Ice hotel, snowmobiling and Northern Lights (Friday 8 February)
Our hotel room was like an oven when we woke up so motivated us to go downstairs to the pub's bar for the breakfast buffet. It was a good choice of food but like most hotels, the coffee was bland and watery. Whilst getting ready I flicked through the ten TV channels. Most of them were Swedish with one Finnish, one Norwegian and one Russian. It was a mix of politics, skiing, US imports, fashion and women's chat programmes at that time of the morning.
With our first booked tour starting at 5:45pm we had quite a bit time on our hands and Kiruna town centre had very little to offer. After a decent coffee in Cafe Safari we headed to the tourist office and found out the bus timetable which had a coach heading to the Ice Hotel. For about £7 each for a return we caught the bus taking us direct to the Ice Hotel within 30 minutes. The bus even took credit cards so no need for cash. Along the route the bus stopped for a few times picking up school children (before the early 2:30pm sunset I guess).
Nowhere on the website did it say about an entry price to enter the Ice Hotel but it was a staggering £35 each. We knew we had about 2 hours to view the hotel and we'd hoped to dine in the restaurant. The hotel part and ice sculptures were amazing with each room designed by a different artist. Also inside the Ice Hotel was the vodka bar but we didn't stay for a drink. Since it was so cold there the ice was sturdy enough to drill and screw in sliding doors. After seeing the amazing luxury suites, the church building was slightly disappointing in comparison and the building with images of how they built it all was slightly pointless.
With the free map given we tried to find the restaurant but had no luck so went to the bar near the entrance. Although there was free WiFi the bar food was a little disappointing with cold ciabattas and smoked reindeer. Kerry's cocktail of hot apple juice with pear cognac and cinnamon stick was apparently delicious so I'm told (repeatedly). By the time we'd finished it was time to catch the bus back to Kiruna.
Kiruna Guidetur, the company we'd booked our first tour was located just metres away from the hotel. Checking in and getting kitted out for our snowmobile adventure was slightly shambolic. Our personal guide quickly introduced himself then we were left alone wondering if we should just help ourselves to the clothes. There were no thick snowboots left in our sizes (common sizes UK 8 and 9) due to a previous party who had the same sized feet. It seemed to take ages waiting and wondering where the guide had gone. It was frustrating that he never really told us what we needed either but after half an hour we were in the minibus to the starting point of the snowmobiling. The guide explained that there were two other guides waiting for us but it seemed that a couple of snowmobiles needed fuelling and one was missing. Again, no real communication or explanation of what was going on. However, once we all got sorted with a 2 minute training session we were off in a convoy and any grievances soon forgotten with the fun I was having.
The snowmobiles had heated handlebars and an unusual accelerator lever that you pressed with the base of your hand instead of the twist handle I was expecting. When you did accelerate it was incredibly quick so you needed plenty of room in front to avoid ant collisions. There was a very defined route already and plenty of bumps along the way. At some points there were some icy tracks and unfortunately Kerry, driving in front, suddenly spilled into the metre deep snow. A slight panic set in as the group ahead zoomed off into the distance without realising our unplanned stop. Luckily, Kerry was totally unhurt as the snow was so deep however her snowmobile was well and truly stuck in the snow as it had tipped over at an angle. We took ages digging it out but it was so heavy there was no way to budge it. We weren't told how to reverse the engine either so had to just wait until the tour guide realised we were missing! It took three of us to un-wedge it then shift it over then the guide actually driving it out.
Back on track and another rider ahead did the same spill but recovered quickly. There was a long section across the frozen lake where we were allowed to go whatever speed we were daring to do. I think I managed over 70kph but it got a bit hairy so couldn't maintain it. Eventually we got to a teepee-like cabin for our evening meal where the tour guides had built a fire inside and cooked more reindeer meat (in a stew) with hot lingonberry juice. Later there was a dessert of sponge with cloudberry jam which was very tasty.
Back on track and another rider ahead did the same spill but recovered quickly. There was a long section across the frozen lake where we were allowed to go whatever speed we were daring to do. I think I managed over 70kph but it got a bit hairy so couldn't maintain it. Eventually we got to a teepee-like cabin for our evening meal where the tour guides had built a fire inside and cooked more reindeer meat (in a stew) with hot lingonberry juice. Later there was a dessert of sponge with cloudberry jam which was very tasty.
The journey back was perhaps the best and most memorable highlight of the holiday. The Northern Lights finally made an appearance twice. It was an eerie green ribbon of light above but not quite what I'd expected. It was very faint and didn't really last long but still enough time to take two or three long exposures on the DSLR camera. Apparently there was a low 'KP' forecast hence the low intensity of the Aurora but at least we'd seen it. After a second time we headed back to the minibus and got back to the hotel around 11pm. A long day with an early start the next day for our dog sledding experience.
Next blog entry - Day 3: Transport Doggy-style (Saturday 9 February)
Next blog entry - Day 3: Transport Doggy-style (Saturday 9 February)
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