Third day in Lapland: getting familiar

I've been already two full days and nights here and no auroras so far due to bad weather and low solar activity. I am getting impatient!

I walk in the snow around 20 km according to my GPS while exploring the park, going from village to village through the lake, repeating the same path I had tried yesterday in the middle of the storm. I visit a Sami camp and make my way to another lake through the forest. 

Here, the views from the nearby mountain, which can be accessed by cable car. It looks like a pencil drawing, doesn't it?🎨

Another view from the top of the mountains, Lapporten on the background. From up here, I can see how vast is the forest I am restlessly exploring to discover beautiful hidden places😍

Reindeer moment 🎅

In the afternoon... Oh my God, the sky is clearing!! 💃🏼💃🏼I bet maybe tonight some little aurora will be showing around... The solar activity is not very high but from this place, even a small activity can be noticed 😁👍🏼

Looking through the large window of the dining room towards the lake... Is there any aurora? There is a hall next to the pier with a huge spotlight of the type "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" which I really dislike...😣 

Finally, I decide to wait outside while walking around in order to get a view of the sky above, and suddenly the clouds start to clear and I notice a greenish light! 😍😍😍😍😍😍

My first aurora encounter was very funny because all of the following happened in just a few minutes while I was running around like mad: 

- First, at the sight of the green light I got emotional and tears went out 🤩 
- my contact lenses went also out 😫 
- I found myself by the intense street lights of the road and asked myself "why I am just in this brightness?" 🤔 
- I started to run in search of a darker spot with my lens in my hand trying to find a place to put it back into my eye🏃🏼‍ 
- I notice I have dropped my camera bag with the SD cards 😱 
- I run back on the ice (as fast as one can run on ice) in search of it -> I find it! ✌🏼
- I run back to the hostel 🏃🏼‍♀️
- On the way, I stop to put on my frozen lens behind a wall, protected from the wind, with no success 🤷🏼‍♀️
- I went to my room to wear my glasses instead, moving nervously, and run out again 🤓 
- I noticed I have forgotten the camera bag in the room 🤬 
- I went back to the room once more🏃🏼‍♀️, and out again! 🏃🏼‍♀️

All of this happened in just a few minutes, and I was rushing around like crazy! 🤪 And the aurora in the sky and I was missing it! 😱😱😱

Finally, I went to a darker place at the pier to enjoy. There is nobody else out there 🤐

I am not skillful enough to take any proper pics, but... what a fantastic show! You just can't believe what you are seeing: it looks like you are on another planet, it is unforeseeable, it has nothing to do with moving clouds or any other phenomenon you may know, it's so difficult to explain! 😶

The color is not very intense tonight because the solar activity is again medium-low, but this is a good aurora introduction 😀 I leave the camera because I do not want to miss the show to handle it!  🤔 I do not even know where in the sky to look at to avoid missing anything! I stay there alone for a couple of hours next to the lake, and when I walk back a lot of people are coming down, trying to find auroras, but it was cloudy again... One must be alert! 📢

Second day in Lapland: unlucky weather

Yesterday I set foot here for the first time and was so excited about everything I saw! I simply could not stay quiet in such an environment! So many new things to discover! I did not see any auroras but I still have 4 nights ahead... In the meantime, let's enjoy Lapland by day!

Today the temperature is minus 8 degrees Centigrade⛄. It's still snowing but the forecast tells it will get much worse during the day... 😕 

I had planned to take a train to nearby Norway to see the fjords and come back in the day, but the reception guys discourage me, as the train could get blocked by the snow, which finally happened... It was a good decision not to take the risk because there is just one train daily!😰

The only soul who ventured out for a few short walks in the middle of this horrible weather 😊

As the stormy weather is getting worse, I decide to take the train to cover the last 2 km to my hostel and have lunch there. This is how the train looked when it arrived at the station! Unfortunately, there was an avalanche later on that night and the train was isolated on the way to Norway. (Spoiler: There were no trains for 5 days, so I finally could not go to see the fjords... Sad, because it is said that this is one of the most scenic trains in Europe😥)

Later during the day, snowstorm! I leave my room 3 times to take strolls but I have to go back in a few hours because my fingers and toes are freezing... 🐧 There is nobody outside there 🥶🥶

In the afternoon, finally, I get an overall that allowed me to move much better than with my coat and, more importantly, it is waterproof! I will not separate from it for the rest of my stay! 😀

