Two winter activities Jan 16 2019

The morning

Finally there’s enough snow in Skelleftehamn for cross-country skiing. The great people from Friluftsfrämjandet Skelleftehamn had prepared the ski track last night and I was one the first people that skied there this morning. The weather was sunny with temperatures round -16 °C. The sun however was still low and had hardly a chance to illuminate the forests round the ski track. There were some sunny spots where I made the photos below.

After 7 km I was covered with frost but I wasn’t cold at all.

The early afternoon

After lunch I decided to check out the shore at Kågnäsudden. I parked my car and trudged through the snow until I arrived at the coast. The Baltic Sea was mostly open but partly covered with pancake ice. I walked on the banks by the sea and enjoyed the bright sunlight and the crisp air.And I made some photos, too.

When I drove back the car thermometer showed temperatures between -19 °C and -23 °C. The next seven days temperatures between -10 °C and -20 °C are forecasted. I guess it will not take long until the shore areas of the Baltic Sea will finally freeze over.

Where is the snow? – part II Jan 11 2019

While parts of Bavaria and Austria have been buried in snow masses – partly there’s more than 250 cm of snow in the valleys and 350 cm in the mountains – we got plus degrees and storm squalls yesterday evening.

Yesterday the bay Kallholmsfjärden was still covered with a solid layer of ice. Today the wind and high water broke this sheet of ice and blew it away. At lunchtime the bay was covered with drifting ice floes. Some hours later the ice was gone, probably drifting to Finland …

I want this (left image) but I got that (right image):

Deep, deep snow in Lapland – February 2010

I have to admit that I’m frustrated. I moved to Northern Sweden for real winter experiences, not for this kind of roller coaster weather, that makes the snow dirty and the streets slippery. The photo motives are ugly, I cannot ski, I cannot even walk onto the ice anymore. I just want to snip my fingers and be in Filzmoos or Reit im Winkl or somewhere else where it’s really snowy.

There’s only one realistic way to solve this: I need a teleporter. Or a time machine. For this I need a crazy scientist, that will build one for me. To pay him/her and all that crazy scientist equipment I need money. There is a way to get a lot of money without work: a Trisslott, the most famous scratchcard in Sweden. The same amount three times and you win it. OK, let’s see …

Well, that didn’t work. Four amounts only twice. As usual. I guess, I have to deal without a teleport.

Where is the pack ice? Dec 23 2018

Today I wanted to take more photos of the pack ice covering the Baltic Sea, this time in sunlight. Unfortunately the weather didn’t follow the forecast. (Yes, this happens!) Instead of the predicted sun and clear sky it was cloudy.

When I was brushing by teeth I noticed a light in the west. A huge honey yellow full moon hung in the western sky and shone into my bathroom. Apparently western winds had started to blow the cloud layer eastward.

I took my camera equipment and my winter parka and drove to the beach to take pictures from the full moon. Here’s one of those pictures:

To be honest, I think this is a boring picture. It says more about the pros and cons of my telephoto lens than showing an interesting scenery. The photo could have been taken anywhere. Everywhere where there are power lines and a bit of sky.

I took the car and headed for another place. Hopefully I would find a better motive. To make a long story short: I didn’t. Even the photo with the three islands (two of them are seen above the horizon) looks pale and featureless.

Suddenly I heard birdcalls. Three white whooper swans flew along the coast, heading south. Looks like a good idea, because when the Baltic Sea is frozen they will have hard times finding food. I was lucky: camera at hand, telephoto lens mounted, time to increase ISO and activate the VR. Click!

I continued to Näsgrundet, the place where I photoed the pack ice two nights ago. The ice however was gone! Probably the very same wind that pushed the clouds to the east blew also the ice floes into the open sea. Beside of some grounded ice floes the sea was open again. I decided to continue using my telephoto lens, both for motives farther away and quite near.

I got attracted by a rock covered with a humpback ice pattern. Looking at the results I’m quite content with the lens for this type of motive. I cannot decide which of the two photos I prefer, the first one showing the whole rock or the second one that focuses more on the icy details. What do you think?

