The Perfect Trip The Perfect Trip xxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx

The perfect trip

Take a winterNorway journey through Arctic in pursuit of the northern lights Words Antony ham | Photographs Philip lee harvey

November 2010 43 The Perfect Trip ARCTIC Norway 1 Hurtigruten Your trip mapped out Best for coastal Sail into the Norwegian wilderness where you can hunt for crabs in Jarfjord, go cruising sledding in and maybe catch the northern lights along the way miles into your trip 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Ferry from Tromsø to takes 39 hours. 2 Jarfjord Best for catching To travel from Tromsø to Kirkenes in the dinner warmth of a Hurtigruten passenger ferry is to ease gently into the northern Norwegian wilderness. The jagged ramparts of the mainland and islands unsoiled by human 3 Snow Hotel footprints drift past, an endless drama wrought in ice and snow. 1 Best for an unusual Hurtigruten sleeping experience Along the route, villages shelter in the Best for coastal deeply fissured shoreline. As the ferry cruising draws near land at night, nothing moves. King crabs, the world’s largest Moving closer, the welcoming glow of crustacean, abound in gas-lantern light in home windows Norwegian waters. Join a king crab safari for a closer look – beckons. As the boat drifts back to sea, the and taste – of this giant. retreating pinpricks of light along the shore resemble isolated outposts somewhere close to the end of the earth. It might be cold but the That these villages, the world’s Kirkenes Snow Hotel will northernmost inhabited settlements, Start by taking a Hurtigruten amaze you with its intricately survive owes much to the Hurtigruten ferry from Tromsø to Kirkenes sculptured surroundings. You’ll and take in the dramatic need to wrap up warm! fleet. The boats may possess cruise-ship scenery along the way. comforts – bars, a restaurant and open-air Jacuzzi – but their primary purpose is to 2 keep viable Norway’s Arctic north. ‘Sometimes the Hurtigruten are the only 3 way to get supplies to these villages,’ says 1 Kjell Jonassen, captain of the Hurtigruten’s 4 6 5 MS Midnatsol. ‘We’re the artery that keeps this part of the country alive.’ Captain Jonassen is still awed by the Arctic landscape: ‘Even after many years, it is still beautiful to me. I’ll never tire of it.’ 4 Kirkenes Best for winter speed Further Information 6 karasjok l Cabin accommodation in a Hurtigruten for the trip Best for traditional life 5 Dog-sledding from Tromso to Kirkenes costs from £267 per person, Best for Arctic full board, based on two people sharing wilderness (0844 448 7601; hurtigruten.com). The Northern Lights

A tranquil landscape of dense forest and remote lakes, the Pasvik River Valley is best The indigenous Sami people explored on an exhilarating have lived in this region for snowmobile ride. more than 2,500 years. Visit a traditional Sami hut for an Dog-sledding is the perfect insight into their way of life. way to travel. Lead a team of huskies deep into the forest, Elusive and unpredictable, where you can admire the TI NA Z ELLMER the aurora borealis can be stillness of Norway’s interior. : ti na z ellmer tio n : difficult to catch sight of. But tio n : if you’re lucky, you might just see this magical light show. The Hurtigruten’s maiden m ap illustr a m ap illustr a voyage was in 1895 – they have connected the villages to the outside November 2010 world ever since 45 The Perfect Trip Arctic norway

