that I couldn’t open the front door at all. It was completely blocked by snow. I had to climb out of the snow-plastered kitchen window and shovel away the compact snow drift that blocked the door.
And this is how our house looked like some hours ago. Now it is clear and calm weather and -14 °C.
When I worked in Tromsø on 20 November I took a snapshot through the window panes of the 5th floor. You could guess the sun between the mountains. It would be the last time I’d see the sun in Tromsø this year.
The next day I travelled to Germany to visit friends. I returned yesterday, 30 November and could see the sunset a bit north of Bergen from the airplane back to Tromsø.
In Tromsø we have polar night from 27 November until 14 January next year and it looks like this:
No, it doesn’t! Just kidding.
Polar night (the English term) does not mean, that it is dark all day. Only, that the sun won’t rise or set. The Norwegians – more affected than other countries – have two words. They call the polar night mørketid (darkness time) and reserve the term polarnatt (polar night) for the time where the sun is at more than six degrees below the horizon for the whole day. This applies only to places north of 72°33′ such as Bjørnøya or Svalbard.
Since it is not pitch-black I took a small ski promenade in the forests nearby. And so it looks like on a cloudy 1 December (-4 °C) on Tromsøya:
Annika and I have been in Bjuröklubb a lot, especially when I lived in Skelleftehamn, but never we stayed overnight. Anyhow, there is a cabin called Spanarstugan and that we booked for a night last weekend. The cabin is modern and quite large but still cosy. It has electricity, and running water as well as toilet are not far away.
After a short lunch in the shadow of the large yellow lighthouse building we took a promenade to the beacon Bjuroklubb NÖ. The way there involved some climbing over rock fields but the view was worth it.
At 7 o’clock in the evening we went down the gravel road to the small marina where we sat for a while and watched the sky, the sea and a lonely sea bird.
Then we went up again – the ways are short – to the lighthouse building. The sun was partially hidden behind clouds and the light was warm and beautiful.
Round 11 o’clock in the evening I took another stroll up to the wooden view platform. I wanted to watch the sunset. First the sun was round and red then it resembled more and more a huge glowing jellyfish until it morphed into a small dash and disappeared behind the horizon.
Annika and I were in doubt if the lighthouse would be active in summer, when it doesn’t get dark. But round sunset I could see the light go on, blinking in a steady rhythm.
I sat there for a moment but then I became tired. So I walked down and went to bed where after slaughtering some mosquitoes I fast fell asleep.
In the night it rained, in the morning it was foggy but after breakfast and cleaning up the cabin the weather was sunny again. We enjoyed our stay there very much and started wondering, if this place is accessible in wintertime as well.
Two weeks ago I took the plane from Tromsø to Bergen. From there I would travel back to Tromsø by Hurtigruten together with my sister, my brother-in-law and my mother. My wife Annika would join us in Trondheim two days later.
There is still a lot of snow in the mountains on Tromsøya, Kvaløya, Senja and other islands I do not recognise from the plane. But in the lowland it is springtime.
I travelled with the Hurtigruten several times, but never south from Trondheim. We were not the only one’s boarding in Bergen. A lot of people use the Hurtigruten as a cruise ship, not as a possibility to travel from A to B. And there it lies, the vessel Kong Harald.
We have boarded round 18:00. At 20:30 we are departing and leave the town Bergen behind.
We are in sheltered waters and you hardly notice the ship moving beside of the motor’s vibrations. Even though Bergen is nine degrees south from Tromsø is does not get dark anymore.
The weather is cloudy but when the sun peeks through a holes in the clouds it looks beautiful.
One breakfast later: We arrive in Ålesund where the Hurtigruten will stay for ten hours. Time to explore this town which looks so different from the towns in the north. Ålesund has many Art Nouveau houses and “exotic” plants like azaleas are blooming everywhere. Together with my sister I climb the four hundred and something steps up the Aksla where we have an awesome view on the town.
We have also a view on the cruise ship AIDA prima. And beside of that – our Hurtigruten ship Kong Harald. It looks so tiny in comparison. I definitely prefer the small one.
