What a wonderful vårvinter kayak tour! Apr 5 2023

Yesterday the weather was calm and sunny. A perfect day for kayaking! Perhaps to Vitskärsudden, our favourite beach?

Chapter one – Bredskär

Kayaking needs a bit of preparation, especially in winter. After we have fixed a problem with Annika’s rudder, dressed ourself and went over the ice to the northern tip of the islet Lillskär we are ready to start our tour.

Olaf ready for departure (Photo: Annika Kramer)

Annika goes first, I follow. We turn left and paddle along the edge of the ice.

Sometimes we cross fields with crushed ice. Many of the ice slices are thin and in the waves they sound like tuned bells.

We paddle along the island Bredskär. The waves are shallow and there is hardly and wind. I have to make a short stop to take a picture of the “ice monster”, then I follow Annika to the sandy bay in the northeast of the island.

Paddling over clear water and sandy ground

We continue following the coastal line until we come to Bredskärssund, the sound between Bredskär and Obbola. As expected the sound is covered with ice and we have to return.

Time for …

Chapter two – Vitskärsudden

Slowly we paddle back enjoying the exceptionally beautiful weather and the ease of movement. Leaving Bredskär behind we cross the water heading for the rock that marks the entry to Vitskärsudden.

Arriving there more ice fields wait for us. Here are many layers of thin ice and it is not easy to find gaps to put the paddle in. Often it just glides and slides away.

It is not possible to paddle into the bay. It is covered with ice floes, many of them thick and large. But we do not want return home – too beautiful the day – and decide to paddle to the islands Obbolstenarna where we shortly have been two days ago.

Chapter three – Obbolstenarna

The way there is easy. No mentionable wind, just open water. In front of the islands there is another ice field, but it is small and easy to cross.

The next ice field is thicker. We try to break through but decide to go round. We just follow the coastal line.

In the south we go round an ice cap. According to the nautical map there is no island, just a shallow with some rocks.

Again I take a small detour to take a photo. This time to a large ice block.

Me taking photos of the ice block (Photo: Annika Kramer)

Then we paddle north. First along the islands …

… then …

Chapter four – Home

we are leaving Obbolstenarna behind and head home. We enjoy the effortlessness of our today’s kayaking but we got a bit hungry. 10–15 minutes later we stand on the ice near our house.

We take a tour selfie then we drag our kayaks back home. First over the ice, then through the snow.

Thanks for the fabulously beautiful tour, Annika!

Annika tracked the tour with her smart watch. Here’s a small map. I added some names.

Adventdalen by snowmobile Mar 5 2023

This article is part of the series “2023-03: Svalbard”.

Yesterday it looked like sunny weather today so Annika and I looked for an activity today. We found and booked a three-hour tour with snowmobiles organised by Hurtigruten Svalbard. At 10:30 we were fetched by our tour guide by minibus that picks up tourists as us at their accommodations.

At the Hurtigruten Svalbard Expedition centre our group of nine got an introduction about how to drive a snowmobile. While others did it before it was Annika’s and my very first time to drive by ourselves. After that: dressing time!

When it’s -20 °C and you want to drive snowmobile you need to be properly dressed. What we needed by ourselves is woollen underwear, socks, a sweater and thin gloves. What we got from tour operator was bulky winter boots from Kamik, an insulated overall, thick mittens, a woollen balaclava and of course a helmet.

As soon as we were properly clad we fled the building because being dressed for a windchill of -30 °C is not very comfortable inside. TOO WARM! With the helmet and raised visor I look quite silly but safety first!

The author is fully dressed (Photo: Annika Kramer)

Then we went to the parked snowmobiles. These were quite special: they are electric. The range is quite limited but they do not produce as much noise as their more common fuel-powered cousins and more important: no stinking exhaust gases at all!

And then off we went into the large valley Adventdalen.

First impression: the snowmobile seems to follow the track. Steering hardly necessary. If it leaves the track then steering needs a bit of power. Second impression: the visor of the helmet is frosted within seconds and it is quite hard to see.

After ten minutes we took a first break. The guide asked us if everything was ok and then loaded her rifle. We were out of town and we could meet a polar bear. You may not shoot a polar bear, you have either to retreat or use a flare gun to shoo it away, but you need a rifle as a last resort.