2 King Crab Safari (Kirkenes) Best for catching dinner

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Beneath the freezing surface of Jarfjord, the boat like a clumsy congregation of east of Kirkenes, the red king crab stakes penguins, grateful that they won’t be asked a strong claim to be Arctic Norway’s most to leave the relative warmth of their polar unusual inhabitant. A creature of protean suits. After what seems like an eternity, ugliness that seems to have emerged not Lars emerges in a chaos of crab legs, from the gentle waters of a Norwegian fjord pincers and human arms. but from some Jurassic epic, the king crab ‘The biggest one I caught weighed 8kg and everything about it seems founded on and was almost my height, at around gargantuan economies of scale. 170cm,’ recalls Lars. ‘Others have caught This is the world’s largest crustacean crabs that weighed 15kg, and were almost and the seven king crabs introduced two metres long.’ here from the North Pacific by Russian But size matters little when it comes to scientists in 1961 have multiplied at an eating the crabs at the end of the safari. astonishing rate. Every year, each female ‘The most important thing is that they’re king crab gives birth to around 10,000 boiled in seawater,’ says Lars. ‘That way, surviving offspring and there are now you can taste where they come from.’ 20 million in the Barents Sea alone. Such figures have alarmed Further Information environmentalists, but Lars Petter Øie, l Arctic Adventure runs four-hour king crab safaris for who has been diving these waters for more £136 per person, including lunch and cold-weather than two decades, is more cautious: ‘Even clothing (arctic-adventure.no). after so many studies, the Norwegian l Rica Hotel Kirkenes This place has modern rooms, government can’t decide whether the crabs some with views over the town. You’ll appreciate the are a problem or a resource.’ under-floor heating in the bathrooms in the depths of Lars has plumped for the latter. a Norwegian winter, and there’s a good restaurant Undeterred by formidably sub-zero winter (from £140; rica.no). temperatures, Lars and his crab safari team l Kirkenes Snow Hotel (see page 48). regularly dive off the side of an inflatable Zodiac to a depth of 25 metres in search of Lars Petter Øie (above and left) has dived for crabs. They invariably do so accompanied the world’s largest by the audible gasp of the paying crustacean, the red king customers on board who shuffle around crab, for over 20 years

46 November 2010 November 2010 47 The Perfect Trip xxxxxxxxxx 3 Kirkenes 4 Snowmobiling (Kirkenes) Snow Hotel Best for winter speed

Best for an unusual miles into your trip: 423

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Cut through the snow miles into your trip: 423 A narrow finger of land surrounded by snowmobiles make a visit deep into the in the Pasvik River and Russia, the Pasvik River valley’s heart possible, with stop-offs at Valley, home to wolves, 100 400 500 700 0 200 300 600 wolverines, brown Valley is one of the most quietly beautiful some of the cabins en route. Travelling at bears, elk and relatively of all northern Norwegian territories. up to 60 miles an hour, they are a rare Coming in out of the Arctic night and into rare birds including the Quiet, that is, until snowmobiles cut combination of exhilaration and solitude: the Kirkenes Snow Hotel is like stepping Siberian jay, pine a swathe through the snow. the wind rush of cold night air with the into a giant igloo. You are hit less with a grosbeak and redpoll The dense fir-and-spruce foliage, prospect of a glimpse of the northern sense of warmth – it is minus 4°C within blanketed in snow and interspersed with lights; the sun-kissed snow of twilight; and – than an awareness of the blue-hued tundra and remote lakes, stretches for the ringing silence of the remotest country perfection of snow and ice, created by more than 60 miles south of Kirkenes, the when the engine is switched off. nature and sculpted by man. westernmost extent of the great Taiga A popular perception of snowmobiling Every year in a frenetic three-week burst forests that reach far into Siberia. as a pursuit restricted to the young is at the start of winter, Ronny Østrem, a Throughout, secluded wooden cabins dismissed by Hans Hatle, a former former airline pilot turned co-owner of the inhabit the frozen lakeshores and forest Norwegian army officer who trained hotel, and his team fashion 25 tons of ice clearings, telling in microcosm the story British soldiers in winter warfare and who and 15,000 cubic metres of snow, working of this once-disputed frontier territory. now leads snowmobiling safaris: ‘Age is no around the clock to be ready for the first In the mid-19th century the Norwegian limitation. Our oldest snowmobiler was guests in mid-December. It’s a Herculean government, eager to colonise with people 93, and he was an excellent driver. More task and, says Ronny, a race against time: a terrain it owned in name only, offered important than a person’s age is to ‘The rooms shrink by about one centimetre free land here to impoverished farmers remember to bring your driver’s licence, every day as the snow compresses, so the from the south. In an apt metaphor for lower your shoulders and have fun.’ hotel gets smaller and smaller until it starts Norway’s transformation into one of to melt in the spring. Then we have to wait Europe’s wealthiest nations, the spartan Further Information for winter to start all over again.’ huts that they built now serve as l Barents Safari (barentssafari.no) and Radius Where the Kirkenes Snow Hotel differs comfortable country cabins for the Kirkenes (radius-kirkenes.com) run three-hour from others of its kind is in its personal well-to-do of Kirkenes. snowmobile safaris starting at £158 per person. touch – the sense of one man’s dream Although seemingly at odds with l Rica Kirkenes Hotel (see page 47). crafted by hand, and the meal that he the tranquillity of the surroundings, l Kirkenes Snow Hotel (see page 48). prepares to send you to your bed. Guests cook their own reindeer sausages over the open fire, then sit back to a warming main course of baked salmon and potatoes. But there’s no postponing the main event: bedtime. It’s an experience that wavers between the novel (sleeping surrounded by ice, albeit in a polar- strength sleeping bag) and an exercise in endurance. ‘One of my guests said that sleeping here made him understand how a bird feels when they emerge from the egg,’ Ronny recalls. ‘I prefer to think of it as a Kinder Egg. Either way, one night is usually enough.’

