What? Build our own House?
Trip Start
Feb 17, 2007
1
Trip End
Feb 24, 2007
Where I stayed
Wilderness Lodge
Igloo
Jukkasjarvi, Lapland, Sweden
Sunday, February 18, 2007
A weeks worth of Arctic Activities - Excellent stuff.
We spent the first day building our accomodation for the night - a compacted snow dome hollowed out into an igloo with a small crawl through entrance. Carpeted with reindeer furs it was cosy enough at a constant -5 degrees (25 degrees warmer than outside!)
The following day we tried out some traditional style cross county skiing (and walking). Hard work but amazing scenery - well worth the effort!
Day 3 and 4 were spent dog sledding. Fabulous. Just don't ever let go!! The best part was that we each had our own team of dogs to drive - no point in just being a passenger. A traditional sauna is the only way to get clean but the quick dash across from one hut to the next at 28 degrees below freezing is a huge shock to the system and don't stand still for long or your feet freeze to the floor!
Overnight at the Ice Hotel was Wonderful. You can have a tour of the individually carved and decorated rooms and vodka cocktails in the Ice Bar (drunk from ice glasses). We got a shout in the evening to see the Northern Lights and dashed out of the bar to see the wisps of coloured 'cloud' playing across the sky.
The last day was the turn of the snowmobiles... A quick lesson to start and a steady procession through some tracks for a lapland style cook out in the wilderness. On the way back we had chance to play in the deep snow and go off track. Brilliant fun - to keep from sinking in the deepest sections the only option is to open the throttle and 'fly' across the surface carving turns as you go. The alternative is to bury the nose and spend the next 10 minutes digging yourself out!
Altogether its an experience to be recommended.