Gruve 7 – the last active coal mine on Svalbard

We continued our tour through Adventdalen. We even saw the sun although it was much cloudier than forecasted. It will take three other days until it is visible again in town after more than four months of absence.

We took another stop. The guide spotted some reindeer. The Svalbard reindeer is an own subspecies that looks more compact than the reindeer on Scandinavias mainland. The photo is a cropped image, because we were quite far away to not to disturb the wildlife animals.

Next stop: coffee break. We decided to take the coffee and cake outside because the weather was cold but calm.

After the break we took the short way to the cabin anyhow to have a brief look. Here you can seek shelter if the elements are not as friendly as today. The cabin is private because tour operators are not allowed to use public ones. Understandable since there are a lot of tourist on Svalbard and this year a new peak is expected.

After that visit we headed back to Longyearbyen. This time Annika sat behind me to give another tourist the opportunity to drive alone. I cannot say that I felt completely confident on the snowmobile but at least I was more relaxed than in the beginning.

A nice beginner tour and a good opportunity to drive snowmobile and leave town. What I really liked was that the snowmobiles were electric. Great for shorter tours!

A winter journey from home to work Jan 18 2022

Last Saturday I travelled to work. Obbola—Tromsø, that’s round 1000 km – the reason why I do not commute weekly. This time it is a bit suspenseful, because there are two obstacles on my way.

One obstacle is easy: taking a covid test at the test center. The other is much bigger: The road over the Bjørnfjell – the only road – has been closed for many hours due to stow storm conditions. Well, I start my journey anyhow. We’ll see.

At 5:30 in the morning Annika takes me to the train station in Umeå. The first 9½ hours were just a “normal” train journey beside of the train being mostly ahead of time. One change in Boden – nothing special, just long and a bit boring.

I leave the train in Abisko Turiststation where I parked my car. My car – will I find it or is it submerged under a pile of snow? To my relief hardly any snow covers my car. I already hoped so, because Abisko is known for its low precipitation because mountains in the west protect it from bad weather. Much more snow and rain fall on the other side of the mountain range and that’s exactly where I have to go through. Some minutes after leaving Abisko behind it starts snowing. Snowfall increased more and more but isn’t severe and the Swedish mountain road is open. Soon I cross the Norwegian border and …

… have to stop because of a lowered tollgate with a red blinking light. Beside of two trucks I am alone. I am relaxed because I know that the road has been opened for driving in convoy one hour ago (thanks internet!). I just have to wait for the large snowplough to fetch us.

After twenty minutes the tollgate went up and the red light goes out. That’s all that happens. I hesitate. And now? Do I have to wait? Or may I drive? I don’t dare and ask one of the Norwegian truck drivers. He answers I should just go ahead and so I do. The drive is snowy but not bad and soon I arrive at Bjørnfjell brøytestasjonen where the snowploughs are located and now also the Covid19 registration. I register myself, get a covid test and start taking photos while waiting for the result.

Bjørnfjell – sleeping snow plough blades

I take an image of a snowed in car. The snow plough driver goes to me and asks for what purposes I take photos. “Just for my blog.” “Ah ok, just curious.” Good to talk to him, because so I learn that beside of the mountain passage behind Bjerkvik road conditions are good. Here they got a lot of snow the last 24 hours and one of the cars looks like this:

After round 20 minutes I get a ping ♪. It’s an SMS with a link to my test result. Negative :-). 260 km to go, that’s four hours when conditions were good.

The first 100 km the road conditions are good and weather is ok. The next photo shows how driving looks like.

The next hour it snows a lot. Sight is still good. To my left and right everything is covered with snow, from the largest church to the smallest branch of a tree. Winter wonderland.

Then it starts to get nasty. Snowfall intensifies more and more and the snow has the consistence of superglue. My windscreen wipers hardly manage to push away the gluey snow and finally I have to turn into a side road and de-ice the wipers. Scratch, scratch … . I’m not alone. In front of me a car with a driver doing the same. Behind me another car stops. Am I in the way? No, just another scratch, scratch. On the other side of the side road another one.