Further Information l Kirkenes Snow Hotel costs £236 per person, including transfer from Kirkenes, a three-course meal, breakfast, sauna and a sleeping bag (kirkenessnowhotel.com).

Enjoy a chilled drink at the bar (top left) at the Kirkenes Snow Hotel, before warming up around an open fire and retiring to your room (bottom right), complete with artworks made of snow and ice

50 November 2010 November 2010 49 The Perfect Trip ARCTIC Norway Sven Engholm, 11-time winner of Europe’s longest dog sled race, and his Alaskan huskies can guide you through the hush of the Norwegian interior

5 Dog-sledding (Karasjok) Best for Arctic wilderness miles into your trip: 624

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4-5 hours by hire car from Kirkenes.

Silence and stillness, darkness and light: plateau. This is one of the last great moments Sven’s love for ‘the freedom of in the northern Norwegian interior, life is wilderness regions left in Europe.’ being in wilderness’ makes perfect sense. reduced to its most elemental. In the strange blue half-light of the ‘Travelling with huskies,’ he says, ‘you Deep in a boreal forest of birch and pine forest, sounds are invariably few – the feel you can be a part of nature, work with just outside Karasjok, Sven Engholm is a panting of the dogs, the coarse scrape of the dogs and have a relationship with man who has found his place in life, far the sled across the ice, the crunch of heavy them. Once infected with the mushing from the world and its noise. The founder boots in the snow – but they seem virus, there is no cure. There is only trail.’ and 11-time winner of Europe’s longest amplified in the mute landscape. dog-sled race, the 600-mile-long It is possible to simply immerse yourself Further Information Finnmarksløpet, and a veteran of Alaska’s in this silent world, to just sit back on the l Four- to five-hour husky trips withE ngholm epic Iditerod, Sven is perfect company for sled and enjoy the ride. But mushing your Adventure Tours cost £137 per person (engholm.no). mushing a team of huskies into a land yet own dog team is central to the whole l Engholm Husky Lodge Owned by Engholm to be tamed by humankind. experience – after careful instruction from, Adventure Tours, the lodge’s comfortable cabins are in ‘This is not a job for me,’ he says. ‘I just and under the watchful eye of Sven. The the forest, four miles outside Karasjok. They come love it out here. It’s clean, pure. It’s the quiet thrill of standing tall behind the sled complete with hand-crafted reindeer-antler coat exotic light, the darkness and the great while you rush through the snow – at such hangers and hanging slate tables (from £240).

