Northern light hunt by snowmobile

March 10, 2014 - We arranged a Northern light hunt by snowmobile through Camp Ripan where we stayed Monday night. 

6pm: First stop on our snowmobile hunt for Northern lights was the equipment room... for what felt like 30 pounds (14 kilos) of head-to-toe snowmobile suits, boots, mittens and helmets.  This was my first time driving a snowmobile... pretty much like driving a jet ski with a lot more clothes, much colder and very fun!  After a quick tutorial about arm signals, our guide, Jacob, Gordon and I each had a snowmobile and a girl. 

Audra

Sofia

 

We took a short ride to a Sami style teepee for lingonberry juice, coffee and snacks (Sami bread, smoked reindeer spread, cream cheese, dried fruit, and dried reindeer chips.... think jerky not reindeer shapes!).  While we ate and sat around the fire waiting for full darkness, Jacob, entertained us with a story about trolls... which kind of freaked Sofia out.  She didn't understand the part where he said that vitamin B wards trolls off.

smoked reindeer spread on traditional Sami bread... it was good! 

After dark we set off again and took the snowmobiles up the nearby mountain where we stopped close to the top.  Jacob pointed out Northern lights in the sky.  Gordon set up the tripod and camera set to a 30 second exposure.  The first picture confirmed that, yes, these were Northern lights.  To the novice, they look like dark clouds.  The kind of Northern lights you see in photos are either visible due to a long camera exposure or can only be seen once or twice a year with the naked eye. 

After the photo-op we road a few more minutes to the top of the mountain to see the lights of Kiruna on the other side.  There is a huge crevice between the mountain top and Kiruna created by the mining company... it looked really cool in the dark and would be interesting to see in the daylight.  In fact Gabby and Audra both said they would like to go back up the mountain in the snowmobiles during the daytime to see more. 

the lights of Kiruna from the top of the mountain...  really windy and cold!

how to stay warm in the Arctic Circle

The next morning Sofia said her hand hurt, it was from holding on to the back back of the snowmobile for dear life while zooming across the snowy, bumpy landscape.  As soon as we got back to Camp Ripan (around 9pm), Sofia got off the snowmobile, announced that she was done (cold and not feeling well) and started marching off... in the wrong direction.  In hindsight, she should be a little older/bigger before doing that again!