Road to The Arctic

 

Heyy so my blogs been a lil silent lately because it's that time of year when us riders go into hibernation for the winter or are counting the piggy bank jar for early season rides, I got out kind of later than i wanted this season but i was planning on a different kind of early trip to begin the season, It's been on my mind for quite a while but i decided now is the right time to go and discover Arctic Norway so i booked my flight and i was flying out early December 2013 reporting back right now, Which means i made it in the Arctic yeahhh!!! 



The trip was not last minute but a lot of the original plans were changed due to a weird kind of unseasonal arctic storm going on up in Narvik, the city where i was planning to spend most of my stay. Almost from the beginning of the trip things were starting to look bad. I had a really funny flight talking to a dancing judge and costume designer on the plane to Oslo, Those guys were off to Lillehammer about an hour away from Oslo but they were really nice and friendly and made the flight a lot more interesting! I got into Oslo and walked in a straight line down the airport for about 1 hour past sushi parlours, mini champagne bars and just crazy expensive food places until i reached my terminal for the flight to Narvik but i just also found out the flight before mine and many others had been cancelled so i started to think the worst and i would be stuck in Oslo for the night but even though the weather had only laid up a little bit which i found out from all the turbulence on the plane, I managed to arrive in Narvik on schedule and was on my way to the guesthouse. 

The guesthouse was kind of nice but strange at first, I'm just not used to things being so open and trusting but i arrived and the keys were inside the room which was open already so anybody could have really walked in, I was lil worried about that the first night but relaxed about it after the night and found out your more likely to have a big ice skating bail out on the street than anything that can happen overnight, The streets were like ice rinks and fun but only if you know how to slide on your feet and not your face! 
the first night i managed to catch the northern lights right outside the guesthouse over the city, Amazing! but damn it was cold that night and it took me a while to adjust back to those temperatures so i was in and out of the bar every minute to admire the views of the lights, Speaking of the bar Norway aint cheap and if you are planning to drink you better have some space on your credit card because the first couple of drinks would be my last for the night. 
I was speaking to the staff in the guesthouse and asking about the area and i didn't really think about other things to do before i arrived apart from snowboarding so i was interested to find out more stuff around the area but was surprised to find out Narvik is actually pretty small and if i was really hardcore travelling most of the touristy things could be done in a day, Luckily i had a week so i took my time with most of the things, But i also didn't have a choice, Because i later found out the main ski resort would be closed for the week due to conditions and lack of snow, In the arctic? yeah right.
Even though the resort was closed this was a good opportunity to improve my fitness because i've been slouching off a little bit since summer, I decided to make the ascent by foot and follow the piste route up to some great drop in spots on the trail, I'm really glad i did this because not only did i managed to see some amazing views but also this give me a general idea of the area and the best spots to go in the future for snowboarding. I was limited to where i could go but i managed to get some decent runs even though the snow was really kind of hard concrete pow because of the freezing temperatures. 



I think it was the 3rd day i decided to do the walk all the way to the top or thereabouts, I was already on my way up when i joined a women who was telemark skiing with her husky dog on a lead, I decided to tag and just follow their route and it turns out she was making her way to the viewpoint before skiing down so i managed to reach the viewpoint for some of the most amazing views ever. I was really tired though by this point, And i didn't really make the most of the ride down because it was getting dark and i could barely see so i had to make a wise choice to get down in one piece. 



The sky in Narvik is amazing, The colours are an arctic white/blue/purpely pink like nothing i've ever seen before and the kind of thing you would expect to see on an alien planet on a sci fi movie, I've seen quite a few sights already in my life but i think it will take something not from this world to beat the views in Narvik. The conditions were so snowy i managed to snowboard all the way back from the viewpoint to the town centre back down on the walkway but i bailed into a garden fence on the way there haha. The night sky is just as amazing as the day, If you don't see the northern lights then the polar night is still something spectacular, Not quite fully dark but like a dark blue with the shadows of the moon. Overall i didn't really get as much snowboarding in as i would like to but i definitely experienced the arctic more than i had planned this time around and i was really starting to get a nice connection to the area and the people towards the end of the week. Anyway after 4 days of hiking the mountain i was getting tired and i needed to change things up and take a break so i decided to check out some more of the city, attractions and the surroundings. 



Narvik is also known for a really serious battle in WW2 and i thought it was only right to pay respects and visit the museum, I was shocked about how big and important the battle was during the war, I also found out only pearl harbour was larger in scale and brutality during the war, I was really feeling sorrow for the soldiers who i could imagine were fighting during those arctic winter conditions against relentless force from German invasion and after seeing some of the weapons i couldn't believe people were fighting like this back in those days, It was a very strong reminder of the sacrifices made for the freedom we have today and that the world can never see that kind of power again. 

I really like the Norwegian people, At first the locals are very reserved and it's kind of understandable since many people probably know each other in a small place and already have their own circles and are not used to meeting many tourists and outsiders etc but if you approach and start the conversation the Norwegians are very friendly and just happy for life in general and also wouldn't change anything for the world, I naturally started talking to many locals working on or around the ski resort and everybody shares the same passion and happiness for their surroundings, It's really great to see others feeling so strong about preserving what they have around them even though life can be hard in the arctic and the conditions something else. I even started talking to a piste basher who stopped at the side of me before i dropped in for a run for a quick chat haha i was thinking is he going to run me over, It's a good job none of us made any sudden moves or else one of us would be going down the hill the wrong way up. 