50 November 2010 November 2010 51 The Perfect Trip ARCTIC NORWAY In her traditional family winter home, a teepee- shaped Sami hut (or lavvu),the mother of tour guide Nils Mikkel Somby prepares a reindeer stew

6 the prodigious antlers of his family’s Nils Mikkel Somby with his Sami reindeer herd, more than 2,000 strong. reindeer herd (above). His family’s winter cabin They move silhouetted against a land (Karasjok) (below) is in Karasjok, Sami white as white, bathed in gentle light as Norway’s capital the sun traces a low arc across the horizon. Best for Here, Nils lets the landscape and the Sami life within it speak for themselves. traditional life Later, he takes his guests to the family’s winter home, a teepee-shaped traditional miles into your trip: 624 Sami hut or lavvu. While his mother serves a warming reindeer stew, Nils wonders 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 about the Sami’s future: ‘The modern 30-minute drive west of Karasjok. world needs so much, things like roads and resources from remote places. And While many in explore with so many distractions for young Sami, the wilderness for fun, the Sami, the Arctic it is difficult to keep our culture alive for north’s most enduring human presence, do the next generation. Fifty years from now, so as a way of life. I hope that there will still be Sami up here. Around 60,000 Sami – approximately But I am not so sure.’ half the world’s Sami population – live in And yet, throughout their history, the northern Norway. Although most lead Sami have always faced down seemingly modern lives indistinguishable from insurmountable challenges, from a harsh non-Sami Norwegians’, a few Sami families and changing climate to the hostility of still inhabit the high country in winter, non-Sami peoples. Whatever the future herding reindeer above the Iešjokha River. may hold, moments spent here with Nils This is the domain of Nils Mikkel and his family feel like a fleeting gift, a rare Somby, who has taken it upon himself to opportunity to pick up the unbroken thread initiate non-Sami visitors into traditional to a past stretching back over 2,500 years. Sami ways. After collecting them from the main road, he transports his guests in a Further Information small, covered sled towed behind his l A half-day Sami excursion with Nils Mikkel Somby snowmobile up into the rolling hill including lunch, costs £113 country and into another world. There, ([email protected]). atop hills haired by thin birch forest, are l Engholm Husky Lodge (see page 51).

52 November 2010 November 2010 53 The Perfect Trip xxxxx xxxxxxxxx Witnessing the Northern Lights The aurora borealis might be the greatest show element is a cloud-free sky. And, statistically, on earth. Like smoke signals from infinity, these 10pm to 11pm is the optimum viewing time. shape-shifters in the Arctic night sky have the While making this feature, I saw the lights quality of some half-imagined fairytale. through the plane window en route to Tromsø, Seeing the northern lights for the first time and later from the deck of a Hurtigruten. But is a thing of wonder. One moment, the ethereal they didn’t reappear. To see the northern lights white or green curtains of light with a streak requires patience and good fortune. of violet take on forms that evoke the ancient ‘Aurora is a diva,’ says Knut Hansvold, a mythology of the north – a palace of lights, Tromsø native. ‘But when she shows up, she a Sami fire in the wilderness, the prow of a is the most unforgettable of beautiful ladies.’ Viking ship. Then they dissolve into nothing, only to form as if by stealth on a different Further information horizon, dancing across the sky in the shape l The northern lights are visible in northern Norway of a sea horse or crescent moon. from October to March. LP The scientific explanation – streams of charged particles from sun storms interacting Anthony Ham has contributed to with electrons in nitrogen and oxygen atoms more than 20 Lonely Planet guides, in the earth’s upper atmosphere – does little including Lonely Planet Norway, to demystify the experience. Elusive even Madrid, Morocco and Tunisia. when staring straight at it, the aurora follows no discernible schedule. The most important NEXT MONTH’S PERFECT TRIP… Egypt

54 November 2010