Finland, like the other Scandinavian countries, is known for its extreme cold weather conditions, especially in the high North.

During winter times, the weather can drop to -20°C or even lower, very easily.

Despite all the harsh conditions, some snow lovers still go and visit the North for all kinds of winter challenges, whether it be skiing, snowboarding, or other winter wilderness activities under the snow conditions.

Among all the winter sports, there is another option that is ideal for beginners, who wish to have even more direct contacts with the Ice – the Ice Climbing Course !

Usually it is a small class with only 1-3 people and one professional certified instructor.

Before the class, you will be given a brief but thorough instructions on the basic guideline of the Ice Climbing activity. And then you will be equipped with all the nessasary crampones, Ice axes, hard boots, gloves and others to be ready for the trip.

The trip usually took a minimum of 3-4 hours, or it can be extended to 6-8 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Norway is known for its numerous small islands along its coastlines.

There are several spots in the island of Kvaløya, about 1-hour drive from the northern city of Tromsø. Those locations are said to be ideal for Aurora Hunting, with open spaces that people can set up their cameras, lit a nice campfire, and have a hot drink and some snacks while enjoying the light chasing experience.

This year, I signed up for a Aurora tour to the Kvaløya island. First, the tour guide met us at the visitor information center in downtown Tromsø, at 6 pm in the evening. This is because the best aurora catching time would be around 9pm to 12am on that day, according to the aurora forcast website which is often used by the aurora lovers.  (recommandedApp: My Aurora Forecast & Alerts, Aurora Forecast)

So, we arrived earlier, did a little 15 minutes hiking to the open space of Sandvika, which is one of those good spots for aurora observation in Kvaløya island. Then a campfire was set up, everyone had a little snack and some drinks, and then the tour guide started to tell us about the scientific knowledges, mythodology, and other things of the aurora borealis, the northern light.

Finally, at around 9:30pm, a few lines of green light showed up in the sky. Then more lines appeared, with more magnitudes and brightnesses. The time spent on waiting for the polar lights finally paid off. Then the rest of the time were mostly spent on picture taking. At around 12am, we cleaned up the campfire space, and were ready to head back to the tourist center in Tromsø.

So, it was the first of my Aurora Hunting experience in the northern Scandinavia. The tour on that night was very lucky to see the northern lights, because there are times that the lights wouldn’t show up due to the unideal weather conditions.

Polar lights are something that is truly unique to the northern nordic areas.

 

 

Hi there !

This blog will be mostly about my trips, travel experiences and life spent in the greater nordic areas, with coverages of nordic cultural heritages, the northern arctic climate conditions, the snowing events taking place in the Scandinavia each year, as well as the latest trends in nordic design and fasion.

I hope you enjoy reading the blog and find the information here useful.