Cross-country skiing in Äkäslompolo – part two Apr 4 2015

Last Friday I travelled to Kittilä in Finland, to make a one week holiday with Annika and and Medi, a friend of hers. I wrote already about the first days in “Cross-country skiing in Äkäslompolo – part one”.

Wednesday. We took the ski bus to Äkäsmylly and we were not the only ones. Some busses arrived at the parking place and spit out round hundred cross-country skiers, most of them dressed in skin-tight racing suits. And if the children were too small to stand on their own skis, they were pulled behind in a pulka sledge. That looked really snugly.

Some of the skiers in Äkäsmylly – the most already had started

We didn’t like to start within a crowd and so we waited, until the most skiers had started. But we didn’t go very far. The Äkäsmylly Café is just round the corner and it’s really extremely cozy. An old man played traditional Finnish songs on his accordion and yes – they all were in moll. We peeked into the text books to sing along, but even if we knew the melody the Finnish language with its long and unfamiliar words gave us a hard time. But it was fun anyway!

Finally we broke away from the warm Café and started the tour. As the days before it snowed most of the day. I made less and less photos each day but today I had to make a break and leave the ski trail for this lonely tree in the snow fall. It took some time, because the snow didn’t bear the thin cross-country skis and I was up to my knees in snow.

I didn’t have to leave the comfortable ski trail for the next photo, a bridge over a completely snowed in brook.

We made our last stop in the Karilan Navettagalleria, the beautiful café and gallery that I already visited the day before.

Thursday. With 25 km our longest tour from Totovaara via Tammitupa, Karhunkota Hanguskurun and again Karilan Navettagalleria back to Äkäslompolo, and by the way my birthday tour.

I think, this is the first day where we neither used the private sauna in our lodge nor lit the fireplace after the ski tour. Instead we went to a bar nearby and listened again to the karaoke. It was just wonderful, listening to the singers – some men had really nice voices. People browsed the set lists to see what they could sing next and at least one pair was dancing to the karaoke songs all the time. Unfortunately some of the people got extremely drunk quite quickly. One of them was so intrusive and pushy that we left the bar soon. I guess that’s also part of the Finnish culture, just as karaoke.

Friday. A short but more demanding tour in the south-west with some nasty descents. I was glad that the trails were in good shape and hardly icy, although it was so warm. I didn’t make a single photo, because I started to get bored of the cloudy sky and the forest, that looked more or less alike everywhere. I enjoyed the week, but since I’m more in nature for the landscape than for the sports, a week was long enough for me and I started to long home a bit. And again I had back luck with the weather; the two weeks before were cold and sunny.

Saturday. Phew, that was early! We stood up at 4:45 local time (that’s 3:45 Central European Summer Time) and 5:35 I said good-bye to Annika and Medi that took the early bus to the airport. Then I drove home. After 425 km and six hours (some ways were in quite bad shape) I was home in Skelleftehamn again.

Addendum:

I hardly saw any animals when I was on the ski trails. That changed on my way back to Skelleftehamn: I saw a fox, a mountain hare, two reindeers, two squirrels and some black grouses, all from my car. I guess, animals are seen best when driving ;-)

Greetings from Kittilä airport Mar 28 2015

I woke up quite early today and this was my view:

Yesterday I drove to Kittilä in Finnisch Lapland, because I’ll stay in a cabin in Äkäslompolo for a week with Annika and a friend of hers. Since they planned to take the first morning flight from Helsinki today they will arrive at 7:30. I decided to drive the day before and sleep at the airport. The airport has some short but comfortable-looking couches. However the last flight went at 23:50 and I was already tired at eight o’clock. Therefore I decided to sleep in the car. I was awake in the night twice and quite early in the morning again hearing the snow ploughs shovelling away the two centimetres of snow that fell in the night. I tried to continue to sleep, but the beep-sounds of the backing ploughs kept me awake.

