A Trip to Finnish Lapland in the heart of winter (Dec 26-31. 2003)

The Auroras

The main reason for this trip was to try and see the Aurora Borealis. Out of the four days we spent beyond the Arctic Circle, we could only see the Auroras on one night at Kilpisjarvi. The other nights were cloudy.

On the clear night, we saw the Aurora twice. Once around 17:30 in the evening and the next time around 22:30 at night. Unfortunately at 22:30 there was a very thin cloud cover and that made taking photographs difficult. These photos were taken during the clear auroral display, but at that time I only had a P&S camera with a 1600 film. Hence the grainy pictures.

In and around Kilpisjarvi

The auroral oval appeared in an arc between these two hills.

The Road to and from Kilpisjarvi. Norway is a mere 4 kms down the road in the first picture.

The frozen lake at Kilpisjarvi. Nice routes for snowmobiles. The Swedish border is somewhere on the lake. The boat is used for pleasure trips at milder temperatures.

The Helsinki University Biological Station at Kilpisjarvi. (We stayed here).

In and around Kittila

The biggest ski resort in Finland (Levi) is only 15 kms from Kittila. So we went there and I tried cross-counrty skiing for the first time. I had no idea that it was possible to sweat even at -18 degrees centigrade, but I was sweating so profusely after climbing some slopes that I decided to stop and cool off. The pictures were taken during that break.

The winter polar sky (middday and later in the afternoon). The bright foreground in the second picture is not natural but due to strong lights at the airport.

Scenes from the Kittila airport with the Levi ski resort in the distance.

The Frozen Sea at Helsinki

On the ferry to Suomenlinna Island

At Suomenlinna Island

My partners for the trip