Contrary to popular belief, I did not drop off the face of the earth last week...I was merely sitting on the edge. From Piteå and Kiruna to Poikijärvi and Jukkasjärvi, Narvik and Riksgränsen - I've tried more things for the first time in one week than at any time since the age of two.
Jenny Dahlberg, a friend from Hoofers, came over on the 2nd of March. We spent a couple days in Umeå seeing the town and roasting the marshmallows that mom sent over on the lake. On Sunday, we made an attempt to catch a bus from Umeå to Piteå...holy crap did that not start off right. After getting to the bus stop, I realized I had forgot to send in my paper that was due the next week. Deciding that it'd probably be better to walk to the regional bus station rather than wait for a city bus that may or may not come, I ran back to my room to send off the paper and gave Jenny really really...really bad directions to a bridge that I'd catch up to her on. My bad. She ended up off in another direction and I spent the next 40 minutes running around the area I thought I'd meet her at. Well, we ended up missing the first bus, but I still couldn't find her. However, she managed to borrow a cell phone and call me. She said she was at the bus station, so I said I'd meet her there.
Turns out, she somehow got to the bus station downtown (FYI, there are two 'Umeå Busstations'). When I realized she was at the wrong stop I took a bus downtown, but didn't see her at Vasaplan (the local bus hub) and not knowing how to get to the other station, I went back to the Hospital. I got another call from another borrowed cellphone 20 minutes before the next bus was scheduled to come (this is going on three hours since I'd last seen her). Found out she was indeed at the other regional bus stop and figured we'd just have to meet on the bus. 20 minutes later, we met up and where on the way north.
We were met by Sören and Eina (Jenny's relatives) who took us to their cottage near Piteå. It was the classic Swedish countryside that looked and felt remarkably similar to the Wisconsin countryside (fields, red barns, cows, etc.). We then proceeded to meet more relatives and have some awesome Swedish food. The next day we made our way up to Kiruna with stops at some local highlights (a church, the arctic circle, random coffee shops at the side of the road). By night time we made it to Kenth and Ann's (Jenny's cousin) in Poikijärvi. The room was really nice with both a sauna and laundry in the building, plus a kitchen overlooking the Torne river and the ice hotel.
The next morning we were up early heading out to one of their dog sled camps to set up for a large group of BMW executives coming up from Germany. I ended up getting to drive a snowmobile through snowy goodness to the site and setting up a Sami lavo (fancy name for tepee) 20 feet off the ground. There were also lots of wild reindeer. One of our jobs that day was to get ~30 gallons of drinking water. To do this you need a bucket, an ax, a funnel, and 5 gallon jugs. You then chop a hole in the lake and fill your bucket. The water is ridiculously clear (not too mention it looked pretty tasty). That afternoon I officially became a musher. I harnessed up my sled dogs and hitched them to the sled. After a 3 minute crash course in how to drive a dog sled, we were off. The mushing lasted a couple hours and I successfully managed to not tip over and crash my sled. Meanwhile, throughout the entire day, the Swedish army was dropping paratroopers along the river. It really was something else to see this river used as a sort of highway with dog sleds and snowmobiles flying by on either side and little men in white jumpsuits falling from the sky.
On Wednesday, I had my first ice fishing experience. After chasing some reindeer off the road, Sören, who is the old guy I aspire to be like, took us out to the lake near the camp. We drilled our holes, sat back on our reindeer hides, and waited for the fish. I got the first, and the second, and I think probably the third. After only a couple hours and yet another coffee break (literally 3 or 4 of them a day) we had 16 perch, 8 of them mine, and 1 of them Jenny's. Sören cut them up out on the lake and smoked them later that day. Good stuff. I also got my first bit of moose meat for lunch, followed by reindeer for dinner.
