A snowy ski promenade on Tromsøya Jan 12 2025

When I woke up this morning another 20 cm of snow have fallen within the last 12 hours. Looking out of the living room window and through the glass door of a balcony showed snowy landscapes amidst the town of Tromsø.

At half past nine I start a ski tour, right from my place in Tromsø. My photo task for today: show at least a human artefact on each photo, not only snowy trees.

The snowploughs haven’t been there so I can ski on the streets.

The gravel road to the ski jump is covered with snow, but the cross-country skiing trail has already been prepared. I however want to ski off the beaten tracks. I follow a snow covered trail to the pond and take some photos. That takes a bit of time because the light is so dim that I use a tripod. Remember: we still have polar night for some days.

Then I leave the trail. I immediately sink into the fresh snow up to my knees – with my skis on. And so it continues. The skis are under half a metre of loose snow and sometimes I sink deeper with each step. My ski poles sometime sink in the whole way despite the large snow baskets. That makes skiing pretty exhausting. I follow a snow-covered stream that leads my to a jagged terrain with small but deep gullies. Some of them are three metres deep and impossible to cross for me. Where am I? Is this still Tromsøya? I zigzag through the hilly and snowy forest looking for possibilities to cross the gullies which involves pulling myself forward by grabbing trees. But at the same time it is marvellous to ski through the “wilderness” and I have it all to myself.

After a while I reach another path, also deep in snow. But at least I sink in only 20-30 cm into the snow now and I’m glad that I can just ski along.

The way leads up and down and ends on the main cross-country skiing trail that seems to be prepared permanently. I step aside to make way for the oncoming snow plough. I take a photo but the lens is a bit fogged up. It is only -1 °C and everything is damp.

I follow the trail north until I come to the steep slope where I chicken out – as usual. Too steep for me. I go back and make my way to the barbecue place with the nice view on the district Hamna. No foot steps, I’m first today :-)

For a short while I follow the trail, then I turn right and take a trail to Skihytta. That’s a cabin that occasionally serves hot chocolate and cake on Sundays. Will it be open? First the trail is well prepared but then I am in fresh snow again and on the ascending passages I have a pulse like a hummingbird. Step by step and with some short rests I make progress and after a while my “private” path meets another trail that leads to Skihytta. Hooray! There it is.

Unfortunately the cabin is closed. But the good thing is: from here it’s only 700 metres to my apartment. First I ski down through the forest, then I unmount my skis because all the streets have been cleared from snow in the meanwhile.

It was only round six kilometres skiing today, but it took me almost three hours, mostly due to the tiring snow conditions and the time-consuming crossing of some gullies. But taking photos with a tripod slowed me down as well.

Note 1: This was not my only workout today. In the afternoon I had to clear another 20–30 cm snow of my parking lot, that I already had cleared yesterday. Then I helped my neighbours a bit. This was a task I had to do today, because …

Note 2: The weekend brought almost half a metre of snow but now the weather will become extremely ugly. Tomorrow it will rain almost 30 mm and in the rest of the week another 60 mm of rain are expected. So I wanted to get rid of the snow before it gets soaked by that rain.

Thank you for the snow, weekend. I really appreciate it. What a pity that we now get a period of rain and thaw.

A winter visit to the cabin Trollvassbu Jan 5 2025

Annika and I have been in Trollvassbu before. Once in August, once in October. Yesterday it was time for a winter visit by ski. There’s a parking place by the road to Oldervik and from there it is just 4½ kilometres.

It is 4 January and it is polar night in Tromsø. This means, that the sun is below the horizon but not, that it is dark all day. There is light for about four hours and the light can be quite beautiful.

These are photos I took on our way to the cabin. The first one I shot at 10:42, the last at 11:33. The light is dim but bright enough for skiing and both sky and snow are surprisingly colourful.

We arrive at the cabin at noon. There are a lot of people around, but they are leaving. We know, that the cabin with its sixteen beds is almost fully booked for this night, we are just the ones who have arrived first.

I am walking and skiing around to take some photos. My favourite motive is the half open, half snow covered river Trollvasselva.

To be honest – most parts of the river are open and so it is easy to fetch water. When I take photos of the cabin I saw other skiers arrive – most of them parents with small children. I adore them. It must be fantastic to stand on your first skis when you are just two years old.

And then it is getting dark and the cabin is full. Five parents with their six children, three other guests as well as Annika and me. Everyone knows, how a Norwegian mountain cabin works and so the oven is constantly fired and fresh water is fetched by the river. Everyone returning from the outhouse takes some logs of wood with them and used water is brought to a place nearby. Two parents have portable battery lights with them and candles are standing on the wooden tables and in the windows. Outdoors it is cold and clear. Moon and Venus, Jupiter and Mars are visible at the starry sky.

Moon and Venus above the snowy mountains

And later – round half past five polar light appears.

