Short trip to Abisko

Prelude

I selected Abisko (samic Ábeskovvu = ocean forest) over my earlier inclinations towards Kiruna or Narvik. The reasons may seem untenable – I wanted to check the beginning of the celebrated Kungleden, stay in an area close to the wilderness and has less people 😉 😛

I had desired at least a glimpse of Northern Sweden, if possible, the wilderness and the mountains since December 2014 but neither had holidays to do so nor was willing to invest my precious leaves in a mere excursion, hence, the plan remained shelved. On the Christmas eve, I marked the first long weekend(December 24,25,26,27). My wife was on a vacation back in India so I didn’t plan any major activities, including any investments for viewing the Northern Lights. My intentions were :

1. Conduct a reconnoiter – 20h travel by train, the rudimentary geography, the weather,the connectivity and accommodation challenges and so on
2. Since July, I had not explored any new place and I was desperate for at least one such expedition, however small or unproductive ! This desperation, combined with some menial tasks on professional and personal fronts and lack of any efforts by someone else for the trip led to a poor planning for which we paid the price later

Day-1

December 23, 2015(Wednesday)

I had booked two tickets of the SJ Arctic Circle Train(tåg 10094) which was suppose to depart at 1559 hours from Stockholm C. We reached spår 4 accordingly. The train arrived a bit late. It was a Rc locomotive(I couldn’t determine the class as I have just started to pay attention to my rail fanning predilection). I always wish that some technically sound and enthusiastic person travels with me so that I can learn more.

I had booked 2 beds in a 3-bed compartment. This was my first overnight train journey(Ashamed of this, please forgive me, O Cruel World !) and I was disappointed at the space provided for 3 people. I was afraid of contracting claustrophobia 😐 when I slept at night owing to inadequate head room. The pic. below was clicked in the morning while alighting, still, it gives a fair idea about the arrangements :

The train left at 1625 hours. Along the entire trip, I tried to note as many timings as possible(note that my watch runs 13 min. fast so the timings should be interpreted accordingly)

Stockholm C : 1625

Arlanda C : ?

Uppsala : 1711, waited for almost 20 min.

Skutskär : 1845, didn’t stop but slowed down

Gävle C : 1858

Söderhamn : 1956

Sundsvall C : 2130

Boden C : 0540

Gällivare : 0815

Kiruna : 0936

Abisko : 1030

Our co-passenger was a Swedish man in his early forties. He said that he lives in Stockholm and visits his mother and sister in Gällivare every Christmas.

We visited the bistro but couldn’t find anything worth for the dinner. I just bought some milk and ate fruits and buns that I had brought in my backpack. My friend, Mahendra Pandey, settled for some bird-flesh sandwich.

 

Day-2

December 24, 2015(Thursday)

Our co-passenger alighted at Gällivare and we bid farewell. He wished us a pleasant journey and a sight of Northern Lights. I felt good for his mother living alone far away from him, finally seeing her son on the festive eve.

At Kiruna, the train almost emptied, as I had expected. It halted for more than 30 min. there and I could see aplenty people clicking/getting clicked photographs on the station. Similar to my Swiss experience, 80% of the tourists were from the South East Asia and Japan. Obsessed with keeping records, I just took one :

Quite late, we realized that we should visit the bistro in case they have any encouraging breakfast options but it was closed then. On the way, we met an Indian couple settled in Dubai but visiting Abisko for 3-4 days. It always feels good when someone from your country calls you out in an Indian language amidst the multi-ethnic crowd 🙂

When the train started from Kiruna(other/opposite direction?), I could see short but snow-clad mountains.

Alike a child, I was sitting on my knees with my nose almost touching the window pane. Pandey exclaimed “Why are you sitting and watching like a child ?”. I instinctively replied “In this world to be happy, one has to keep the child within, ALIVE!”.

The Abisko Turiststation was a little bigger than a kiosk but appealed to me ! I took the below photograph in the afternoon when there were no people around, when we alighted, there was sufficient light :

We had booked a double room(at the last moment, I gave up my idea to stay in the hostel dormitory) at the STF Abisko Fjällstation.

It is barely 500m from the station. The main building appears first where there is the reception and the nearby(across the street), smaller buildings have the hostel. The reception and the waiting area was crowded. We patiently waited in the queue but our minds(and stomach) were lingering around the ‘Restaurang Kungsleden’ ! The dismal European practice of the check-in timings 1400/1500 hours and check-out at 1000 manifested again ! Our room was not ready yet so we put our bags in the luggage room(a convenient and commendable practice). I had packed the crucial items like papers, camera, tracker, water etc. in a smaller backpack, a synthetic one since snow was expected. I took that along to the restaurant.

