Northern light adventures in Swedish Lapland. Day one

Our latest travels have taken us to the far north of Sweden. To an area called Abisko way up in Swedish lapland, just 70km from the border of Norway and on the cusp of the Arctic circle.

Our mission on this trip is quite simply to seek out the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) and here in Abisko it is said to be one of the most reliable locations in which to view this beautiful spectacle.

At this time of the year the sun never appears above the horizon, with just a few hours of what can at best be described as twilight between around 1030am to 1:30pm before darkness then prevails again. Perfect for northern lights viewing due to the extended hours of darkness.

We arrived on the 27th December, into a tiny airport near the town of Kiruna. Stepping off the plane we arrived into a beautiful snow covered winter wonderland. A picture postcard of a frozen landscape with the temperature a freezing cold -17 degrees centigrade when we stepped off the plane.

Collecting our rental car we headed straight to our accommodation, a 1.5 hour drive further north west. Arriving to a lovely warm cabin with a kitchen, lounge area and even our own private sauna and with beautiful views of a large frozen lake surrounded by beautiful mountain peaks and the town of Lapporten.

 

Not far from our accommodation is a trail leading up to a view point high up with 360 views of the surrounding. Given there was only patchy cloud and a forecast of aurora action we decided not to waste any time and headed straight out on ‘Operation Aurora!’ Trussed up in several layers and ready to deal with the elements.

What would ordinarily be relatively easy trek was somewhat more ardudous with the camera gear and tripods but with the thought of the possibility of aurora we ploughed ahead and trudged through the deep snow and up the trail onto the mountain top.

Not too long after arriving we could just make out a very feint aurora to the north, very weak in strength to the naked eye, almost resembling light wispy cloud. However, with the cameras being more sensitive to light it confirmed it was indeed the aurora with the green colour visible in the test shots taken. Looking quite impressive, if only our eyes could see what the camera was seeing!

Unfortunately by around 1030/11pm the cloud had started to increase, covering the skies in a blanket of grey, making any sighting of the aurora impossible. With increased cloud in the distance we had to admit defeat and trekked back down. Happy to have witnessed some aurora but in all honesty hoping for more in the coming days when we would hopefully witness the beautiful colours of the aurora with the naked eye……..

Stayed tuned for more!