I take a short stroll through town before I meet the others. First I admire all the small Art Nouveau details on the houses, then I almost get a culture shock when I find this tunnel:
In the evening we circumnavigate the island Hessa, because the ship is “reparked” on the other side of Ålesund. After a very warm and sunny day clouds have been gathering. But the sun manages to send beams through the clouds.
Is this one of the life boats? I mean – a photo of one of the life boats? No, it is a photo of a reflection of one of the life boats. It is reflected in the glass facade of an office building by the port.
Where are we? In Trondheim. Yay! I was so looking forward to meet Annika there. She checks in, then we take a short stroll in town along the channel with the groundbreaking name Kanalen – the channel.
As in Tromsø there are Kittiwakes in Trondheim. They use to screech a lot – often to each other – but these two fellows seem to be a bit shy, at least in the minute where I took the photo.
At lunchtime we leave Trondheim behind. The shimmering sunlight is reflected by zillions of tiny waves. We meet commercial ships, fishing boats, two kayaks and sometimes a sailing boat.
On the port side there is the open sea. Blue sky, blue sea, a small skerry and a house. Wait, a house? Yes, it is erected on a floating raft. What you cannot see – it is part of one of the countless salmon farms located in coastal Norway.
I have moved into Annika’s cabin. It has no regular window but two portholes. It is five to eleven in the evening and the sun peeks into our small but practical cabin.
And that’s the night where I get sick. That really wouldn’t have been necessary at all.
I am feeling ill and I sleep, I sleep and I sleep. I do not leave the cabin before 17:45 to take some photos while we are approaching the Lofoten islands. They look like mirages at the hazy horizon.
Round half past seven we are approaching Stamsund, passing rocky skerries and rocky mountains. Northern Norway, here we come!
At the harbour a graffito was sprayed or painted on the outer wall of the waiting room. Free high fives! For me however it was time to continue sleeping …
… but I got up at 23:15 again to see more from the Lofoten islands. Some of the mountains look like not being from this world.
The light got dim but it didn’t get dark. It’s the first day of midnight sun on the Lofoten. And it is almost midnight.
The reason for being up so late is that Kong Harald sails into the quite famous and very narrow fjord Trollfjorden. The landscape is impressive because the Hurtigruten is so near to land. – especially the mighty dark rock face in the north.
On our way back I spot a beautiful wave pattern. I really wonder how it was created.
Then it is time for me to sleep. And I sleep long. At lunch time I take some more photos. Now the landscape looks very familiar. No wonder, in an hour we will be in Tromsø, where I’ve been working for three years now. To my relief there is still snow on the mountain tops. It looks so nice.
The sky is still blue and the sea has been calm more or less the whole journey. There is hardly any wind but the flag is flattering in the airstream.
Round two o’clock we pass the southern tip of the island Tromsøya and then the new buildings on the eastern sea side.
After round 93 hours we are leaving the ship. My family checks into their hotel, Annika and I take the bus to my apartment which has become on of my two homes.
This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.
I may repeat myself but again we have sunny weather and blue sky at -6 °C. The only difference, it is windy today. It started last night when we were out to watch the Northern Lights and now the wind is blowing snow over the mountains and through the valley. While we are starting our tour we are having an impressive parhelion and a piece of halo right of the sun. I’m pretty sure that it isn’t created by stratospheric clouds but by the blowing snow.
We descend into the valley Alisvággi and leave the blowing wind behind us. Now sun feels warm but on the ice of the river system Aliseatnu the cold air still wins.
It takes some time until we can spot some of the cabins of Alesjaure. I can see them behind the rocky hill. No, they are on the rocky hill. I remember having tried to climb this turtle shell-like hill with skis and pulka years ago. I have learned my lesson, we walk up. And then we are welcomed by the warden with a hot and very sweet juice. We chat for a while (we have met once years before) and then Annika and I sit on the reindeer skin lying on the bench by the table and take an outdoor picnic. We may choose a room because we are first. We enjoy the weather, inside and outside. Later, after dinner we will head for the sauna.