It was Christmas eve, accordingly, the lunch and the dinner both were costlier than normal, also, the food items had a dominance of meat – reindeer and pork. I recently included fish in my diet due to the appalling food options during the travel but this menu heralded the upcoming starvation 😛 We paid 155 SEK each for the lunch. One has to book a seat in advance(but pay later)for the dinner(495 SEK) which begins around 1830 at the earliest. I mostly fed on the typical Swedish fish items while Pandey focused on meat. Both of us were, by this time of year, weary of the Swedish food ! No, I like it but now there was an overdose 😛 . We decided to cancel our dinner booking and survive on whatever we had left in our bags and the fats stored for years 😉

We left for viewing the Lake Torneträsk around 1300 hours. While it can be seen from the station and stf, it takes a walk of about 2km from STF to reach its banks. The lake is quite large(70+km long and 10km wide) on the other side(northern side) has contiguous mountains (hills?) But not sure if it forms a range. We couldn’t take a long stride because of the snow which was accumulated on the natural promenade.

From the banks of the lake, one can also get a glimpse of the Lapporten valley :

My initial idea was to walk along the banks of the Abiskojåkka (‘jåkk’ probably means ‘river’ in the Sami languages)but it was frozen, aplenty snow lied along it’s banks and we knew it would soon get dark. Below is a glimpse of the near-frozen surface of the river

 

 

Along the way, there was an apparatus installed by the Lund University for studying the greenhouse emission in the adjoining  area(which?). From a distance, I couldn’t figure out head or tail of the apparatus :

It was getting dark after 1400 hours so we rushed back to STF. The room was ready by the time we reached. Thanks to the insufficient sleep for past several days, we slept till 1730, also it was necessary as we had a snowmobil(snowmobile) tour at night.

In the morning, I had read a note at the reception saying ‘Mountain guide advice available 0900-1000 and 1830 – 1930 hours’. I reached the desk just besides the reception at 1830 hours. Here one can find a detailed(large scale map) map marking the entire Kungsleden, the location and trail towards Kebankaise etc. A geography enthusiast, a seasoned hiker can spend a whole day studying it 😀

A jovial guy named Jim greeted me. I had already scribbled my queries, doubts and concerns. Jim had a detailed(large scale map) map with all the nearby trails and peaks marked on it. He told me that it can be bought in the STF store.My fears seem to be valid, Jim advised me against attempting Njullá/Nuolja  mountain summit on feet owing to the snow deposition, chilling winds and most importantly, the risk of an avalanche. While the mountains are short, even a minor avalanche can prove disastrous. He advised me to go farthest till the point where the tree line ends, beyond that is a ‘danger zone’. My gut feeling was that next day I am going to be disappointed ! Another dismay was that the chairlift was operated in the daytime only in summer, in winter it is during the night(2100 – 0100 hours). Jim advised me about another hike at a less height but at a longer distance which leads till the beginning of Lapland. I was disinterested as it was a long one(5+km) and owing to the short days, one can’t explore much. This year, the winter in Sweden, if not the whole Europe, is delayed. This has resulted in warm weather across the country, North Sweden being no exception. The temperature was 0° which is high as per the North Sweden’s winter.

Just to be prepared a bit better, I visited the STF shop(opposite to the reception)and rented two hat lights on rent(100 SEK / day) – another fallacy on my part in the planning. Even that guy advised against the hike to Nuolja which depressed me further.

At exact 2030 hours, Ola Johansson(I think I messed his lastname/efternamn) from ArcticPeak greeted us at the STF entrance. We boarded a sled attached to a snomobile. We headed for Abisko Östra(the preceding station). There we waited at a cabin for the other participants. We paid the money (950sek per person) via card. Ola provided us snowsuits/pullovers, boots and gloves. I requested him to allow me to ride pillion and he readily agreed 🙂 . The other tour participants were Chinese teenagers studying in Germany. We then headed for the wilderness but NOT in within the area of the national park. We could see the Aurora Sky Station on the right so probably we were headed south west. After 20 min., we stopped at a place where Ola lit a small fire. Had the weather been bad, we would have done the same in a ‘teepee/tipi‘ tent(!).

Ola also laid some reindeer skins for us to sit.

The next 1h 15 min. With Ola was a treat for a person like me hungry for the information, especially, about the Nature.