Annika and I are incredibly lucky, we have a room for ourselves. Advantage one: we can sleep in the lower beds of the two bunk beds. Advantage two: we do not disturb others when we have to go to the outhouse in the dead of night.

The next morning the weather is as fine and clear as at the previous day and the temperature has dropped to -15 °C.

After having breakfast, packing and cleaning Annika and I leave at 10:15. We are faster because many other skiers had made the trail resemble a cross-country ski trail and it also goes downwards.

Clouds are gathering. What luck we have had with the weather. The very same tour could be much rougher and harder when it is snowing and blowing.

A photographers comment

This is me (Photo: Annika Kramer):

Taking photos on tour (Photo: Annika Kramer)

It shows me taking a photo with my telephoto lens. I don’t like to use ISO > 800 and so the shutter speed in the dim light is quite long. I have a tripod in the pulka, but it takes some time to set it up. Therefore the photos taken while skiing are hand-held and many of them are blurred.

Another issue is the brightness and the hue. How bright was the light or how dim? The camera itself does not know. It exposes according to my settings. Also: how violet was the sky and was it more violet, lilac, pink or purple? These photos are no standard photos and so the camera is wildly guessing the white balance.

I try to edit the photos so that they resemble the actual light and hue but I have to do it by memory and sometimes it is hard to remember the type of green of a polar light or the intensity of the purple sky.

Photographers: How do you deal with these issues?

Tromsø 2024 – a special end-of-year review Dec 31 2024

Last December I changed my “work home” in Tromsø from a tiny studio to a flat with bedroom and kitchen. First I was a bit unhappy because the studio was near to the beach Telegrafbukta while the current one lies amidst the island Tromsøya.

But then I realised how beautiful nature nearby is. There are hilly forests, bogs and ponds and a zillion ways and paths leading through.And each season looks different. I walked there the whole year, either walking home after work or just taking a promenade. In winter I used my skis.

Here is a selection of photos from this year:

Back in Tromsø and it’s winter Dec 1 2024

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:

Ski promenade in Tromsø on 1 December II

Ski promenade in Tromsø on 1 December III

Ski promenade in Tromsø on 1 December IV

Ski premiere 2024/25 Nov 3 2024

After the snowfall in the first half of the week …

… snowfall continued in the weekend.

Saturday, 2 November – walking

When I woke up yesterday morning another 10–15 cm of snow have fallen over night and it is still snowing. I get myself dressed, grab my camera backpack and go out. At the kindergarten I follow the way to the ski jumps. The light is still dim and I am quite alone. A strong wind gust blows snow from all trees and for some seconds snow is everywhere in the air.

I turn left and head to the small pond. The pair of Red-throated loons has left long ago and now the pond is frozen and covered in snow.

From there I cross the small grassy bog and follow some of the many forest paths.

I walked here quite a lot last summer but now that everything is covered in 25–30 cm of snow I miss some of the paths. That circumstance gave me wet feet quite soon. While trudging through the snow I suddenly felt my rubber boots sinking in something else. Seconds later I stood knee deep in a patch of mud. Brownish water eagerly filled my boots and the mud was so sticky, that it took me a minute to get free again. The rest of my walk I had wet and pretty cold feet. Back home I praised the inventor of the hot shower. (And that of the shoe dryer.)

Saturday, 2 November – jogging

Two hours later I go out again, this time to jog. I just have started again three weeks ago and I want to continue in wintertime as long it is possible. This time I stick to the “official” ways – some of them are already packed and groomed for cross-country skiers. Luckily you are allowed to bike or walk on the side of these tracks. It is fun to jog while it is snowing again. And my feet remained almost dry (just a bit of snow came into the Icebug winter running shoes).

Sunday, 3 November – skiing

This morning even more snow has fallen and I decide to take a ski tour. Not elsewhere but directly from home. I fetch my “fjellski” and poles from the shack and start my ski tour right from the entrance of my apartment. As the day before I pass the kindergarten and the small pond. The snow depth has grown to 45–50 cm and the skis sink in 20 cm with each step. Mostly I take those forest paths that are not too steep, but sometimes I follow the ski tracks where even I am as twice as fast.

Some more snow showers pass while I’m skiing cross-country. But then the sun comes out and colourises both sea and clouds deep orange. While I try to find a good spot to take a photo (I have my DSLR with me) the sun has begun to hide again. Photographer’s bad luck!

I pass the lake Rundvannet, while another snow shower approaches. No bathers today.

While I am heading back the sun comes out again, this time for longer. It is pretty low and soon disappears behind the mountains. In 3½ weeks polar night will start in Tromsø.

The huge ski jump of the Grønnåsen Ski Jump Center is a good landmark. Since it is on top of a hill it is visible from many places. Today I will climb up and finally ski down the ski jump to see how far I … well, just kidding.