The frozen lake is safe, the ice crust is about 30 cm thick and after the recent snowfall, the surface is not slippery anymore. I will go to the nearby village walking on the lake, but I take a detour to visit a small island in the middle... but I could not put my feet on the ground because I sunk in the snow all the time😅

On the second night, the forecast for solar activity is again medium-low (but enough for "something" to be seen at these latitudes) and it has been snowing hard all day long. So the probability of seeing auroras is quite low, but... what if the clouds cleared in some areas of the sky? I am ready to wake up every 2 hours and check through the window! I will not spare any effort!! 💪 💪 💪 But finally, I have no luck, as it is snowing all night...😕

First day in Lapland: breaking the ice

I have planned a 5 day trip to Lapland to chase the auroras! I have chosen a very nice spot after months researching the web... Will I succeed? 

As a very brief summary, auroras are generated when charged particles of the solar wind impact the magnetic field of the Earth.🌍 Their magnetic energy is transformed into kinetic energy, and the accelerated electron interact with the atoms and molecules of gases present in the atmosphere, like oxygen or nitrogen. ⚗In each collision, the atom or molecule absorbs energy from the electron and releases it in the form of light, whose color depends on the altitude and the gas involved.🌈

I have been trying to find out where and when I would have a good chance of seeing auroras, hopefully in Europe! There is a small village in Swedish Lapland, called Abisko, which is the best location in the world to see auroras, according to NASA. It is located nearby lake Torneträsk, surrounded by mountains that keep the clouds away, thus creating a microclimate of clear sky above.🤨

Also, I choose dates with no moon, so the night is as dark as possible. 5 nights to increase my chances. And in March, also, because it is more likely to see the auroras, as earlier in the year the weather tends to be more cloudy.🤔🤔

So fingers crossed and let's go hunting!🤞🏼🤞🏼

Previous day: I arrived in Sweden on March the 23rd, taking an extra day for safety and dedicated to tourism in Uppsala, just in case my checked-in luggage was delayed. 

Finally, I find myself waiting for the night train to Lapland. The name of the train is very descriptive: my destination is 250 km above the Arctic Circle! Oh my God!! Will I make friends with the girls in my sleeping coach? Will I possibly see some aurora already tonight from the train? yippee! 😀😀😀

This is the moment when I decide to wake up in my bunk bed on the train. I could not sleep all night in the excitement of traveling on a train moving further and further heading towards the North pole for 16 hours! I had the feeling I was going to pop up at the other end of the Universe!! What will I see when I look through the window?? All white?? How exciting!! 🤩 

First day, arrival at this remote small village, Abisko, after a long night on the train. While my room gets ready, I go for a stroll, what my honorable mother calls "getting in touch". Hi mum! 😘

Those two mountains are called Lapporten, or "The doors of Lapland"

Short stroll over the frozen lake, even though in the beginning it is somewhat scary for someone who has hardly ever seen the snow! As it was so slippery, I turned around quickly...🙁 I will be back😉😉

Walking on the lake (😎🥇), I arrive at the next village (or a few more houses around the next train station) and there is an icefall! I can hear some water oozing, it comes out at the lower section... The ice is blueish and the place is wonderful 🆒

The canyon downstream the icefall. Liquid water can be discovered, really transparent, in some areas under the ice crust🌊

This is the 700 m long road connecting my hostel and Torneträsk lake... In most other places a car is needed to chase them. But I have worked hard to find a place where I can watch auroras at my door, basically 😎

Also, I have chosen 5 nights around the new moon, and the time of the year with clearer skies here. It seems that the mountains surrounding the lake avoid as well the presence of too many clouds, there is microclimate here that makes it one wonderful aurora chasing spot!!

First exploration of the woods of the natural park, through signed pathways... I will dare to enter more remote places later, step by step 😉

Looking through a window of my hostel, the first night it is snowing a lot... Also, according to my App, the solar activity will be medium-low tonight, so probably it is not worth to be awake waiting for auroras 😥 So, I take the opportunity to sleep, as I had not slept in the train and I don't know what can happen for the next 4 nights 🤞🏼

Trekking on sacred land

Getting blessed at a temple before departure. Getting last-minute supplies at the local stalls. Leave behind everyday comforts.

Being awaken with a cup of tea, the "wake-up tea". 

It is day time, but the sun will take several hours yet to rise above the incredibly high mountains. 