40 minutes left before the plane is going to land. The trip to Äkäslompolo ist not far, just 50 kilometres. I’m longing for the cabin – and some additional day time nap.

The photo above shows the luv side of the car and that’s the lee side:

Sun rise 5:16 Mar 26 2015

If you love to witness the sun rise you have to rise up early. Today I managed to stand up round 4:15 and half an hour later I stood at the sandy beach of Harrbäckssand to see the sun coming up. Well, sandy beach it is in summer, now the shore is covered with snow and ice. And today it was even quite cold with temperatures round -12 °C. This may be the last “real” winter day this season, but you never know, last year it snowed in May.

5:16 the first bright orange beams of the sun appeared behind the island Medgrundet.

Minutes later the sun illuminated ice, snow and pine trees with warm colours between orange and pink.

I loved the swirly ice patterns on the half frozen water of the shallow beach.

After a while I drove home again and took an additional nap. 4:15 is too early, even for me.

Sun down behind the ice encircled old pier Mar 21 2015

Watching the solar eclipse Mar 20 2015

Today I would have loved to be either in Longyearbyen on Svalbard or on the Føroyar, the Faroe Islands. Then I could have seen the first total solar eclipse in my life. But at least we had fantastic weather with clear blue sky and I could watch the partial solar eclipse.

OK, the eclipse photo first. As a matter of fact it’s a composition of two images. The sun itself, that I photoed with a so called “big stopper” that takes away 99.9% of the visible light. Also a good eye protection, even through the tele lens. But the sky is pitch black on this filtered photo, that’s why I made a shot of the blue sky and merged both images in Photoshop.

Even if it’s quite fascinating to watch the solar eclipse I want to mention the surrounding as well: I stood on the thick ice at the rocky shore of the Baltic sea. Water is open, most ice floes are away, but the shore is still covered with thick ice that is underpinned by large rocks. Therefore the ice is hovering above the sea water and the tiny waves created funny-looking icicles underneath the ice.

Back to the solar eclipse. I never saw a total solar eclipse in my whole life and I’m really longing to see one. I had checked the next total solar eclipses, to check where I can see one.

March 9, 2016 – Indonesia, Micronesia, Marshall Islands – nope, I want to have it way up north
August 21, 2017 – USA. Come on, what did I say?
July 2, 2019 – Argentina and Chile … – That’s not north at all, but at least it’s winter in South America
December 14, 2020 – Southern Chile and Argentina … – Again? What about Europe or Canada or Siberia?
December 4, 2021 – Antarctica – I know, it’s hard to find a place on earth that’s even still less way up north, but for Antarctica I’m willing to make an exception. It would be great to see a total solar eclipse in Antarctica.

I have to check if there’re any opportunities to travel to Antarctica to see this eclipse. But I guess, it’s coming to be expensive! Are there any rich people out there? Who is willing to sponsor me a trip to Antarctica in December 2021? Or parts of it? Please contact me, I have a warm jacket.

Nordkalotten 2015 – the weather Mar 16 2015

Let’s make it short: I feel betrayed by the winter this year! It was too windy and it was too warm! Much too warm. And when it snowed, I was far away.

First of all it was too warm – the average temperature of the whole February was 8 °C too high in parts of central Swedish Lapland. That’s about the same difference as between Stockholm and Rome! The whole february! And March wasn’t better. The “all journey minimum temperature” I measured was only -24 °C, I expected temperatures near -40 °C, at least once.

And it was very windy – Norway got its hurricane Ole with average wind speeds up to 36 m/s (that’s level 12 on the Beaufort scale) and gusts up to 53 m/s (that’s level 16 on the extended Beaufort scale!). But many others days were windy and stormy, too, even if not so severe as hurricane Ole.

Most trees where free of snow. Either the snow was blown away or it just melted and dropped down. That made not only the pine forests looking quite boring, but also the snow looking quite dirty, since it was covered with leaves, needles, small branches, bark and much more.

