After settling into our little cabin we decide to experiment with a new way of getting around for us, when there is so much snow around. Put on the snow shoes. It gives you a broader footprint and so you don’t sink under in deep snow, you don’t go fast but much less exhausting than sinking knee deep without them.
We are on the edge of a long lake so we think that it would be great to explore off road with a snow mobile. Now André with his Canadian roots is a pro , for me a newly acquired skill, but hej we are game. Thanks to Johan instead of going on a “snow mobile tour” we get to have our own snow mobile to explore where and when we like.
André impresses me again with not even blinking an eyelid about how to hitch the trailer to our little Yeti ( Europcar agreeing to this venture, as you would in far north Sweden) and his ability to just drive the snowmobile into the trailer.
We take the trailer to the little Sami ( local indigenous) community Nikkaluokta and from there we head out into the hills of the largest mountain in Sweden Kebnekaise. Conditions are perfect, a little sun, a little cloud and virtually nobody out there.
After a deliscious Swedish Buffet at the STF lodge we decide to explore a side Valley. I get to be called a hoon ( Australian for reckless driver) by André as I reach the speed of 52km/hour on the snowmobile 🙂
The side Valley gets tighter and tighter, we drive through what clearly is avalanche slopes and despite the sensible thing to do is drive through quickly we stop for many photo ops of frozen waterfalls etc.
On the way back to the main track we hit an unexpected soft patch of snow on a slope and we tip the snowmobile, landing safely along side of it. Now you may not know the true proportions of this little snow beast but righting it back on its feet takes some logistics and a fair amount of grunt. This is me showing our biceps prowess:)