• I asked him if whether he had bought the firewood or cut it from some nearby forests, he said that entire firewood in Abisko(probably North Sweden?) comes from Swedish east coast, Finland etc. as no one is allowed to cut any trees. Close to Arctic, the trees grow at snail’s pace – a birch takes 50 years to grow fully. It’s bark is almost like a paper and burns readily
• When I asked about the wild life, I was surprised to know about the presence of Lynx(I had only read about it and saw it in the Kolmården Djurpark). He said that it’s a shy animal and has seen it only once in past 10 years. Arctic Red fox, Wolverines(called ‘Järv‘ in Svenska) and bears are present as well. The white fox is endangered and is facing competition for food from the Red Fox
• When I asked about the Sami people, Ola furnished intriguing details :
  • Very few Samis now live the traditional lifestyle. Most of them have regular jobs
  • All the reindeer in Sweden are owned by the Samis. They make markings every year(in June I guess). A few months prior to it they drive reindeer to several places across the Lapland(which?) using helicopters. Then they make a mark in less than 10 seconds on the reindeer’s ear. There are two marks, one designates the village, the other the person or the family. Since reindeer travel freely, the Samis either return or inform their respective inheritance.When the reindeer come to their area. These markings are drawn on a paper and sent to the Swedish government which maps them against the names. A Sami can transfer his reindeer in inheritance
  • ‘Gamban’(?) Was the Sami area where we were sitting and on the other(northern) side, it was Talman(?)
• Aurora has different colors depending upon the density of the solar flare and the layer with which it collides for example, if it collides with the Nitrogen layer, it is red
• Ola’s family leaves in Southern Sweden. He came here 15 years ago as he wanted a idyllic life close to Nature. ‘In city, I feel like you are in a tea kettle with its lids closed, I feel small. Here, I feel tiny but it’s before the Mother Nature’s grandeur’. In the summer he takes up climbing jobs for securing rock falls. He enjoys paragliding, skiing etc.

The Chinese girls were busy building the snowman. We placed it near the fireplace. We clicked a few photographs and Ola extinguished the fire. Then he drove us back, first to the cabin where we returned the gear and then to STF. We thanked him for the enchanting experience and departed. By the time we turned in, it was 0030 hours

 

Day-3

December 25, 2015(Friday)

I woke up quite late, 0630 hours as we had decided that we won’t be leaving without having breakfast which is available between 0800-1000 hours. We were at the breakfast table at 0800 hours. It was a typical Swedish breakfast, abundant and filling.

We started to walk at 0945 hours from STF and headed towards the chairlift station. It was still dark but in snow even a small amount of light is sufficient for visibility. The starting/ending point of the Kungsleden is on the way

The chairlift station is approx. 1km from STF. It was snowing lightly. We could see the cables and the further Aurora Sky station from here.

There is also a picture showing the trails that lead to Nuolja, it’s advised to take a look at it before proceeding.

The tree line was till the half of the mountain(hill?) height and that was the red signal/borderline for us. We took a right from here and continued for around 20 min. Before we took a left and came on an ascending trail parallel to the chairlift line. Soon, I was further disappointed to realize that we won’t be able to go even till the treeline because the snow wasn’t friendly. Neither had it hardened so that we can step and walk easily nor was it less in quantity so that our legs won’t sink( we didn’t rent the snowshoes as the rent was 349 SEK per day, probably it was another mistake! In the next 50 min. Rarely we could take a step without sinking into the snow knee deep. This caused the snow to enter the boots. My jacket is a snow jacket but it weighs 3.5 kg and I also had a 2kg backpack. The temperature was 0° which was not low enough to avoid the warming, thus, causing sweating . While I was not feeling tired or exhausted, it was taking a long time and massive efforts to move up the gradient. For example, the below pic was taken while descending, we stepped on our previously taken(sunken!)steps; one can imagine that one had leg sinked in snow min. calf and max. above the knee

Pandey was now experiencing numbness in his feet as aplenty snow had entered his shoes. Despite of removing it several times, it was refilling and our socks were drenched. We were still determined to labor our way up to the last tree line which was now less than 20 min. Of climb but another challenge surfaced – the snow and the wind increased. This was a reason to worry for us because then there will be a higher layer of snow on the trail and I speculated that more snow from the mountain would also slip down the trail. We decided to turn back with a dismal mood. Pandey almost ran down the path as he was scared about the numbness. I, being overweight and unhappy, was coming down at a slow pace, clicking the panoramas of Torneträsk and recording the trail.