Thursday morning, Jenny and I got to ride reindeer (well, sleds pulled by reindeer anyway). I think we ended up kind of joining an icehotel tour but regardless, I got to race a reindeer around a track for almost a kilometer. That was followed by a Sami guy handing out Lingonberry juice (man, Swedes drink almost as much Lingonberry juice as they do coffee) and roasting reindeer strips over a campfire in his lavo. I've decided wild reindeer meat does actually taste better than venison. Later that afternoon we headed out to Riksgränsen, the northernmost ski resort in the world, with Ann and her two daughters Clara and Elina for some skiing. However, Jenny and I drove separately in an old Subaru (Sa-bar-oo in Sweden). Not a problem, except that I don't drive stick shifts. Turned out, I managed to do it alright - I didn't stall once the first day. That night I made another attempt at building a snow cave. This time, however, it was amazing. Because they have proper snowbanks this far north, I was able to build a tunnel big enough that you could stand up in it in some places and you could even see the entrance to the cave from the top of the mountain.
Friday and Saturday were spent skiing with quite a bit of off-piste runs. Sometimes the clouds would blow in on the front side and we'd have to move around to the back, other times, the opposite would happen. Regardless, the skiing was fun. The snow could have been a bit softer, but no complaints - minus the bad visibility the second day. It was slow going on some of the steep, unmarked terrain but still worth doing.
Sunday morning we cleaned up the condo and drove down into Norway through the mountains to visit Narvik to do some site seeing then headed back to Poikijärvi. After checking email and resting up for a few hours it was off to the ice hotel and dinner. Kenth got us a room in the ice hotel and so Jenny and I ended up getting to sleep in a giant fridge. I say fridge because it was actually 4 degrees warmer outside than inside. They gave us some awesome arctic sleeping bags though and they did the job well. Apparently, if you're too cold, you're supposed to take off more clothes since more body heat warms the bag (they literally say sleeping naked is best, right after they tell you about the double bags available). Before bed, however, we chilled out (literally) in the ice bar for a couple hours, having some really good vodka drinks in glasses made of ice.
Monday was a fairly easy day with a tour of the world's largest underground mine and souvenir shopping (not my idea) in Kiruna. That night we had a very Swedish elk dinner with Sören, Eina, Kenth, Ann, Clara, and Elina followed by a video of Kenth's expedition to the north pole with Prince Albert. That would have been an amazing trip. But, that was the end of ours. We caught a 6:00am flight back to Umeå this morning and Jenny heads back to airport to catch a flight back to the States in about 5 hours. The whole trip was maybe $400. In the meantime I need to write a paper and study for a Swedish exam before heading out to Åre on Thursday for 3 days of awesome skiing with about 140 university students.
So to recap, things I had never done before this week:
1. Hitched up a dog sled and gone mushing
2. Set up a Sami lavo
3. Seen paratroopers jump out of a plane over dog sleds and snowmobiles
4. Been in snow up to my thighs
5. Gone ice fishing
6. Raced a reindeer
7. Eaten reindeer fried over an open fire in a Sami lavo
8. Eaten moose, and elk for that matter
9. Driven a stick shift car
10. Skied at the northernmost ski hill in the world (in both Norway and Sweden)
11. Slept in a room made completely of ice
Now what do I do??
Anyway, I had just gotten back from the trip up north with Jenny and I had to finish up some schoolwork before we headed out on Thursday afternoon. Long story short, I did laundry at 8:00am and didn't get packed until 30 minutes before we left. However, I am now done with any sort of school related work until the end of April. Unfortunately, half way to Åre (7 hour drive via bus) it started to rain...and it didn't stop. Even after we got to our condos and went to bed around midnight you could still hear the rain outside. At this point I'm thinking there isn't going to be a bit of snow left on the mountain.
The next day it had continued to snow. Urska and I were at the lifts 30 minutes before they opened but it was worth it. I was the first one down a run through 5 inches of powder throughout the entire trail. Sooo smooth. Det blåser! It was windier Sunday than Saturday and so there was only one open chairlift. Everything else was t-bar. I hate t-bars...with a passion. Regardless, we headed over to the far right peak where we found the most amazing tree runs I have ever seen in my life. It was work, I could barely stand by the end of one run, but it was incredible. 3 or 4 of us found a section of trees that no one had been too. Fresh tracks every time. I've never had so much fun in the trees. I really think they might have been the best runs I've ever taken in my life. Sadly, the trip had to end. Our bus headed back at 4:30 making it home by midnight.
