Kiruna - The Real Sweden

I've been on a lot of trips in recent years and seen some amazing places, and as a result I often find myself saying how much grander each one is than the one before. But this time was somehow different, and the overwhelming task of reflection manifests itself as a reluctance to begin. But to do such a thing would be casting an insult upon the memory which we are granted, and so I will instead try to recreate the days which were unforgettable yet at the same time unrecallable.


It began with a 16 hour train ride, which was bumped up to 17 hours after a delayed departure and a door malfunction in our carriage (yes, just our carriage nobody elses) that meant a further delay whilst they stopped the train at the most inconvenient hour of the morning they could conceive of and relocated us to a new carriage 16 across the station whilst the rest of the train sped off into the night. and we waited. But all it meant was more time to practice our card playing skills, and if that got boring we would watch ourselves on the gps in eager anticipation of reaching 66 degrees lattitude,and crossing the arctic circle. Who would have thought watching a bunch of numbers dancing on a screen could be so much fun..

So after a chauffeur service from the station thanks to some kind fellow students our fist stop was the famous ice hotel, which may come as a shock, is a hotel made entirely out of ice and snow. The ice, harvested from the river behind the hotel, is transformed into chairs, beds, glasses and decorations which adorn the 70 rooms and the bar, although there's no denying that at the end of the day its still ice - and still as cold as it always was. So if your the type who enjoys the ice cubes on the wrong side of your drink then this is definitely the place for you. The temperature no matter how cold it is outside, never varies outside of -5 and -8 so you're guaranteed a cozy nights sleep. I however, decided that I would prefer to keep my NZ$1000 and stay outside in the snow for free.
















The place that recently won an award for "the best experience in Sweden" would not be complete without its own ice chapel and so right next to the ice bar, there she lays (the proximity no doubt specifically designed for the protection from the cold of the guests which attend the 100 weddings held here every year).


So after such a hard days work what left is there to do but chop some firewood and crank up the fire in the sauna, which sits proudly atop a frozen lake so with the lift of a handle of the trapdoor in the floor, you have ice cold water beckoning. And so began the trend which would continue for the next three nights which panned out a little like this: stoke the fire - collapse into a sauna - jump in the hole in the lake, then run outside and roll in the snow - leap back into the sauna and repeat. And with persistent practice I assure you one can become quite skilled at this. Then as the darkness descends and you venture out into the snow with nothing protecting you but a pair of shorts and a thin layer of ice that's formed on your skin, you breathe in the arctic air and look up as the northern lights dance across the horizon, like the fingers of God teasing the earth below.


Day 2 began with porridge made from melted snow, for which the recipe I determined is 1 cup oats, 1 cup on milk, and 1/2 a bucket of snow - just in case you need to know, before we set out on a cross country ski mission 7km around lake. This trip included of course, a mandatory exploration of the woods on the opposite side looking for animal sign, so we not only learned to use nordic skis this day, but also learned how to walk through waste-deep powder (and how to get completely buried by the stuff). Then after the mandatory sauna (yes life gets hard with all these mandatory tasks) we set up camp in the middle of the lake and submersed ourselves in a sea of reindeer skins to sit back and watch the northern lights once more..


Since I was a youngin Theres been a number of things that I simply have to do, like eat snail [done] and meet cookie monster [haven't done], and on day 3 another goal was achieved when I drove a dogsled through the Lappish wilderness. There is something surreal which is felt when the only things to indulge your senses are trees punching up through a perpetual carpet of white, the steady sound of the sled gliding over the snow, and the eager panting of a team of huskies as they pull you into the unknown.



And riding through little gullies between lakes reindeer and elk dart into the forest in the corner of your vision, which seems to be stretched to a limit you never knew possible as your eyes try their hardest to comprehend the beauty they've been all of a sudden subjected to. And with a stop off at a little log cabin for a spot of salmon soup and a feed for the husky's, the adventure continued..

That evening, in the spirit of living in the wilderness, I hatched the brilliant plan of drilling a hole in the ice and catching us some dinner. Although after 25 minutes of hand drilling I figured the fish could wait and that fish for breakfast would be more romantic so marked my hole to return the next day. Of course having no idea how thick the ice was was like having a steak dangled in front of your nose because you never know when your'e going to break through triumphantly to 'the other side'. But then after 1.2 metres of drilling my way to New Zealand, success erupted as a fountain of water from beneath the surface and as humble as my hole may have looked, she was ready to be fished. Unsuccessfully.


Then after four short days our era spent in our little cabin 200km north of the arctic circle came to an end and it was time to fly back to Stockholm and embark on the next mission. But although only 4 days in an entire lifetime, they will be 4 I will never forget. Thanks to the husky's that pulled me, the snow that entertained me, and to Kim for the company that is always second to none.

Photos:

Kiruna