Refreshing, or trying to, in a chilly cold river. Walking along the Ganga river in a sacred place, passing pilgrims wearing saffron robes. "Namaste!". Being witnesses of the change of vegetation, from the jungle to the pine woods, until finally a desert. Avoiding the rocks thrown to the path by the mouflons. 

Drinking constantly to avoid altitude sickness... "more masala tea, please!". Taking strategic strolls to acclimatize. Eating vegetarian food cooked with water from the Ganga river. It’s surprisingly varied and abundant!

Walking in silence, concentrated to avoid slipping, looking up to discover new summits of disturbingly vertical walls and uncalculable height after every curve, listening the trekking mates as they sing, sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in English, even in French and Hindi...

Enjoying all this with fantastic people! Carlos, Javi, Jose, Juan, Lina, Lorene, Nicolas, Toñi. Team spirit, laughter, friendly atmosphere, a common goal, mutual understanding, altruistic help. All for one and one for all. The privilege of listening to stories of summitting and descending Everest first hand... The great service of the guides... Joining an expedition during the approach to the base camp!

Encountering a glacier for the first time. Feeling tiny. It’s a sacred place, totally worth it! 

Further above it is all solitude: a large slope of inhospitable piled rocks constitutes the frontier with the last remnants of the civilized world. We have to climb it, looking for the cairns that mark the correct path. A porter smiles, mumbles something in Hindi and offers me his hand in some complicated pass...

Nandanvan Valley. Peace. The silhouette of Mount Shivling stabbing the sky... Are there any words...? It’s a serene, chilly, solitary, immaculate place, surrounded by several 7000 m high peaks, but with no water in the lake. Acclimatization day that had to be skipped. Pity.

Walking uphill alone along a ridge for several kilometers. Feeling of isolation, almost helplessness 4500 meters... the air is thin... s-l-o-w-l-y progressing, the body asks to keep calm... however, feeling breathless... surreal, otherworldly sensations... Enjoying a unique moment in an even more unique environment!

Starting to feel tired (physically, mentally...?), but stopping is not a choice, as the night is threatening... Where does this ridge end? Why can’t I see the base camp? Regretting that the ridge starts narrowing. That I have to step on the snow without the appropriate shoes. Feeling like the ground is fading beneath my feet. Abyss. "Do I really have to walk on that?"... The fear even greater due to fatigue?) is not acceptable, as my legs would shake... not here! Moving on...

Descending to the glacier, getting back my concentration, that had been leaving me due to the lack of oxygen: no tumbling here! crossing on the ice (is it slippery, or not?) climbing the glacier without looking down...
The sound of the drops from the melting glacier disturbing the silence of a truly remote place...

The final surprise of a rope hanging from an almost vertical rock wall... There’s nothing I can do! Strength comes out of nowhere, or maybe skill? I still don’t understand how...

The view of the base camp, finally, at the bottom of the valley... TREMENDOUS day!

Base camp, a secluded and incommunicated place. Playing cards at -10 °C... My fingers do not react. My words do not come out. Holding a hot cup of tea to revive my hands... Having to stop the card game.

Watching the phases of the Moon, calculating the days... they say that weather changes with the new moon... Crossing the fingers... Searching the sky for constellations masked behind an infinite amount of stars, with no success because the cold prevents me from stopping outside... Pity!

Paralyzing temperature of -8 °C inside the tent when going to sleep. How cold will it get outside during the night? -20 °C, -25 °C...? 

Curling up in the sleeping bag. Waiting. Waking up in the middle of the night with an avalanche sound. Or with a headache. Listening to the sound of the snowflakes like projectiles on the tent. Otherwise, SILENCE.

Finding my belongings frozen in the morning... Everything that can freeze. 

Count to three to dare to undress, refresh and get dressed again quickly.
Watching the porters, some of them wearing flip-flops up here, at 5000 m, as they prepare supplies and material for the higher camps. Nervousness in the alpinists, curiosity in the trekkers.

Exploring the surroundings of ice and rock, get a glimpse of some serac hanging up there, trying to see the Satopanth mountain with no success, trying to put this place on the map, to understand the colors of the glacier. It does not like like in the textbooks... Again, feeling insignificant.

Saying goodbye in a hurry (ow!) to six brave alpinists who stay here to try to ascend a 7076 m high peak. Two kilometers closer to the sky!

Returning to civilization after two long days of descent and another two on the road. Being able to tell it. Feeling strange when coming back to a shower, a bed, Internet... My hands, still burned from the frost, remind me it was not a dream. 

We return, but nothing will be the same. No one of us will be the same.