Hi all, well a follow on from the planning thread, as per title, a little write up of the Arctic adventure. Things didn't go to plan with numbers, the original 6 went to 5 and then to 4 Brits due to ill health on 2 members parts, we did meet up with Greger for a day and a night though, great to have met him after all the talking. So, after a lot of hurried airport scrambles we took off from a clear almost snow-less Stockholm, worried looks abound 
These changed as we neared Kiruna and spotted the white stuff.
Kiruna Airport
We had booked a hostel / hotel type thing for the first night as it was late in the afternoon, this gave us a chance to shop for supplies and sort gear out ( again ) this plan turned out to NOT be a good idea on my part, from being organised my kit suddenly went to all 4 corners with different kit in different bags which caused a bit of chaos in the field
Hostel car park with lots of snow, things were looking up
I can't seem to separate pictures, I'll try and edit ?
Ok, got pics under control, I'll post more up in a bit
Do you wanna build a quinzhee
Chris and Ash
Dave and Chris with our kit, waiting for the minibus taxi to the train station.
Kiruna train station where we would travel to Gallivare, the statue is to the iron workers, the town centre is to be bought out ( compulsory order ) and people and businesses relocated, they've discovered a huge iron deposit under the town, advancement ?
The drive up towards our destination had us all twitchy, it looked perfect, crisp, dry and white, lots of white
Well we arrived at our destination above Suorva where we would cross the lake over the bridge near the hydro electric plant, packing up the toboggan's for the haul in.
Now this is where the plan started to unravel we walked in about 2 km, if that, and the light was beginning to fade, the woodland that we had thought would be there wasn't, not a lot of dead standing, fallen or much of anything really to burn, a BIG problem seeing as we had 3 tents with wood burning stoves, a decision was made to find a spot to camp which was done, this is where things got weird, we all ended up in my tent for the night, all 4 of us, while 2 of us set up a 4x4 tarp as admin area / gear cover 2 went on a reccy, maybe there would be a better spot further down the lake ? We set up my Ti-Goat stove for heat and to cook on BUT, the tent stove jack didn't like the heat ( I'm not going to post pictures or name brands as yet as I'm trying to get it sorted with the supplier ) So, now we're down to 1 tent pitched with a faulty stove jack and it getting darker, meagre rations were warmed up on the Primus that Chris had bought and the Trangia that I had, along with a few cups of coffee and hot chocolate we warmed up slightly before we turned in, tomorrow would be better, wouldn't it ?
NO, in a word, it was raining, I can't remember if it started through the first night but it rained all day, a decision was made to pull out and head to Jokkmokk, Dave got onto the mountain centre to arrange pick up the next morning, it carried on raining for the rest of the day and night, a stew of sorts was fashioned together, not great but hot and filling, we woke up early the next day to pack and walk out.
The previously frozen lake had transformed, a good decision not to head on further down with so much water now visible.
Any flattish surface was like a skating rink on the walk out
Our lifts arrived and the toboggan's were loaded onto the trailer as they were.
Jokkmokk here we come.
To be continued
These changed as we neared Kiruna and spotted the white stuff.Kiruna Airport
We had booked a hostel / hotel type thing for the first night as it was late in the afternoon, this gave us a chance to shop for supplies and sort gear out ( again ) this plan turned out to NOT be a good idea on my part, from being organised my kit suddenly went to all 4 corners with different kit in different bags which caused a bit of chaos in the field
Hostel car park with lots of snow, things were looking up
I can't seem to separate pictures, I'll try and edit ?
Ok, got pics under control, I'll post more up in a bit
Do you wanna build a quinzhee
Chris and Ash
Dave and Chris with our kit, waiting for the minibus taxi to the train station.
Kiruna train station where we would travel to Gallivare, the statue is to the iron workers, the town centre is to be bought out ( compulsory order ) and people and businesses relocated, they've discovered a huge iron deposit under the town, advancement ?
The drive up towards our destination had us all twitchy, it looked perfect, crisp, dry and white, lots of white
Well we arrived at our destination above Suorva where we would cross the lake over the bridge near the hydro electric plant, packing up the toboggan's for the haul in.
Now this is where the plan started to unravel
we walked in about 2 km, if that, and the light was beginning to fade, the woodland that we had thought would be there wasn't, not a lot of dead standing, fallen or much of anything really to burn, a BIG problem seeing as we had 3 tents with wood burning stoves, a decision was made to find a spot to camp which was done, this is where things got weird, we all ended up in my tent for the night, all 4 of us, while 2 of us set up a 4x4 tarp as admin area / gear cover 2 went on a reccy, maybe there would be a better spot further down the lake ? We set up my Ti-Goat stove for heat and to cook on BUT, the tent stove jack didn't like the heat ( I'm not going to post pictures or name brands as yet as I'm trying to get it sorted with the supplier ) So, now we're down to 1 tent pitched with a faulty stove jack and it getting darker, meagre rations were warmed up on the Primus that Chris had bought and the Trangia that I had, along with a few cups of coffee and hot chocolate we warmed up slightly before we turned in, tomorrow would be better, wouldn't it ?NO, in a word, it was raining, I can't remember if it started through the first night but it rained all day, a decision was made to pull out and head to Jokkmokk, Dave got onto the mountain centre to arrange pick up the next morning, it carried on raining for the rest of the day and night, a stew of sorts was fashioned together, not great but hot and filling, we woke up early the next day to pack and walk out.
The previously frozen lake had transformed, a good decision not to head on further down with so much water now visible.
Any flattish surface was like a skating rink on the walk out
Our lifts arrived and the toboggan's were loaded onto the trailer as they were.
Jokkmokk here we come.
To be continued
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