From the ski jump it is only 800 metres back home. I ski the whole distance although I always feel uncomfortable skiing on the roads. The snow is so slippery there. After 7.5 kilometres – sometimes on tracks but mostly cross-country I am back home again.

Some hours later – 16:12. It is dark and another snow shower has approached. More snow! Anyhow it is only a temporary pleasure. Next week it will get much warmer and from Tuesday 78 mm of rain are expected for the next seen days. I guess the road conditions can be pretty ugly then. I am glad that I was outside in the “preview” of winter 2024/25. Let’s see when the next snow will arrive.

Ski tour in Sweden – from Vistas to Lisas Stuga to Civilisation Mar 24 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.

Day 12 – 9 March – Vistas—Lisas Stuga

Today is the last day of Annika’s and my ski tour. From Vistas we will follow the valley Visttasvággi to Nikkaluokta, where I have parked my car eleven days ago. We will however only ski part of it because the distance is round about 35 km. Too long for us on a single day.

After breakfast and cleaning we say farewell to our friend Dirk who is warden at Vistas for a month and follow the snowmobile track that turns left right after we have crossed the river. I’m glad that we can follow it since it crosses the river Visttasjohka many times and I feel saver to follow the track than to find our own way.

At one place there are two tracks in parallel. One track leads into an open patch of water, we wisely choose the other one.

We head to a small, old hut called Lisas Stuga. We were told that it lies by the scooter track and so we do not really have so seek it but just continue following the snowmobile track. After 11.7 km of skiing we arrive there at 12:30. We are half an hour early and so is the snowmobile driver that is here to fetch us.

We have never been here before and we take a look into Lisas Stuga which is tiny. The beds are definitely not my size at all.

Then we pack pulka, skis and Annika’s backpack on the back and hop ourselves into the front of the snowmobile trailer. Off we go. Although it is quite warm – perhaps round zero – it is nice to have the down parka to warm us, because the trip takes a while.

It is more than 20 kilometres and even if we had the fitness to ski this on a single day we think it would be pretty boring. The mountains get rounder, the valley broader and then there is a large lake to cross. And another one. And another one. Annika recognises a cabin by one of lakes and she is right. It is the last lake and we are there. Nikkaluokta.

While Annika pays for the snowmobile transport I check that my car is still there (it is). And then we enjoy the features of civilisation. And it’s not only about ordering lunch in a restaurant. It is also about washing your hands under running water. Hot running water. With soap! And dry them with paper towels.

Thank you Annika for a wonderful ski tour – our longest so far. I enjoyed every single hour.

Some days later …

I am back in Tromsø for work. It is the Friday after our ski tour. In the night it started snowing and round about five cm of new powder snow cover the street, where I live. That’s round about twice as much snow fall as we had on our whole ski tour ;-)

Now it is the week before Easter holidays. What will it bring? Rain and the first flowers? Or more snow?

Ski tour in Sweden – side trip to Nallo Mar 23 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.

Day 10 – 7 March – Vistas—Nallo

After our break day in Vistas we have planned to go for a side trip to Nallo, a small STF cabin embedded in high mountains just nine or ten kilometres away. We will stay there overnight. The weather forecast looks great for today (sunny and calm) and ok for tomorrow (overcast but also calm). In the morning it was -13 °C but temperatures are rising quickly.

After breakfast we pack our things, but leave some items behind. We’ll be back tomorrow. Our friend Dirk who is stugvärd here accompanies us a bit then we start our ski tour. Then we continue alone up the valley Stuor Reaiddávággi.

We arrive at lunch time and make something warm to eat. This time no packet soup as usual, but trekking food (mostly powder). Quite ok, if you ask me. I manage to take a photo of the cabin in the sun, that shines here for less than an hour this season because of the high mountains in the south.

The cabin is an Abrahamssonsstuga (or Fjällstuga 65). This type of cabin has 21 places and was built a lot in the mountains between 1965 and 1973. It can happen that you hike the whole day to arrive at a cabin that looks exactly alike the one you left in the morning. However, I like them if there are not too crowded and this night we will be only six people (plus the stugvärd) sleeping there.

At dinner we eat trekking food again, this time another brand. That pulp was the most disgusting stuff I have eaten for ages and neither of us manages to finish the meal. Good, that we have chocolate left to cover the bad taste. After dinner another polar light is building up. First just a thin stripe like a spotlight, then it broadens. At the same time the first clouds have started gathering but are held back by the mountains.

Day 11 – 8 March – Nallo—Vistas

Oh, the weather forecast was correct. It is cloudy today. However we have an easy job today: Just skiing back the 9 (or is it 10?) km and loose 220 metres of altitude. Breakfast, packing, doing our cabin duties and off we go.

