Crisp and clear winter Jan 4 2026

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.

Vitskärsudden – the beach starts to freeze-beach

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 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.

A winter sunrise Dec 26 2025

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 Dec 20 2025

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.

On the helicopter deck of Kronprins Haakon

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.

July 2025 – photo supplement Jul 31 2025

No matter whether I blog little or much, there are always photos left, that could be published but weren’t. Today I just show four photos from this month that comes to its end in less than two hours from now.

4 July – Obbola

Just on the eve of my journey from Obbola to Tromsø, when my telephoto lens was already safely packed in the suitcase for next days travel the doe with its two fawns came back. This time they didn’t just passed by but all three stayed in our garden. First the fawns were frolicking around, running back and forth, then they joined their mother and grazed the long culms round the rock in our garden. Meanwhile I found my old telephoto lens and took photos through the window pane. That’s far from being ideal but I didn’t wanted to disturb our visitors peace.

11 July – Tromsøya

One week later I walked home through the forests on top of Tromsøya. Four weeks ago there still had been deep patches of snow, now it was blooming everywhere. Fields of lilac cranesbills, patches of yellow globeflowers and where it was wet und muddy a favourite of mine, marsh-marigold with its bright yellow petals. There is still snow on the mountains, but on the island Tromsøya it is summer.

23 July – Tromsøya

17 °C may not sound hot, but when the wind is calm and it is sunny it makes a summer day in Tromsø. A day Annika and I used for taking a bath in the lake Langvannet. There’s a sandy beach over there at this woodland lake and some quite curious ducklings. After the bath we took another way home that led us to another lake. Lillevannet is far from being a lake for bathing but it shows the beauty of Tromsøya’s nature.

Lillevannet, one of the lakes on Tromsøya

27 July – Tromsøya again

A good friend will start a very special trip the following week. She will embark the three-master Statsraad Lehmkuhl and sail from Nuuk in Greenland through the Northwest Passage to Cambridge Bay in Arctic Canada. What a journey! Time to bid farewell with a barbecue in the forest, but before that another hike to Langvannet – 2 km from my place – to take another bath. We met an acquainted duck with three ducklings (last time one of them tried to nibble my toes all the time). Then another duck family arrived with much younger ducklings – still nestlings. While being less curious they were equally confiding and we could take some photos of them. This is my favourite.

A pretty confiding duckling on Langvannet, Tromsøya

That’s all for today. Perhaps I have some photo leftovers again in the end of August but I guess I’ll blog before that. See you soon in the digital world.

Umeå—Arlanda—Tromsø Jul 5 2025

Today I travelled back from my home home in Obbola, Sweden to my work home Tromsø, Norway. Again it had been impossible to book a train – there is a lot of trouble with the Swedish railroad – so I took the airplane once more. I was lucky, I only had to change in Arlanda.

Annika brought me to Umeå Airport and at 8:15 I departed in beautiful summer weather.

First we flew eastwards and I could even see our house in Obbola! It was however too tiny to be photographed by my mobile phone. Then we headed south.

In Stockholm it rained.

In the afternoon I continued my journey. First it was cloudy but in Northern Norway it cleared up and I could see the snowy mountains – yes, there is still quite some snow left in higher places.

At half past six I arrived at my home home again. Back in Tromsø.

Dundret Jun 29 2025

It rained a lot in Gällivare when Annika and I were there some days ago. On Wednesday however the weather forecast said there’d be a bit of sun in the afternoon, so we planned to hike on the Dundret. Dundret is just around the corner and a solitary mountain, a so-called inselberg. I skied up there in Winter 2012. In summer you can take your car and drive up almost all the way.

Indeed it had stopped raining and we had some sun and blue sky when we started our hike.

As in many Scandinavian hiking areas there are summer and winter trails. The winter trails are marked with red crosses that lead over the “kalfjäll”.

Kalfjäll is the Swedish word for the alpine tundra above the tree line. The dwarf birch growing here is technically a tree, but you wouldn’t think so at first glance. It has no visible trunk, and its branches sprawl low across the ground.

We splotted some flowers in bloom such as the mountain-Heath, the alpine azalea or the lapland lousewort.

Lapland lousewort (Pedicularis lapponica)

It got cloudy on our hike, but at least it didn’t rain.

After some hours of hiking (and some mosquito contacts) we arrived at the car and drove down again. On some of the slopes there was still a bit of snow.

For me Dundret is a mountain for hiking and back-country skiing, but it is also a ski resort.

Near the station at the bottom we were sitting for a while enjoying our waffle with jam and cream before we drove back to the Gällivare camping ground. When we arrived there it started to rain heavily. Good timing I would say.

And here two winter photos from Dundret when I was there in February 2012. Seems like ages ago.

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