Some other guys i met during the trip, A very happy and enthusiastic swiss guy who was real funny and had a really youthful presence even though he was an older man. A travelling circus on tour who were kind of strange but i think they thought i was strange too so yeah we kind of balanced out in the end lol, A kind of psychotic guy who hated the Swedish and apparently was planning his revenge trip lol i don't even want to go any further into that one, Also two guys from Slovakia and Czech republic in Lapland, This was kind of a mash up because we were trying to find the nearest coop in the pitch black so we decided the best thing to do is to go together and we all ended up talking and having a fun lil adventure across the snow in the dark and i even managed to see a reindeer and the northern nights! 
The last few days were really really arctic like conditions, The weather had turned into super storm and it must have been snowing for 2 days nonstop, The snow was so heavy even the gritters couldn't keep up with clearing the constant snowfall and cars turned into snow ploughs.
I decided to do something different for the last few days even though it was kind of a last minute decision, I knew there were other areas to visit within a short distance via train so i decided to take a train ride and stay in Abisko in Swedish Lapland. I was excited for this because i didn't plan to go Lapland this time around but it was the perfect short trip location, But from the moment i left the platform and stepped onto the train i had nothing but issues during this short time in Sweden. First of all my train was blocked off by an avalanche, So we spent around 1 hour 30 minutes just waiting on the train for the track to be cleared before we could go on. The next thing was some issue with my booking in the hotel which was kind of a rip off anyway but i had a big thing with the staff over things i didn't actually want but i had to pay for anyway, In the end though i got a nice refund and it was worth it after the refund, The room was typical ikea showroom but i wasn't impressed for how much it would have cost in the first place but since i was there only a night i though what the hell, This put me in a bad mood the rest of the night though and i got an early night. The hotel is actually built especially to see the northern lights but there was no chance because the conditions suddenly turned really bad on the day of my arrival. 
The next day things started looking up and i was a little happier after finding out i would get a discount on the room after all the performance the night before, I set out to explore the area and found all the cute huskies right next the hotel aww!! i really wanted to see these dogs so i was really happy i managed to get a glimpse whilst i was there even though the kennels were closed for the day which was unfortunate because it would have been nice to go out on a sledge ride through the trees. The views around there are just unbelievable, There isn't much to see but it's the baron landscape which creates a eerie atmosphere and gives you a feeling of being at the end of the world, The Abisko range actually reminded me of Ayers rock but without the colour lol. 
I was really charged after such a good day so far and decided to take one last trek through the woods before dark to try and reach an impressive waterfall, Turns out this could of been one of the worst decisions of my life. The trail had obviously not been trekked for a few days because the snow was fresh and deep and i could see no signs of any footprints or anything on the way up, I reached about half way and i had a moment of indecision which is a really rare thing for me, I had to decide whether i wanted to go on and possibly complete the trail quickly but risk coming back in the dark or turn back and quit while I’m ahead, I spent around 10 minutes thinking of the best choice of action, After a pause i made up my mind to go as far as i can before i could see the light begin to fade so pressed on down the trail. 
So about a quarter of the way up i was getting a little paranoid about the woods and the trees and just sheer remoteness and my loneliness in the area, The atmosphere was dead calm and there was absolute silence except my feet scrunching through deep snow, Also by this point my feet were really beginning to feel the cold and i had let a lot of water into my shoes which was starting to really feel horrible, Then i spotted something straight ahead, The figure turned around at me and i could see the glare of eyes looking right back at me, I was told there are moose and deer in the area but from the size and the movement of the figure ahead there was no way this was a figure of a moose or deer, Then it hit me, This was a bear! My mind and heart at this point went into overload, I thought i can't run because the snow is too deep and it will attract the bear, I also can't defend myself other than what i've got on me, I carry a really high power pocket light and my first thought was to use it in defence or just actually stand upto it and go out with a fight but unless i get a lucky balls shot i don't think i would stand a chance and there was absolutely no bail out spot or hiding place except the freezing arctic river next to me, my only choice was to turn back slowly, take the chance of powerwalking back and then from the previous signpost i started powerskipping through the snow back down the trail and out of there! all the while i was thinking the bear is going to show up over the horizon or through the trees running behind me, I was on full radar alert scoping 360 around the area for any movement as i was making my way back, I knew there were bears in the area but you always imagine a bear to be hibernating during the winter, So being naive i took the chance. I made it to the end of the trail, exhausted and still under full alert thinking the bear is just teasing me or something and will get me when i think i'm safe, Only when i got back to the hotel i finally started to relax and i could take my mind off the situation. 

So after such a crazy day my trip in Lapland was coming to an end, And even still i was paranoid about the bear waiting in the train station which was just a single wooden hut lol and i was alone so i was still thinking the bear is going to pop up and be looking through the window and there's only way out! The train arrived on time and i was finally on my way back and could forget about the whole thing. 
The last day i had an early night, A few beers and it was an early uprising for an early flight back to the UK! The idea of the trip was to check out the area for freeride in the future, Also i managed to get a good idea of the surroundings and some amazing locations and mountain faces.


2014? To be continued....