Winter stuff
by fairy_dust
If you visit Kiruna during the winter, take advantage of the winter stuff - the ice hotel, wild moose safari, dogsledding, etc. After all, when and where else are you going to have a chance to do these things? For a small snow-covered village, there are a lot of things to do in winter in Kiruna. In the Yellow House youth hostel, there are a few posters and signs advertising these activities, so just pick which ones you want and call the number on the poster to book it. Be sure to bring warm clothes and boots though! I enjoyed the ice hotel, especially the theme rooms. Also, the wild moose safari was good. A few people in my group went dog-sledding instead of the safari, and they enjoyed that too.
The ever changing nature
by El_Sueco
The weather changes very rapidly and very locally. On this picture you see the clouds over the Kebnekaijse mountains (the highest peak is not visable).
When we got to Kiruna/Nikkaluokta/Kebnekaijse, the sun was all shining, the morning after we tried to get up on top of Kebnekaijse, but was stopped by fog, hail and heavy winds.
After that the clouds were covering the mountains the rest of the week, although in Nikkaluokta 20 km away the sun were shining. New clouds was driven over and over again by stormy winds towards us in Nikkaluokta but was heated up by the sun and disappeared on the way. Due to the winds we had rain driven over us now and then in the sun.
That sort of changes and variations is the fascinating thing about nature.
SNOWBOARDING!!!!
by sharkie
This is me getting ready to lay some tracks in the fresh snow.
Since Riksgransen is located above the arctic-circle there will be midnight sun here for a couple of months. During these months you can go skiing in the middle of the night!!! All the lifts are opened for a couple of hours each night. This is awesome!!
A warning: the sun can some days cause a blinding effect where you lose all the contures of the slope, and the lack of trees makes things worse. This is scary since I tested many different goggles and none worked well to reduce this.
Tundra
by dave_21
Up here there are mostly tundra, with lots of wetlands and bogs. These enviroments are excellent for mosquitos. I strongly recommend some mosquito protection, the "Roll-on" protection is the best!
If you're worried about mosquito bites, don't be. How hard you try to keep away from them, in the end they will hunt you and they will get you! ;-)
Sami/Lappish traditions
by fairy_dust
The Sami people live in Lappland, and while we didn't meet any, we did see some of their traditions. While on the moose safari, we saw some pieces of cloth attatched to poles on the side of the road - the Sami people attatch them there as a way to mark where the reindeer are. Also, the people who went on the dogsled ride (dogsledding is a part of Sami culture) got to eat lunch Sami-style in a tent.
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Station lobby
The local church
Me outside the ice hotel
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