11 Feb 2019

Sledging With Huskies In Swedish Lapland

On our first morning in Swedish Lapland (read about our adventure-filled arrival here), we woke to minus 8 temperatures and were ready to get out exploring.

Today’s adventure was a husky experience and we were driven to Abisko National Park, about five minutes down the road. The woman who collected us explained that she had been late because a moose had been standing in the middle of the road and had refused to move. Like, cool cool, average day then.

The temperature in Abisko was just a casual minus 27. Which, stating the obvious, is cold like we had never experienced before. Ice actually formed on the inside of my nose and on my eyelashes. By the end of the day, bits of my hair would also be frozen. It was surreal.

We were given the option of operating our own stand-up dog sledge or being sat on a longer sledge operated by one of the guides.

Given that the former option – once explained - sounded surprisingly complicated and I wanted to enjoy the experience rather than stressing over keeping half a dozen huskies under control, I opted for the latter option. Once the others had set off, the three of us who opted for the latter drove a little further to where the huskies lived. To pull four of us on one sledge (3 sitting plus 1 standing guide), we needed 10 huskies. We were shown how to put their harnesses on, and attach them to the rope that would pull the sledge. The huskies were unbelievably cute (as well as very loud and slightly smelly). They were all over excited so attempting to get the harnesses on them was a challenging, if entertaining experience. They were also super friendly and often jumped up affectionately to give you a hug!

Once everything was ready, we set off. As soon as they were running, the huskies went deadly silent. It was quite something to be pulled through the wilderness on a fur covered sledge by ten different-coloured huskies, with snow-covered trees and mountains flying by. You could see nothing but sparkling white for miles around. There were lots of bumps and bends, uphill and downhill, a bit like being on a rollercoaster – only colder!

We stopped for a bit to meet up with the others and when the huskies were together, the noise was unbelievable. It sounded like operating your own sledge was pretty hard so I was glad I was able to just admire the views.

We set off again, pausing a couple of times as the lead husky was still in training and kept leading the other dogs in the wrong direction. I'm not sure how far we went, but I'm pretty sure those furry dogs ran several miles. I wish I could have taken photos whilst on the sledge but it was a hang-on-for-dear-life situation plus, even with three pairs of gloves and four pairs of socks, my hands and feet were starting to hurt by the end of the trip! But they soon started to warm up when we had to un-harness the huskies. One husky hadn’t been on the ride and he was brought out for some air – he was so affectionate and kept giving us really long hugs. It was so cute!

By the time we got back to the resort, it was minus 17 and we were knackered (although probably not as knackered as the huskies!).

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11 Feb 2019

Sledging With Huskies In Swedish Lapland

6 Feb 2019

Our First Night In Swedish Lapland: Snowmobiling Through The Wilderness

I recently went to Denmark, my fourth Nordic country, and it’s made me all nostalgic for my other three Nordic adventures… and they really were adventures!

I have sat down to write about Sweden a thousand times but never seem able to put words to screen. My snowy adventure in Swedish Lapland in February 2013 was such a once-in-a-lifetime, out-of-this-world experience that my words will never be able to do it justice. But I’ve dug out the diary I kept at the time and am giving it a shot.

Just days after my 21st birthday I landed at Kiruna airport, a town nestled in the far north of Swedish Lapland. We were heading to Björkliden, out in the arctic wilderness, for four days and it was like nothing I had ever experienced before.

The plane landed in the dark, somewhat surreally, on a runway covered in snow. Within moments, our luggage was being driven off to the small ski resort we were staying in and we were gearing up in snowsuits and helmets so that we soon resembled giant slugs. And then – just an hour after getting off the plane – we were riding snowmobiles (skidoo) through the wilderness. I wasn’t driving so I just got to sit back – okay cling on for dear life – as we flew through snow-covered Narnia in the dark. As it was ‘warm for this area’ – a toasty minus 5 – and we were appropriately geared up, the cold only really stung your face at that point. The space was vast; just snow and trees and the occasional cabin on the lakeside (we whizzed across the frozen lakes no problem). It was unbelievable.

After a while, our guide stopped in the woods at a wilderness cabin. Once the skidoos were turned off, it was incredible how silent it was – apart from the occasional husky howl in the distance! The snow made it easy to see in the pitch black, helped by the vast amount of stars visible without artificial lighting. We were suddenly like kids on the world’s best snow day. The snow was knee deep and begging to be jumped in. And so that’s just what we did. I can also remember creeping to the edge of the woods, which had a sudden drop, and looking out across the frozen valley in awe.

We were taken into the cabin – which had several foot of snow sat on top of it like a weird hat – and sat around the open fire where we drank warm lingonberry juice and ate sandwiches in the warmth.

And then we were off again, whizzing across a frozen lake to the ice hotel!

The ice hotel is built every year from natural snow and ice from the Torne river and it is 100% on my bucket list to go back one day and spend the night. This time though, we were just popping in for a nose. From the outside, it looked like an enormous, extravagant igloo. We headed in through the reindeer skin doors into an entirely-made-out-of-ice lobby and then through to the Ice bar. There was a blue-glowing ice bar, a multi-coloured ice chandelier and Emile Sande was playing on the sound system! Vodka was the main drink on offer because it doesn’t freeze, so we all had a vodka cocktail and chilled – lol – in the bar area for a while. It’s a cliché, but it all felt so surreal.

We got a pre-arranged taxi to Björkliden. It was a long journey but when we were nearly there, my dad suddenly grabbed my arm and pointed and there were northern lights flashing through the window! We arrived a few minutes later and when we stepped out the taxi – bam – northern lights across the whole sky! They weren’t as dramatic as you see on the TV but they were a bright emerald green, creeping over the mountains and curling and dancing across the sky. We were wandering around vaguely looking for our cabin but with our eyes really fixated above. The temperature had dropped significantly and my hands physically hurt in the cold, but so worth it! When we eventually found our cabin, we stood on the balcony watching them across the whole sky.

The next morning, we had our first look at the area in daylight. That view. Our balcony overlooked a frozen lake and we were surrounded by snow covered mountains. Everything sparkled as the sun rose (about mid-morning) and we were treated to the northern lights during the day time which is a difficult one to describe – the colours of the sky were gorgeous!

What. A. Welcome.