I still have some holes to peek through but it is extremely tiring to drive car through the night like that. Alas, after two hours I drive over the large concrete bridge Tromsøbrua and am on the island Tromsøya. Apparently Tromsø’s snow removal has given up. The minor roads are covered with 20 cm of snow with deep tyre tracks. I understand more and more why most Norwegians have cars with all-wheel drive (and so have I).

22:45. I make a last stop at the supermarket nearby that is open until 23:00. I’m lucky because Norwegian supermarkets close on Sundays. By the way: the supermarket’s parking place is in much better condition than the roads.

One other minute driving and I arrive at my flat in Tromsø after 17½ hours travelling. I’m tired but it takes another hour until I’m relaxed enough to sleep. Next week I’ll walk …

The first day in spring Apr 18 2021

The sky is blue, the air is calm. Today we will get the first two-digit temperatures of the year.

Scene 1: excursion

After having breakfast outside Annika and I go to the fishing harbour Rovögern hamn by car. It’s pre-season and Kvarkenfisk, the local fish restaurant with sale is still closed. Directly to the west lies the island Rovögern. A woman picks up some guests by boat. We have a look at the small cabins by the sea, stroll along the coast and through the forest. We take a picnic on the wooden terrace by the harbour (frugal, since we forgot the buns at home). It’s a nice place and we have to come back again, when Kvarkenfisk is open.

Scene 2: flower spotting

I drag my kayak from the garden to the coast. For that I have to cross 40 metres of wetland. I lay the kayak upside down and to tie up to a large rock. Now it’s even easier to take a short (or longer) kayak trip. I clean the wetland from the flotsam and jetsam of the winter floods. A tire with an attached rope used as a swing, driftwood, a small buoy, a railroad crosstie too heavy to lift. While cleaning I find the first spring flower home. A white crocus in full bloom.

Scene 3: winter bathing

Just before preparing dinner we head to the beach of Vitskärsudden for a winter bath. The shortcut on foot is still flooded, so we take the bicycles and the longer way. The smooth surface of the sea looks like silk and it looks beautiful to swim through it. Of course the water is still cold– hardly above zero – but the air is warm and there is no wind. So Annika and I do not have to hurry to dry off and throw us into clothes again. We are not the only swimmers. This winter the place has become quite popular.

The surface of the Sea is smooth as silk

Scene 4: paddling

After dinner I paddle round the islet Lillskär. It’s less than a kilometre. Special today: Since I keep close to the land I dare to paddle with “everyday clothes”. What a delight, to glide almost effortlessly through the water and to be able to move the arms naturally without fighting against the stiff neoprene of my waterproof rescue suit that I used the last times.

Bonus: Annika managed to take a picture of me through the old spyglass that we normally use to passing ships, watch seabirds or other animals.

Through the spyglass (Photo: Annika Kramer)

Heavy wind, heavy snow Jan 12 2021

It started with a class 3 warning snowfall for Västernorrlands län, that the Swedish weather service smhi issued yesterday. Class 3 warnings are the most severe warnings in Sweden and the last class 3 warning for snowfall happened ten years ago.

Still yesterday: Let’s check the amount of snow:

Obbola, where I live: 29 cm until Wednesday. Umeå – 20 km north: 46 cm. Let’s check Västernorrland: Örnsköldsvik would get already 76 cm of snow and in Drömme, 23 km west of Örnsköldsvik: 101 cm of snow (81 on Tuesday alone)!

As a hardcore snow lover I have to admit that I’m jealous and even a bit sulky. Why, oh why do all other places get much more snow than we at home!

In my old freelancer times I would have taken a day off and travelled to Drömme. But now I’m employed with much less spare time than before. In addition to that I sold my Subaru before I started working in Tromsø¹ and Annika’s Golf has no four-wheel-drive.

Suck!

Anyhow after today’s 11 o’clock meeting I took some hours off and took Annika’s car to the inland west from Umeå, where almost 50 cm of snow where forecasted for today. It was quite a rough car tour, both because of the visibility and the road conditions. I wanted to make photos but had to realise that in such intense snow weather there is hardly any place to park the car and it was impossible to see where the road ends and where the ditch begins.