When I was home, the temperature had dropped from -9.5 °C to -14 °C.

Some hours later: The sun is setting. The air is chilly but the colours are warm. The Baltic Sea is steaming with cold. One wide-angle photo, taken at 13:07 at the same place.

Home again the sun has set but it’s still light. I decide to go for a jog. It’s fun to hear the snow crunching under the studded soles of my new running shoes. And I do not need my headlights because the sunset is so slow. The air is cold, round -15 °C. My fitness it not the best and I have to breath a lot to keep my pace. Good to have a buff for warming up the cold air a bit.

Two photos from today: (1) me photographing, (2) me jogging. Keep in mind, that it was warmer on the first photo.

P.S.: When I look at the whole blog article I’m more content with the photo of the full moon. The isolated photo may be pointless but in the article it has its place.

Pack ice at the dead of night Dec 22 2018

It’s a quarter to one in the dead of night. And this is a special night. It’s the longest night of the winter, the night of the winter solstice. Yesterday the sun went down at 13:27, today the sun will rise at 9:39. That makes the night last more than 20 hours.

When I came home from lunch today, the sun was already below the horizon. It was however still bright enough to make me realise, that the bay Kallholmsfjärden was covered with pack ice. At 22:45 I took the car to make some pictures of the ice but first I drove to the peninsula Näsudden to check the ice conditions there. Probably the open Baltic Sea would be free of ice beside of some sheltered bays. I was really surprised to see a belt of packed ice even here, probably half a kilometre wide.

After my eyes got used to the darkness I realised, that the pack ice was slightly moving. The drifting ice floes hadn’t frozen together yet and were moved by the waves. Now I could even hear the cracking and creaking sounds of the ice floes. Extremely fascinating and almost inviting to try to jump from ice floe to ice floe …

… no, I didn’t try that. I stayed at the ice rim, that parts land from sea, felt the wind, looked at some snowflakes drifting by and watched the vibrating sea ice. And I took some photos. That’s my tonight’s favourite:

Pack ice on the Baltic Sea at winter solstice

After an hour I started to feel cold. I didn’t plan to be outdoors so long. Learnings: Always take an even warmer jacket and windproof pants with you. But freezing was no big issue: Driving home was a matter of minutes and the first thing I did was taking a really hot shower.

Tomorrow I will take another look. It’s not only weekend but also the first day of my Christmas holidays!

And the snow? Dec 19 2018

It has been cloudy with temperatures slightly below zero for some days. It even snowed, but only a bit. After lunch I walked along the river Skellefteälven. 15 cm of snow, mostly old and half frozen cover the ground.

I experienced years with much more snow in mid-December but also years where it rained at this time of the season. So I should not complain, but as you can guess I hope for more snow. A lot of more snow.

Early winter Holmön III Dec 10 2018

This article is part of the series “2018-12: Holmön”.

It’s Monday, a quarter to seven in the morning. I turned out of bed half an hour ago. Not because I have to go to work, but because I’m a morning person. It’s Annika’s and my fourth day on the island Holmön. Tomorrow we will take the evening ferry back to the mainland.

We were lucky, when we walked back from our Saturday evening Christmas dinner two days ago. It snowed all the time. It looked very beautiful and it was quite bright outside because of the fresh snow cover. When we lay in our comfortable double bed at Berguddens fyr we could still see the snow flakes whirl through the window pane.

When we woke up yesterday the snow had turned into rain. We planned a car trip to the southern tip of the island Ängesön which is separated from Holmön by the sound Gäddbäckssundet. The gravel road from Bergudden to the main road apparently had already be cleared of snow and it was easy to drive. I turned right and headed south. We drove first past pastures and farms and than along Gäddbäckssundet, until we came to the turnout to Ängesön. This road was snow covered and probably isn’t used in winter time. The snow wasn’t deep and I decided to give it a try. We crossed the small sound on the only bridge and followed the snowy road.