By the time we reached back to the chairlift station, the mountain couldn’t be seen due to the snow screen! I was planning to walk to Nissonjåkka suspension bridge but Pandey insisted that we go home first and change the socks. It was still snowing and the Nissonjåkka bridge was 4km along the river so it was sure that we would again land up in a similar situation. It was 1300 hours and we barely had 45 min. Of sunlight remaining. So timidly, we decided to stay indoors.

While I had no interest since beginning, I inquired about the night visit to Aurora Sky Station which was a desperate attempt to save the day from getting wasted. The lady at the reception informed that the tour is full but we can go to the chairlift station around 2230 hours and check with the operators if there is some room. The shoes were drenched and that was our biggest worry ! We slept like bears till 1700 hours. Pandey experienced some feverish feeling but I think it was an illusion ! We checked the menu but it didn’t make us feel enthusiastic. We inquired about the kitchen. It is located in the adjoining hostel. We picked ready to eat but frozen food items, noodles, soup and milk. We emptied all those except milk and returned to our rooms by 1930. We were ambivalent about the Aurora tour which was not only costly(745 SEK ) but also uncertain. The previous night there was no Aurora due to clouds and it was the same that day as well. I just engaged myself in writing the trip report of whatever scanty experiences we had. By 2100 hours, the weather turned bad with strong winds(36kmph) and snow. I doubt if the skystation tours were conducted, given the hostile weather ! We just chatted a bit, has some hot milk chocolate and slept again. Deep in my mind, I had concluded that the trip was blown halfway and there was nothing I could do about it ! I invested my time in recalling the information usurped in the past couple of days, also tried to pen down the experience, in general.

 

Chapter-4

December 26, 2015(Saturday)

Woke up at 0700 hours and first peeped outside the window and it destroyed the last vestige of  hope I had for the dog sled ride. The wind was strong and the snow was deposited high everywhere. In a few minutes, I got a call from the tour guide that we have to postpone, worse, cancel the tour as the weather is hostile. We got ready, packed our bags, attempted to dry our shoe soles using hair dryer and left for breakfast. We first  walked to the hostel to keep the leftover milk (almost 500ml) so that someone can use it but we took some snow hit and socks and shoes got a bit wet again.

Now we had no option than to sit, wait and pray that at least the train service is running so that we can get home in time. There were sudden improvements in the weather where the visibility was clear and winds stopped but it lasted less than 5 min. It was the worst weather I had seen since I came to Sweden.Spent 6 long hours sitting on a couch. The hotel seemed to be crowded as all the people were stuck indoors.

Walked for 10 min. To reach Abisko Turistation at 1600 hours. The 1636 train is SJ Arctic Circle 93 Narvik – Umeå – Örsköldsvik – Stockholm C. SJ IC plies from Luleå – Narvik.

Train departed 40 min. Late , overall 60 min. Late. One carriage was to be detached at Boden C and will be attached to a train going to Luleå

Read a bit about Gällivare as it seemed a big town. It’s has iron ore mines harnessed by LKAB(I saw several freight trains inscribed ‘LKAB’ till Kiruna). Didn’t know that mining happens in Kiruna as well !

Found a parallel with the old ST buses – the window is leaking. The snow blown by the wheels is landing on the pane and melting after entering the warm interior of the carriage. I pulled down the plastic curtain to the half to prevent the melted snow drops from landing on my face 😛

When the train arrived at a station called Murjek, I guessed this train was taking a route bit different than the 10094. Need to confirm this, though.

Abisko : 1720

Kiruna : 1830

Gällivare : 2048

Nattavara : 2125

Murjek : 2155

Boden C : 2246

Älvsbyn : 2340

Bastuträsk : 0130

Hudiksvall : 0745

Söderhamn : 0835

Uppsala C : 1045

Arlanda C : 1105

Stockholm C : 1120

Some experiences did mitigate my sorrow of mission failure 😛 – the 6-bed compartment seemed spacious as compared to a 3-bed, after months(may be an year !), the writer’s flair within me rekindled and I penned down a poem sober in tone but having positive note. Further journey was slight sleep disturbance as our fellow passengers arrived late in night and the arrival at Stockholm C(an hour late) and further journey home, of course, enriched with experience/lessons …

 

Appendices

• Video : Shore of the Lake Torneträsk
• Video : Trail to Nuolja(in Winter)
• Know from the travelers about the STF accommodation
• Tourist tips for Abisko
• Start hiking Kungsleden from Abisko
• Plan and book outdoor activities
• Aurora(Northern Lights) webcam
• Book visit to the Skystation