Ok. One exception – here I could stop in a small side road.

In the middle of nowhere is a place to stop

Driving was slow and soon I realised that I wouldn’t reach my destination Tavelsjö before sundown. So I gave up my plans and headed back to Umeå. Everything was white and sometimes it was hard to see where the road was although all roads where already ploughed – probably several times. When I left the E12 near Kåddis I experienced the first (and only) road that hardly was ploughed. Sometimes I had to “swim” through deep snow drifts and I’m still surprised that I made it without being helplessly stuck.

Finally I reached Umeå where probably 30–40 cm of snow had fallen. All snow ploughs, tractors and people with snow shovels were working to get rid of the snow, while I looked more for the places, where snow was left and possibly untouched.

Now I’m home again and still hear the wind and see whirling snow through my window. How much snow has fallen here is impossible to say. While the snow drifts behind the house are at least 120 cm tall, other parts round the house have been blown completely free from snow.

So – no local records – but at least it’s a real winter. Nice!

_____

¹ Tromsø, a yes – wasn’t I supposed to work in Tromsø? Actually yes, but due to the covid-19 restrictions in Norway I’m still home in Sweden and without any clue when I will travel to Tromsø again. I will have missed the whole seven weeks of polar night but also one of Tromsø’s warmest and rainiest winters ever.

Order photos as fine art print Jan 25 2020

This is a screenshot of my photo website photo.way-up-north.com, which I published exactly two years ago.

It may look quite the same as two years ago but there’s a huge difference. (drum roll …)

I’m glad to announce that from now on you can order these photos as fine art prints on Hahnemühle paper.

You are welcome to visit photo.way-up-north.com and scroll through the photos. For those who want to order I have good news: until 29 February shipping is free when you use the coupon code EARLYBIRD.

In case you are interested in another photo in my blog, just let me know. I’ll check if the quality is sufficient and then make it orderable.

Now I hope for better winter weather. I want to go out, explore and make new photos to extend my collection.

To the photo website >

Closing the kayak season 2018 Nov 22 2018

I was stuck. I couldn’t go straight ahead, I couldn’t go backwards, I couldn’t turn. And I definitely couldn’t go sidewards because I sat in a kayak on the Baltic Sea and was surrounded by ice.

Back to the beginning of the day: I took a day off today because of the nice weather and decided to make a kayak tour. My goal was to sea the sunrise from the open sea. When I came to the tiny beach were my kayak has been lying since June it was still dim. The sea between the island Storgrundet and the mainland was covered with a fresh layer of clear ice. Two days ago these parts had been free of ice.

Storgrundet –the sea is covered with fresh ice

I already changed into paddling clothes at home: Woollen underwear, a drysuit that would keep me dry when falling into the ice cold water, a waterproof face mask and neoprene boots. It just took some minutes to take of the warm anorak – it was about -7 °C – and put some stuff into the cargo hatches of the kayak. I put on my woollen mittens and the long, waterproof overmittens, then I was ready to start the tour.

The question was: How thick is the ice? Would the kayak slide onto it or break through?

I sat in the kayak and pushed myself backwards, first with the paddle, then with the hands. The ice didn’t break. Anyway I was still quite near the shore. I continued pushing myself backwards until I came to the area of new ice. The ice didn’t break.

It is both exhausting and very ineffective to sit in a kayak and push yourself over bare ice with waterproof mittens. You just don’t get a grip. I realised that I wouldn’t come long. I returned ashore, got out of the kayak, went to the car and drove home.

At home I got my isdubbar – my ice claws. They look like a jumping rope with nail attached to the handles and are used for self-rescue, if your break into the ice. I changed also into winter boot, because my feet were freezing. The neoprene boots are not the warmest. Ah, that feels better! I got into the car and drove back to my kayak. Second try!

It was still exhausting to move the kayak over the ice, but with an ice claw in each hand I could pull my kayak forward with a speed up to 5 – 6 km/h. The sun had not risen yet and the air was calm and chilly. The horizon started to turn pink.

I found a bit of open water at the narrow passage between island and mainland. Then I came to another sheltered bay that was frozen, too. First the ice was quite thick, then it started to become thinner.