It was harder to drive than expected, because the snow was so wet that it filled all the space round the tyres. My studded winter tyres are excellent for ice but less good for such mud-like conditions.

The landscape around looked bleak and cheerless, especially the lakes and ponds that were covered with brownish wet ice. It looked a bit like a film where an evil wizard had casted a spell on the landscape to take away all its beauty.

I had to drive very slowly and it would take us at at least 30 minutes to the south tip of the island, although it’s only 9 km. After 1 km I decided to turn.

We drove to the village of Holmön and made a stop at the church. The graveyard was still covered with snow and so it looked much more friendly than the landscape on Ängesön. As most protestant churches this church was locked and we couldn’t take a look inside.

We drove to the shop, bought food and ice-cream and headed back to our accommodation.

And would do you do, when you go on beach vacation? Of course you take a bath in the sea. And so did we even though it was a short one.

Back to Monday. I still sit in the kitchen and it’s still dark outside. The fridge has turned out and I can hear the surf splashing ashore. The lighthouse Berguddens fyr sends out its three-coloured beams of light but most of the snow had melted away and when I look through the window I can only see my mirrored face and the reflected laptop. It will take another hour, until it starts to get light.

Zooming into the ice Nov 24 2018

This morning I stood on the lake Snesviken to watch and take pictures of the moonset. You read right – I stood on the lake. The ice is already at least 5 cm thick and bore my weight. Beside of that the water wasn’t deep at that spot.

After the moon disappeared behind the line of trees at the opposite side of the lake I looked for other motives. No snow has fallen the last weeks and the ice was transparent and clear. I spotted cracks and bubbles of air in the ice and even a lily pad, dotted with many tiny bubbles.

One of the cracks fascinated me. Looking from the side the tiny air bubbles looked like vertical dotted strokes, like another world.

I tried to get nearer with my macro lens to explore this little world, but if was quite complicated to take a photo of this small crack. The best snapshot:

And that’s how it looked like, when I made these photos:

Autumnal winter bath Nov 5 2018

Air: +4 °C · Water +3 °C. A winter bath at the local beach in my lunch break. Feels gorgeous!

Upside down photos from an autumn promenade Sep 28 2018

The first paddling 2018 Jun 17 2018

At last – the first paddling of the season! The sea ice came early this winter and remained until late April. In early May Annika and I visited Gotland for a week and when we came back spring had arrived in Västerbotten. Since then I was either working or it was too windy or I was too lazy.

Despite to problems with my elbow I decided to kayak today. It was mostly sunny and hardly any wind – good conditions for a start. As many times I started at the beach of Storgrundet which is 1.6 km to go. I used the waistbelt of my pulka and a cord for dragging the kayak behind on its cart without using my hands. Quite comfortable!

At the beach I put the cart aside, put on my life jacket and started the tour, that took me first round Storgrundet and then along the outside of the islands Storgrundet, Norrskär and Bredskär.

I took it quite easy to avoid overstressing my elbow. The first kilometre the elbow still hurted but became gradually better. I watched the blue sky, the approaching cirrus clouds, the ripples on the water and was glad to be on the Baltic Sea again. Last time I was walking …

When you paddle along the outside of Bredskär you only see forest and a stony beach. The summer cottages are on the other side. One of the cottages belongs L. and S., my neighbours. I went ashore and was welcomed by S., who invited me to fried herring, caught by net just the day before. Delicious! We sat outside and talked about everything while I deepened the friendship with dog Dolly.

Finally I left the island and continued my tour, slowly heading home. Thank you S. for the herring and nice company!

Fried herring, freshly caught in the Baltic Sea

Bridge to the island Vorrgrundet (to the right)

I arrived at Storgrundet round two o’clock but it took an hour until I was home. First I just had to take a refreshing bath. Yes, it’s definitely refreshing with a water temperature round 15 °C. My tight back however loves the cold water. Then I met another acquaintance and we had a longer talk. Finally I walked my kayak home where I arrived six hours after departure.