While Nallo was above the tree line Vistas isn’t. First there are single birth trees than birch forests. Back with the trees comes the animal life, mostly the ptarmigans that sometimes sit on a branch of a birch looking like big, fluffy snowballs. Not the best camouflage … . What we however do not see are the four moose. We will see them later from the cabin using a binocular.

And then we are at Vistas and the Sauna is almost ready.

After sauna Annika is preparing the farewell dinner. Dirk already had watered the dried potatoes, feta cheese and vegetable in the morning, now she is making frittata with porcini mushrooms. Delicious! Dirk contributes the dessert and we have a “gemütlich” evening together. It’s Annika’s and my last day in the mountains. Today we will reach civilisation again.

Ski tour in Sweden – Tjäktja—Alesjaure—Vistas Mar 21 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.

Day 7 – 4 March – Tjäktja—Alesjaure

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.

Tjäktja in front of the mountain Lulip Muorahisčohkka

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 :-)

Day 8 – 5 March – Alesjaure—Vistas

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.

Leaving the kalfjäll – one of the first birch trees

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.

Day 9 – 6 March – Vistas

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.

Ski tour in Sweden – Sälka—Tjäktja Mar 19 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.

Day 5 – 2 March – Sälka—Tjäktja

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.

Pulka chaos – how not to stay over in wintertime

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.

Me ascending Tjäktjapasset (Photo: Annika Kramer)

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.

Inside the kitchen – outside the kitchen

Day 6 – 3 March – Tjäktja

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.

Ski tour in Sweden – Singi—Sälka Mar 17 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-02: Ski tour Sweden”.

Tour day 3 + 4: 29 February – 1 March

Day 3 – 29 February – Singi—Sälka

Today is our second tour day. We will go north from Singi to Sälka. It is seven o’clock and beautiful out there. If the forecast is right that might change round noon where wind gusts of 16 m/s where expected.

This is why we decided to start early despite the short distance of 12 km. At 8:00 we leave Singi behind. The way is a bit hilly but relatively easy. We pass the Sami village Goržževuolli and then the bridge over the river Tjäktjajåkka. Here goes the summer trail to the cabin Hukejaure in the west. Not our destination today.

The weather is still nice, the sight perfect, navigating is simple. So we do not follow the winter road which lies to the right but just ski in the middle of the large U-shaped valley Tjäktjavagge. This leads to some confusion when we cross a winter trail marked with the traditional red crosses, but this is the snowmobile trail to Hukejaure, not the winter trail to Sälka which is not visible from here. The valley is broad and slightly hilly. We both can “climb” hills since we have skins under our skis but sometimes I go a detour when it gets too steep for pulling up the pulka.

When will Sälka come into sight? Behind the next hill? No. But the next one? No. Then the next? No.

At 11:30 it gets windy and snow is blowing above the ground. But first we have it in the back and then we are already quite close to Sälka and after another hill (we didn’t count) there there they are: the cabins of Sälka.

Sälka will be crowed tonight. 38 guests have pre-booked, amongst others two larger groups. We are extremely lucky to come early and to get the small two-bed room marked with a sign “private” at the door. Thanks a lot, warden Z.!

Our “private” room for the next two days.

Now it has become quite windy. All other guest arrive from the north and are equipped with balaclava and ski goggles to cope the head wind.

The toilets at Sälka are 200 metres away. So take your down parka and a head torch with you if you go at night.

Night – Sälka

And yes, I was out to go the loo several times. But I like winter weather, so I do not complain. And then when I have to go again at three o’clock the sky has become clear and the first northern lights on our tour cover the starry sky. Beautiful, especially with the low hanging moon.

The first photo by the way shows the toilets.

Day 4 – 1 March – Sälka

Another resting day according plan. We have the luxury of having time for the tour that many others have to perform within a week.

A snowmobile has arrived. One of the groups had booked luggage transport. Here only the local Sami are allowed to drive snowmobile. We chat with the driver that shows us some of his reindeers that graze high up in the mountains. Do you see them on the photo below?

He also asks if we have seen wolverine tracks. These vicious animals kill reindeers as pray. But here and now a wolverine is around that attacks the animals without killing. Tome of them have a slow and cruel death. The Sami are not allowed to hunt wolverines due to species protection but they are allowed to scare them away. How the paw prints look like? “Like a fox on snowshoes.”

While he is telling us that either I or Annika are occupied by scratching the dog that cannot get enough of it.

Wolverines are endangered species and the biologists are interested in them. At the same time only the Sami are allowed to drive snowmobile in this part of the mountains. This leads to the curious situation that they collect wolverine droppings for the scientists, of course with proper metadata as time and location. Imagine you have a predator around threatening your flock and at the same time you collect its poo!

The rest of the day: Sawing logs and chopping some wood. Taking some photos. Early dinner to avoid the big group cooking at the same time. Sauna! Retreating to our room when the combined kitchen/living room is too crowded. Early bedtime.

Vacation.

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