Here my problems started. The kayak went through the ice and floated. The ice was too weak for using the ice claws, but too thick to use the paddle. After some metres I was stuck! Every time when I used the paddle to move forward another meter I was surrounded by ice and couldn’t use it anymore. During the seconds that it took for changing from paddle to ice claws the kayak drifted back and I was surrounded by open water again, making the ice claws completely useless. Finally I started some kind of dog paddling with hands and arms, still the ice claws at hand until I could reach ice again, pull me forward another meter and break through the ice again. The sun had already risen minutes ago. (Goal missed!)

These are the situations where I learn a lot about my lack of patience …

Anyhow the island Storgrundet was near and with some efforts I reached a spot where I could go ashore. I just wanted to check the water and ice conditions on the outer side of the island.

Beside of some pancake ice near the shore the Baltic Sea was completely clear of ice, exactly as excepted. I returned to my kayak and went along the stony shore pulling it nearer to the open water. The sea was still covered with ice but it was thinner and I could hack my paddle through it. Small patches of open water were enclosed in the icy surface and tiny waves vibrated in the rhythm of my paddling. Very funny to look at! And then, some curses later, I finally reached open water – almost two hours later than my first arrival at the beach this morning.

What a relief to put the paddle blades into normal water. Ice cold water, but just normal, liquid water. Delighting. Where should I go? To Finland …?

Soon I spotted a possible destination: Nordlundsstenarna a.k.a. Själagrundet, more a gravel bank than an island, 1.6 km from shore. When I arrived there I looked at the next island Medgrundet, which would be much more attractive for taking a break than this pile of stones. I continued paddling. The wind increased slightly and it got a bit chilly, but it’s only 1.1 km from Själagrundet to Medgrundet so I arrived there quite soon.

The first think I did when I was at land was to put on my winter anorak. Then I explored the island. Some photos:

Actually I could have spend the whole day on this island, but I made a huge mistake: I didn’t bring any food with me. (Don’t try that at home, kids!) So after a stroll over the island I returned to my kayak that was as ice covered as the rock nearby.

What I did bring with me were my sunglasses. I was really glad having them because the trip back was straight against the sun. Ok, time for some selfies …

The way back was nice and beautiful and not very spectacular. I enjoyed the sun and the colours of the sea – it could be covered with ice and snow quite soon.

Since I hardly could recognise anything on land I went a bit wrong but the detour was small. After a while I reached Storgrundet and then the ice covered parts again. This time it was much easier because I could follow the ice-free channel that I had cut into the ice on the way there. But when I had to use the ice claws on the more solid ice again to pull myself forward I realised something: There are many things I lack, one of them is strong chest muscles. They will ache for certain tomorrow.

SSL Jul 15 2018

The techies among you may have noticed that this blog has been using SSL for some days to make the website more secure. This is indicated by the url prefix https:// instead of http://.

There has been a bug that prevented images of being displayed on pages with many images. I fixed this bug today but there may be others. If you find bugs, problems or mistakes just let me know.

Either write a comment (the comments are public, everyone can read them) or send me a private email. You can find the email address on the contact page.

And if there are still broken or missing images, just make a reload of the page.

A snowshoe promenade Feb 27 2018

Day 27 of my winter journey 2018

Today our current host Chris took half a day off and we (Chris, Annika, I and two dogs) made a trip into the valley Pasvikdalen. There’s a small place called Strand where we parked our cars at the former boarding school, nowadays a museum. Here we started a small small snowshoe tour up the Brattberget.

Brattberget means the “steep mountain” but first of all the mountain is more like a hill and then the way up is not steep as all. First we went through denser forest, then then forest and the view opened a bit. Soon we were up on the top of the hill.

There’s a toilet and two benches on the Brattberget. While the benches were covered with snow, the toilet was still visible.

The weather was nice and we had a great view. To the north and west of the lake Langfjordvatnet / Uhcavuonjávri, to the south, remote in the distance of Russia.

After a short rest in the sun and some photos we descended the same way we went up and soon were at our parked cars again. A short and nice snowshoe tour through the hilly and wintry Pasvikdalen.

Merry Christmas! Dec 24 2016

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