UKC

Hi there,

Anyone got any advice for an imminent trip to Abisko in Northern Sweden? It's partly a family Northern Lights spotting exercise, but also taking ice gear

I see there is the Rihtanjira ice fall mentioned in the http://kiwiclimber.se/iceclimbing/ PDF guide, any advice on this or stuff nearby such as the river canyon would be much appreciated

Also any general activity "must do's" or recommendations whilst in the area?

Many thanks

Peter

p.s. there were some good deals on flights from Manchester with Norwegian Airlines - particularly so flying Christmas Day and returning New Year's Day (I wonder why...)

In reply to PeterBlackler:

When were you thinking of going?

If you're talking about this Christmas Holiday (you say 'imminent') it's worth mentioning the severe lack of useable daylight means you may as well consider it permanently dark...
I'm a fair bit further north near Lyngen, but was in Bodø 2 days ago and the daylight situation down there wasn't that much better.

On the plus side, the Aurora forecast for 24th, 25th and 26th of Dec is 'moderate', so there's a reasonable chance of seeing them if you're flying soon.

If you haven't booked anything yet, a combined ice climbing and aurora trip would probably be better in a few months time, late Feb to mid March.

In reply to TOS:

Many thanks for the info - we're flying on Christmas day. As I say is primarily a family trip.

So just wondering about the huge increase in baggage is worthwhile to take the winter climbing gear (it's Ok for the flight as baggage included). I was maybe over-anticipating sufficient light at mid-day!

Obviously it's possible do _something_ with head torches but am I being unrealistic do you think?

Pete

In reply to PeterBlackler:

I'm maybe being a bit pessimistic; there is some daylight and if you're ready to go you could possibly get something done.
I think the point I'm trying to make is the window of daylight is sufficiently short that you have to be prepared and committed to use it.

I'm not long in and there were big bands of green light across the night sky, so regardless of your climbing plans, hopefully you'll get to see that with your family

In reply to TOS:

Thanks - I had a quick look at the Abisko webcam and yes there is definitely green light in the sky this evening...hope it holds until Thursday

also for the advice on the short daylight window; alpine start set for 10:30am and objectives in realism mode!

Pete