Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige), is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. Sweden borders Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund. At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.7 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54/sq mi), with the population mostly concentrated in the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population lives in urban areas. Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested.
Venturing into the frozen north once again and I could not find anyone to join me on this trip so I was going solo. I heard that this was one of Mountain Travel Sobek‘s true adventure trips. The basic plan was to meet the rest of the group at the hotel in Stockholm for dinner and then get a flight the next morning up to Kiruna airport (above the Arctic circle) get our winter gear then head to Övre Soppero were we will stay in a converted barn for the first half of the trip. Pure luxury, sleeping bag in the rafters. 🙂
Stockholm
Seeing the itinerary for this trip I noticed that there was no time to explore Stockholm so I decided to arrive early so that I could explore. I did learn one important lesson early. Learn where you are going before you arrive. Getting from the airport to downtown Stockholm is very easy with the train but getting to the hotel was more of a challenge, especially since I don’t know any Swedish. I was told it was a short walk from the central train station and easy to get to. Well, let’s just say I am very glad that I travel light and only had one backpack as I ended up talking one wrong turn and ended up exploring a very nice residential area before getting pointed in the right direction.
One day is not enough time to explore Stockholm, as there is so much to see. I could easily have spent another day in the city.
Övre Soppero
Welcome to my first visit above the Arctic circle, shouldn’t there be a ceremony or something? While here we learned about the local culture, visited the local crafts people and herded the reindeer. We stayed in the barn for two nights, then off to the tent for one night before returning to the barn.
Lake Jäkkeljärvi
The last morning in Övre Soppero we got to meet our dogs. We would each have a team of four dogs for the rest of the trip. A quick training lesson including some commands in Swedish, a test run around a small course and then our dog sled adventure would begin. You quickly learn that the dogs love to run and they know how to stay in line, it’s getting them to stop which is the challenge. I was really surprised how eager they are to pull the sleigh. You would walk outside and they would be sitting in the snow and just look calmly at you, unless you had a harness in your hand, then they would be barking and jumping like little kids. Except these little kids were very strong.
Lake Väkkäräjärvi
After the first day I learned that Rhena (white dog) did not like being a left lead. When I put her on the right lead she was much happier. She was the rookie on my crew so our guide kept asking how she was doing. Most dogs end up having a set position in the team that they are best at. Another full day with the dogs today and off to our next cabin. Luckily the weather was good for the entire trip, clear skies and usually calm (but it could get a little windy when crossing lakes).
Jukkasjärvi
A couple of questions people often ask me about this trip:
- You cared for the dogs as much as you wanted and the guides took care of the rest. You had to harness and unharness the dogs yourself but feeding them and cleaning up after them was your option.
Speaking about cleaning up after the dogs, an interesting thing is that they have been trained to “go” on the run. The team does not stop if one dog needs a break, the team will just pull that dog along as it takes care of business, so if you are mushing, make sure you keep your mouth closed. 🙂 - The other question I get is about the facilities for humans. Well, everyplace, except the tent, had a sauna for bathing. The toilet, except for the barn, was an outhouse. Some were even two seaters, which I don’t think I would want to get to know someone that well.
This was the last day with our dogs as we would be making it to the famous Icehotel.
The Icehotel – Jukkasjarvi
ICEHOTEL is the world’s first and largest hotel built of snow and ice and it is situated in Jukkasjärvi, a small village in Northern Sweden with 1,100 residents and 1,000 dogs.
ICEHOTEL covers 5,500 square meters and is constructed from 1,000 tonnes of Torne River ice and 30,000 tons of “snice”, a mixture of snow and ice that strengthens the structure. Around 100 people are involved in the construction of ICEHOTEL, half of which are artists especially invited to design particular areas of the hotel. The construction is a year-round process. Between March and April, 5,000 tons of ice is harvested from the Torne River and kept in cold storage during spring and summer. Construction takes place in November and December and the entire ICEHOTEL is then open between December and mid-April, when everything begins to slowly melt and return to the Torne River.
There are two types of rooms in the Icehotel, the signature rooms which have ice sculpture where every room has a different theme, and basic rooms that just have a bed. I am told it was a complete coincidence that I (the single guy travelling alone) got the room with all the naked lady sculptures.
All the rooms are open to everyone during the day, so you can go room to room to see the different artwork. The rooms have one light in the ceiling and a curtain for the door. When you are ready to turn in for the night, you change in a building next door and leave your luggage there. You pick up your big -50F sleeping bag at the desk, and they do have two person sleeping bags, and head to your room. In the mornings you get woken up with a glass of warm juice around 7am as in a few hours the rooms will again be open for all to visit.
There is a bar in the Icehotel and everything is of course made of ice, even the glasses, but what about plumbing you ask. Nope, not in the Icehotel, if mother nature calls you have to go into the building next door. Let’s just say after a night of trying most of the different vodka drinks at the Icehotel bar it’s not fun to get out of your warm sleeping bag, put on your boots, run over to the next building, take care of business and then wander back to your room and crawl back into your sleeping bag.
Other than getting up a few times I did sleep very well that night, but I am someone that likes the cold.
Stockholm
We took an afternoon flight back to Stockholm and had our farewell dinner before heading back home the next day. It was a short trip but so much fun and I still have great memories of working with my dog team.
Logistics
This trip was organized by Mountain Travel Sobek and was their “Dog Sledding to the Ice Hotel” itinerary which they do not appear to offer any longer. This was a trip that you have to love winter and cold weather to enjoy. You are out in the cold most of the day and you are not going to be pampered. The trip starts and ends in Stockholm (airport pickup not included) which is a great city so I am glad I arrived a day early to explore and I wish I had come two days early.
The Icehotel is such a unique place and the rooms change every year and I highly recommend the experience. Even if you just fly up from Stockholm for the night. I know that a number of other cities around the world now have their version, but this is the first one.
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