Sunday 6 January 2019

Christmas in the dark north

We decided to stay in the dark north for the Christmas and New Year break and rented a nice cabin in the Lyngen Alps for a few days before Christmas. It is very dark here this time of the year, with not more than about 4 hours of sort of daylight if the weather is good and hardy anything when it is overcast or snowing/raining. We had stayed in Silje's cabin before and knew that it was cosy and comfortable, with good possibilities for hikes directly from the cabin, so when I noticed it was available we decided to book it. It is about 2 hours drive + ferry from Tromsø. The best weather was on the first day, cold and clear, and we stopped along the way the enjoy the 'daylight' and walk up to the beautiful lake Blåisvatnet on the western side of Lyngen. It is a well known and popular short walk in summer when the lake is bright blue, but even in winter without sunlight the water appeared quite blue under the thick ice. 

It had been quite cold, so the surface is covered with large snow crystals.

Little snow and thick ice, perfect conditions to visit Blåisvatnet. I should have brought my skates!

There is a whole string of lakes further into the valley, Strupskardet, we will have to come back for a longer trip when there is more daylight.


Close-up of Lenangstindene.

The weather was more overcast the remaining 3 days. We did a couple of shorter hikes to frozen waterfalls and view points on the eastern side of Lyngen. Very nice to be out for a couple of hours everyday, but the light was a bit too dim for good photographs.

Snowshoeing to and around Rottenvikfossen

View into Kvalvikdalen from close to the viewpoint Oksen

View back towards our cabin and Kvalvikneset

Dalfossen in Kvalvikdalen

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