Fresh snow in Tromsø Jan 25 2026

It has been a while since it snowed in Tromsø. Nevertheless, the trees have been white this week, not because of any snow but because of the hoar frost. Yesterday many trees – large and small – were still covered in hoar frost. In the afternoon it started snowing.

When I woke up today the outside scenery looked as wintry as it could be. The next two photos I took from the balcony of my flat on Tromsøya this morning.

Today after breakfast I went on a ski tour. Not a big one, just starting at the gravel road that leads into the forest 350 metres from here. The road leads to the ski run and crosses a cross-country ski track on the way there.

I like the scenery there in all seasons, but I adore it in winter when fresh snow has arrived. Just some photos, especially from the more open places – bogs in summer, snowfields in winter:

While I cleared 14 cm of fresh snow from my parking space in the afternoon it started snowing again leading to a snowburst with snow bucketing down and adding another one or two centimetres additional snow within minutes. In my snowed-covered teddy fleece jacket I looked like a snowman.

Next week there will be not much snowfall, but it will be cold enough to preserve the snow. I love winter in the north.

Soldagen 2026 Jan 21 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 Jan 18 2026

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 parking place – bring out your ice skates

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?

Ski premiere 2026 in Tromsø Jan 11 2026

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.

Frozen water bottle from campers by the fireplace

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.

Winter walk on Tromsøya Jan 9 2026

This morning I went for a winter walk in Tromsømarka. That’s not an official name, but it describes the hilly terrain with forests, lakes, and bogs on the island of Tromsøya. I’ve walked there countless times because it is only minutes away from my flat – on foot. And I walked there on foot today. Maybe a stupid idea, when we have 60 cm of snow …

We are still in mørketid, the time where the sun will be below the horizon the whole day, but as you can see it is not dark at all. At least not around lunch time. The colours of the sky are incredibly delicate and vary a lot depending on the hour of the day and the direction you are looking. The photos were taken between 10:38 and 11:28.

I’m not happy with the photos. I used my small Sony RX100 that was accidentally to some strange mode using JPG, not raw format. That caused me some trouble editing them in Lightroom. Next time I will take my Nikon again, although the camera body plus two lenses is far heavier.

My first winter paddling 2026 Jan 2 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

We use this rock as a waymark to enter or exit the bay of Vitskärsudden

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 Dec 30 2025

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.

Large parts of Nagelhamnsviken have fallen dry.

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.

Sunrise winter paddling Nov 25 2025

Three days ago it thawed and stormy weather crushed all the sea ice. The day after, the temperature dropped below zero again. This morning the weather was clear and calm at -12 °C. Time for another morning kayak tour, just like four days ago.

At 7:50 I stood on the leftovers of the old ice that covered the small bay. In front of me – a fresh layer of new ice. How thick may it be? I have the feeling it will not hold my weight.

You see the photo above? The kayak is tilted sideways. That’s not because of the waves or because I’m edging, but because the kayak is lying on the ice. The ice is stable enough to bear us with me sitting in the kayak. I move forward by using ice safety picks that I drive into the ice in front of me and then pull the kayak and myself forward. It’s exhausting, but it works. I have done it many times before. The ice is approximately 3 cm thick.

But then the ice gets thinner and has exactly the thickness I loathe: between 1.5 cm and 2 cm. Then the kayak breaks through and is jammed in a narrow water channel, where it’s almost impossible to use your paddle – no open water reachable – or the ice picks – the ice will break when pulling. Luckily the water channels often tend to widen, so you can kayak back some metres, get some forward momentum using the paddle and break another two metres of ice. That takes a lot of time and extends the distance paddled by a factor of four or more.

But then – finally – I reach open water by the island Lillskär. It took me almost half an hour for less than 300 metres!

Anyhow I manage to reach the sunrise in time. Now the surface of the sea is multicoloured. The back of the waves are reflecting the orange horizon, the front of the waves the blue sky above.

Now I just paddle a short round, because it is a weekday and I have to work. Just some more photos with my mobile phone in its waterproof bag …

Water to the left, thin ice to the right

… before I return home. First it is easy, because the channel that I had broken through the ice is open and I can easily follow it. Then the ice gets thicker again. I’m tired and since the water is pretty shallow I exit the kayak and walk the kayak home. I learn that the ice does not bear me at all. So I break it with my knees or – when deeper – with my rear. I would not dare to do this with my kayaking drysuit, but today I wear my survival suit made of thick neoprene, which is very sturdy.

I reach the shallow part of the bay where I manage to grab a large piece of ice and put it upright. Time to play a bit with the translucent motif in front of the sun.

It is two o’clock in the afternoon when I decide to take another break from my desk to watch the sunset. To make a long story short – I got it. No kayaks involved this time.

Season’s first winter paddling in Northern Sweden Nov 21 2025

While there is a lot of snow in Tromsø, is is only round 2 cm here in Obbola in Northern Sweden. Here it is the coldness that defines the winter. Today I took my kayak and made a small tour on the Baltic Sea which is just outside the garden. With temperatures round -13 °C and a light wind it was pretty chilly. The small bay is frozen and you can walk on it and on the open sea thin layers of ice are building where the sea is calm. Here are some photos from today’s kayak tour.

Protected against the cold air and the cold water

Now the kayak is lying in the floor of the house. The kayak’s steering mechanism was frozen and is currently thawing.

Walking home between the seasons Oct 27 2025

After a three-week break, I did my usual after-work hike from Prestvannet to my flat today. Back then it was full autumn, now the weather bas become more wintry despite of the warmer temperatures the last days.

For those who wonder whether I’ll show photos from Scotland. Yes I’ll do but not before next weekend. See you then …