I thought it would be extremely crowded here but we arrived on the right day. Yesterday: 40 guests. Tomorrow: 50 pre-booked guests. Today: 11 :-)
Today is a special day. We do not take a break day, we continue to Vistas where our friend Dirk is currently warden. With 18 kilometres it is the longest distance on our ski tour this year and I was a bit afraid that it could get tough. Is there a track? How is the snow? Therefore I have urged Annika into raising up ridiculously early. We have the large kitchen for us while ptarmigans are hopping and clucking outside of the windows.
The sun starts to illuminate the highest mountain peaks, soon we will have sun as well. 7:05 (sic!) we start our tour.
… and get a little lost. We navigate by eye and sync the stones marked in red with the summer trail on our map. Anyhow it doesn’t fit. The GPS helps and now we know where we are. While finding a good route to get more north were we assume the correct route to be we realise that the summer markers are all over the place. Not helpful! Our assumption was correct, there is the unmarked winter trail. It is obvious, because now we see snow mobile tracks, ski tracks, pulka tracks, boot tracks, snowshoe tracks. I guess we won’t have any navigation challenges anymore today.
We cross the first lake Bajip Čazajávri and the second lake Vuolip Čazajávri, then we stand at the “abyss”. The steepest part of this declining slope falls 50 metres on 200 metres and we both decide to unmount the skis. Beside of a patch of soft snow the snow is good to walk on.
Now we are in the beginning of the valley Visttasvággi which will gently descend for the rest of today’s tour. And since it descend we leave the barren kalfjäll and meet the first birch trees, the first ones since a week.
The next hours we will ski in the sun. The hot sun. First I take off my jacket, then cap and gloves, then I roll up my sleeves. Finally I put on the shirt’s hood again, not for cold but for sun protection. Some photos from the tour:
Moose droppings are not the only animal tracks we see. There are the typical deep moose tracks, the smaller reindeer tracks, countless ptarmigan tracks (both feet and feathers) and a special track – like a fox on snow shoes. This was the description of the Sami on Sälka when he described wolverine tracks. The wolverine track follows the trail for a long time and watching it is pretty exciting.
The wolverine tracks are special, since these animals are rare. Only round about a thousand wolverines live in Scandinavia. But I love the ptarmigan prints as well. They often seem to tell stories.
My titles: 1. Zen garden / 2. Hieroglyphs / 3. Salsa party
After some hours of sun we finally come into the shadow. Almost a relief. Now it is not far anymore to the Vistas cabin, which is not part of the famous Kungsleden trail since it lies in a side valley. Skiing there was much easier then I expected and we had a faster pace then on the preceding shorter distances.
Dirk has seen us already and welcomes us outside with two cups of hot juice. Later we get an incredible five star afternoon snack. It consists of two surprises. First surprise: We found cookies in the leftover food in the kitchen cupboard! Two sorts, one of them with chocolate. That has never ever happened to me before and I hardly can imagine why people should leave cookies behind. I won’t! Anyhow I’m grateful. Second surprise: Dirk does not only invites us to coffee but also to Christmas stollen, a traditional German Christmas cake. It is never too late to eat stollen. Thanks, Dirk, for sharing it with us!
After dinner – Dirk invited us again – I just walk around to take photos. A faint polar light can be seen but it is nothing compared with the last days, especially the night in Tjäktja.
Today is the fourth and last break day we take on this tour. Are we lazy? Yes and no. Annika is sawing logs, I am chopping the wood (not my best day though). I fetch water from the river by lowering a bucket from the bridge into a patch of open water. The ice on the river is not save. But we also sit outside reading and I am using the short period where the sun shines on the cabins (yes, another fine day) to take some photos.
Tomorrow we will ski to Nallo and stay there over night, then we will come back to Vistas.
This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.
It is our second morning in Sälka. The night was quiet – no storm, no snow. That’s quite a bit of luck for the travel group that left pulkas and skis on the ground without even thinking about finding shelter for their equipment.