That didn’t look like the untouched, virgin winter landscape in early February but more like city parks in late April, a minor catastrophe for photographers who want to show impressive winter images. Luckily there were exceptions and I got at least some wintry images with snow covered trees, even if only a few.

Yes, it has been cold in January. Some days. In Sweden, but not in coastal Norway where I was at this time. Yes, it snowed ridiculously much in the first days in February, both in the coast and in central Lapland, but not in Abisko in the western mountain region, where I was at this time. It was a bit like being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Later, when Ole arrived, big amounts of snow where forecasted in the mountains, but I considered the weather too dangerous to drive there. As in early February I only saw the results, never the snow fall itself.

And then came the warmth. Since the 24th of February I’ve measured temperatures above zero almost every single day. And this effect wasn’t local, it took place in the whole Northern Europe. In Norway, in Sweden, in Finland. Streets were icy, snow was crusty and I was just glad when it didn’t rain.

Yes, when it comes to weather I am really disappointed. It was the lousiest winter ever, that I experienced north from the polar circle, where I’ve been travelling round since January 2003 now.

Don’t get me wrong! The journey was great, but mostly it was great despite of the weather, not because of the weather.

Last winter was quite bad, too, this winter lousy, now I hope, that winter 2016 will be extraordinary cold and snowy and that I’ll find the time to travel around again.

Opening the kayak season Mar 15 2015

“4:45” showed the clock when I woke up this sunday. Seventy minutes later I stood at the shore – just on time to see the sunrise. My kayak still was fixed on its cart with paddle, camera and dry suit inside.

I put on the dry suit, pushed the kayak into the water and started the tour. When I left home it was -6 °C and parts of the sea where covered with thin new ice. Thin enough to melt under the day but thick enough to give me a hard time to break through with the kayak.

I’m always a bit nervous when I stick my paddle into the ice. Will it break one day? But until now it went well. Sometimes it was easier to take the hand and pull the kayak ahead. And sometimes, when the ice got really thick I used the paddle to hack small holes into the ice that I used as handles for pulling me forward.

But after a time I reached open water and paddled along some old ice floes that were much, much thicker.

And a bit later I came to the huge icy surface, that lays between the mainland and the islands Norrskär and Bredskär. I got out and stepped onto the ice. I think, this is the first time that I stepped onto the sea ice from my kayak. I wasn’t nervous, first of all is this old ice really thick, I should guess at least 30 centimetres, probably more. Then I always wear my completely waterproof immersion suit when I make a kayak trip in winter.

After a short break I continued the tour and headed to the island Gåsören. On the outer shore there were some impressive ice floes left.

The oast of Gåsören is still ice covered

It took a while until I could go ashore, because I had to cross another field of new ice. I took a longer rest and took of the dry suit. Ugh! Like always I sweated in the thick neoprene suit and now I smelled like a dead Puma. I took on some other clothes and first it was quite chilly. The spring sun however had enough power to warm me up and soon I took of my gloves and cap.

Most snow has melted and beside of the ice covered rocks at the eastern bank Gåsören almost looked like spring was here.

After a while I dressed for paddling again, entered the kayak and returned to the starting place. With the last ice behind I had a beautiful view of the islands Klubben, Flottgrundet, Gråsidan and Nygrundet. With the blue sky and the blue sea I had the feeling of leaving the winter behind me and paddle into the spring.

When I was home again the thermometer showed +7.3 °C. Almost spring!

Home in Skelleftehamn Mar 13 2015

I’ve been home again for some days. The weather in Skelleftehamn is between winter and spring. The sky is clear and the nights are cool (last night for example -7 °C) but as sun the sun comes out the temperatures rise soon to degrees above zero.

Parts of the ground are covered with hard snow – in my backyard i measured 45 cm – but other parts are completely free of snow and I’m waiting for the first flowers to come out and blossom.

The Baltic sea is mostly free of ice, but near the shore and in some sheltered harbours there is still a thick layer of ice covering the water. And since the night was quite cold, parts of the near harbour that was completely open yesterday was covered with thin new ice this morning.

