Lights over Lapland – Day Two

On our next morning we awoke to an aurora chasers dream….clear skies!

The views across the frozen lake were beautiful as we took a lovely day walk up to the nearby mountain again. Crystal clear skies and the snow glistening on the trees that lined the mountain trail.

Fortunately the clear skies continued into the night as darkness fell. We were both like a couple of excited children hoping so much to see the aurora. For the auroras to be viewed two things need to happen; clear (or at least partially clear) skies and positively charged particles from the sun to create the aurora. We had the clear skies, now all we needed was the sun particles and the aurora to do ‘it’s thing’.

Not long after cooking up dinner we headed back up the mountain and waited patiently. The NOAA aurora forecast had predicted a possible aurora peak at around 8:00pm and indeed shortly after this we started to view a feint green cast in the sky and our cameras confirmed we had the start of aurora activity. Then at around 8:30pm the strength of the aurora gained quite some momentum.

Gradually the skies north and overhead started to turn a vivid green to the naked eye. Reflecting green across the frozen lake below. The ‘tricky lady’ had arrived in all its glory. It continued to increase in strength as we excitedly watched it dancing above us. Forming all manner of strange shapes as it shimmered away. Looking almost ghostly at some points, producing ‘curtain’ formations and even with some light magenta in the colours. We shrieked with delight as we watched it for around 45 minutes or so whilst it was at it’s most intense. Even having a little time to mess around taking aurora selfies!! During that time we had even forgotten that it was around -25 degrees centigrade! It’s amazing how adrenalin can keep you warm!

However, it was so cold we had not at that point realised that during the shoot the camera lenses had started to freeze, not just with frost but with a complete layer of ice over the lens glass. We looked at ourselves and the camera bag we realised it was not just the lenses that had a layer of ice! As we had realised this the aurora had started to subside and so with the lens issue we knew we had to take a trek back to the cabin and slowly thaw the lenses, but the tricky bit was doing so without forming any condensation.

Andy was frantically checking the aurora predications and saw that another peak was possible at around midnight. We willed the cameras to thaw so that we could trek back up for a possible ’round two’!

Around an hour later we managed to get the lenses clear again and so hotfooted it back up the mountain, this time taking shelter in the mountain hut as the cold was by now intense. The aurora was still active, much less so than earlier and now with a little cloud creeping in and an eery fog developing over the lake below. However, still some aurora activity visible. We stayed up there until around 3am until the cold just became a little overwelming and with the aurora dissipating and the increasing cloud we decided it was time to come back down.

It had been a superb night indeed when the beautiful aurora borealis had appeared in all its glory. So we were hugely grateful. However, with another 5 nights here in Abisko we ofcourse hoped that we would see more of this natural beautiful spectacle! We can never get enough of the aurora borealis!