Carl

Some of you already know the story of Carl. Somehow he's been on my mind a lot these past few weeks as I roamed the Norwegian high plateaus in the company of no one but my dogs and the occasional herd of wild reindeer. PJ and I have been talking about him on numerous occasions…

Piteraq Arctic Bedding HD

For our winter trip through Norway we used pulkas/sleds and in addition to having more volume and space for our things it allowed us to try out a new set-up for our sleeping system, the Piteraq Arctic Bedding. Neither of us had ever used this system before and after reading a lot of positive thoughts…

To the Arctic circle, but not beyond

There was no sound but the wind and nothing to see but blowing snow. Even going to the toilet became an assignment. Bull often decided he didn’t have to go after all and stood scratching at the door to go back inside. After a beautiful week through Padjelanta our luck was at an end. The…

Padjelanta and Sulitjelma

We saw the bus leave, waved goodbye to Alec and then there was only two of us again. It was really nice having another person there and being a small team, short as it lasted. It was a beautiful day again, not a breeze of wind and not a cloud in the sky. PJ and…

Narvikfjell

The second of March announced itself brilliantly, with a morning sun rising into a pale blue sky and not a breeze of wind moving the air. It was a stark contrast to the storms that battered us the week before, blowing off roofs like they were mere sheets of paper and even relocating entire cabins.…

The Great Wait

Last week the sun hit the village of Abisko for the first time. Yes, we are still here, biding our time and patiently waiting for the conditions to be good enough to continue. This great wait will proceed until the end of this month, as we are now working and have a contract until the…

Reisadalen and a stormy crossing into Finland

The thermometer showed -16°C when we left the hotel in Kautokeino at 10 in the morning. The temperature we were actually feeling was -23°C. It was a crisp, clear morning, everything sparkled in the sunlight. Every twig, every blade of grass, every needle on every pine tree was frozen and covered with a thick layer…

Finnmarksvidda

The crossing of Finnmarksvidda had made me nervous all along. While going over the maps during preparations it was always there: a huge empty spot on the map, barren, exposed, prone to very sudden changes in weather, only few cabins and they are far in between. Our encounter with the Germans in Honningsvåg did not…

To Olderfjord

While setting up camp on the south side of Nordkapstunnelen we noticed that the weather forecast had changed. Initially we had a 10 day good weather window reported, but all of the sudden a storm was bound to blow in during the night. At around 2 A.M. the winds picked up. Our tent, pitched on…

Nordkapp

When I retreated to my own bed for the final time on the evening of the 8th of October I had an odd feeling about it. I've always thought that the strangest moment of any expedition is the final night you sleep in your own bed, in the knowledge that when you put down your…