Two photos that I made near the small boat harbour Tjuvkistan this morning:

I could walk over the ice to some islands that still are connected to the mainland or I could take the kayak and paddle to some islands, too. But to be honest – I’m quite lazy after the long journey and I guess I stay home today and take it easy.

Nordkalotten 2015 – the journey in numbers Mar 12 2015

The journey

My journey took 55 days – I have still some weeks holiday left but decided to shorten the trip. In this 55 days I visited Solberget, Abisko, the Vesterålen, Tromsø, Murjek, Loma Vietonen in Finland, Björkliden, Nikkaluokta, Alta, Honningsvåg, the North Cape, Kirkenes and many other places.

I slept in my tent only 3 times, had 16 free overnight stays and payed 36 times between 23 and 69 Euros.

Car

I travelled 6630 kilometres by car, which consumed 563.5 litres of fuel (if I wrote it down correctly). The longest distance on one day was the journey back home from the Kirkenes Snow Hotel that took 856.5 kilometres.

563.5 litres were burnt to circa 1300 kg CO₂. That’s the same impact as flying from Bremen (my home town) to Tenerife and back again.

Money

It’s hard to calculate how much the journey costed. Shell I include food that I need at home, too? The new battery for the car?

Anyway the journey costed round 3200 Euros, including the daily food, excluding the car battery and some equipment I bought.

Accommodation: ca 1350 EUR · Fuel: ca 900 EUR · Tours/entrance fees: ca 200 EUR · Restaurants: ca 250 EUR · Food: ca 450 EUR

Weather

The winter this year was extremely warm. Therefore the lowest temperature on the journey was a mere -24 °C. The lowest temperature while tenting was -22 °C. There were at least 20 days with temperatures above zero. The largest amount of snow I should guess was 150 cm since it was shoulder deep. Mostly the snow in Sweden was between 70 and 100 cm, in Norway a bit less and later on the journey less as well due to the high temperatures.

The temperature minimum home in Skelleftehamn was -16 °C. The last years it was less than -20 °C several time each winter.

A first day in Kirkenes Mar 8 2015

What a beautiful morning! -6 °C and blue sky. I was accommodated near the Kirkenes Snow Hotel where my friend I’m staying with works. I had a look into the Snow Hotel first, It has an impressive lobby with tables and a bar and round about 20 rooms where tourists can stay over night.

After looking around I drove into the centre of Kirkenes and had a walk at the port. First I discovered the commercial fishing part: Big piles of traps for the big King crabs and fisher boats lettered with latin and cyrillic letters. But not far away you could see the touristic part: The Hurtigruten ship Kong Harald that landed nearby.

I walked at the shore a bit and tried to make photos of the big ice floes that lay ashore but clouds had approached and the light was a bit dull. So I took the car and took the road E105 to Му́рманск (Murmansk). No, I didn’t plan to travel to Russia but I wanted at least to see the Russian border. It’s not far away and soon I parked my car just in front of the border.

I’m child of the cold war. It was great to see, that there is a normal border now (even if you need a visa for travelling to Russia) and that you are allowed to take pictures. On the other side this border seemed to be more the “end of the world” to me than the North Cape. On the right-hand side there is the lake that is marked with orange warning signs. This is part of the Norwegian–Russian border that crosses this lake. You shouldn’t set foot on the lake, but at least I went to the shore to take a picture of the Russian custom.

Maybe I will cross this border one day and take the car or the bus to Murmansk, who knows …

It already started snowing on the way to the Russian border but on the way back the snow fall intensified. It was still easy to follow the road but hills that very a bit farer away where hardly visible.

Back at the snow hotel it was still snowing a lot and quite windy but warm as well: +1 to +2 degrees. Some of the 140 huskies were still out on tour while the rest of the dogs could take it easy.

The forecast for the next day promised sunny weather. We’ll see …

Addendum:

Links

The journey

Car

Money

Weather