Today Annika and I will have a short distance to ski. It’s only twelve kilometres to Tjäktja but we have to cross the Tjäktjapasset which is pretty steep. 8:15 – we say goodbye to the warden and his friend and follow the undulating terrain north. We can already see the pass in the distance. It is still 8 km away.
The terrain is still undulating but it slowly changes. First we skied up and down, now we ski up or straight ahead, a sign that the terrain starts to rise.
Ah, I love my pulka. Most of the time I can pull it effortlessly over the hard snow, although there is a lot of food in it and a tripod and safety equipment and two down jackets and other clothes two sleeping backs and more. But when I have to climb steeper passages I realise that both my fitness and my strength could be better. So at the pass I have to take small breaks to catch my breath. The next photo is taken by Annika and long before the steep passage where we were too occupied to take any pictures.
Each of us climbs up in his/her own pace.
But then we are on the edge of a platform where I just must look back. 19 years ago on my very first ski tour I stood there and was completely flabbergasted when I looked into this valley Tjäktjavagge. And so it still is today. We stand there for a while before we continue skiing further up the pass.
Whew, that was exhausting, but now we are on 1100 m, the highest altitude on our tour. Time to take a rest at the shelter. No photos, just some tea and nuts before we continue. Now it only goes down, down, down and we remove our climbing skins. Soon Tjäktja comes into view. It is smaller then the other cabins on the Kungsleden. To our surprise we are the only guests tonight.
The weather on this tour has been extraordinary well and today we have another sunny day with blue sky. We are staying at Tjäktja and after breakfast we start our “duties”. The stugvärd (warden) is sawing logs, I am chopping wood. And then Annika and I take two empty canisters to fetch water. This means we have to go down to the frozen river where there is a hole and some tools to crush the ice. We have heard that the ice was very slippery and so we put on our spikes. Good choice.
The first container I pull up the snowy slope. Yes, it works but it is pretty exhausting. The other container Annika drags over the ice. I fetch the first container and we pull both back to the cabin. Well – pull … . It is a bit like walking puppy dogs. Twenty kilo puppy dogs. The containers stay behind, hurry ahead, bump into each other and then leave the path again. But finally we “walked” them home and have 40 litres of fresh and ice cold water from the river Čeavččanjira.
I go down to the river again to take some photos. I like the bridge and the icy area beneath.
But what I really love is the huge snow drift hanging there near the now frozen and invisible waterfall. I crawl in more and more until I can make the last of the three photos from my private “snow cave”.
Resting days are made for – well – resting. We are reading and taking a nap while other guests arrive. Slowly the sun is setting and the colours on the mountains go pink.
Time to cook and eat something. Right after dinner a beautiful polar lights have formed, although the sky is still kind of blue and not black yet. What a luxury to see it so early.
The northern lights are lasting for hours and are everywhere. Annika and I are standing there for a long time together with two people from Switzerland. Every now and then I leave to take photos. And more photos. It is an incredible experience to see the aurora far away from the light pollution of the cities. This is an extremely beautiful moment and this evening which marks the first half of our ski tour is a perfect end of the day.
Yes. The northern light continues, but the photographer has to catch some sleep. God natt. Good night.
While I got a lot of sun in Obbola (320 km south of the polar circle) between the years, Tromsø (340 km north of the polar circle) had to wait to see the sun again.
Last Sunday was the last day of the mørketid – the polar night. Monday at lunchtime the sun was above the horizon but not above the mountains. Anyhow everything has become much brighter compared to mid-December.
Yesterday I took a promenade from my new apartment. While Tromsø lay in the shadow – at least were I walked – I saw the snowy mountains of Kvaløya having pink tops. There the sun was already visible.
Today I was at Telegrafbukta round noon. I was not alone – round 200 other people waited for the sun, were barbecuing, taking selfies or a winter bath. On the sea a flock of eider ducks occasionally wa diving for food. And then it appeared from behind a mountain – the sun!
Welcome sun! The polar night is over, the winter will continue for at least three months. But every day the sun will rise a bit higher.
