2007 April archive at Outdoor Academy of Sweden

Archive for April, 2007

Photos wanted!

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April 26, 2007 in About, OAS 2007 and Photo. 1 Comment

As hard as I tried I couldn’t be in all places at the same time. The photo gallery is already amazing but it could be even better

To provide a more complete picture of the 2007 OAS activities it would be great to also have photos from the following activities:

Advanced ski touring
Telemark
Advanced alpine skiing
Journalist activities during day 5 and 6
Anything from day 6

So if you have any photos matching the above activities and you’re willing to share them please email them to me at
tommy.oas@visitsweden.com

A few of you have already emailed us photos, thank you! They will be uploaded shortly.

Day 6: Visit to Rensjön

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Jenny Jonevret

April 25, 2007 in OAS 2007 and Photo. 2 Comments

After a pretty late Sunday night I woke up on Monday morning and realized that this was the last day of our trip.
Times goes by too fast sometimes….

We took the bus and went to Rensjön and met this calm and interesting Sami man, Nils Anders Kuhmunen.
He told us about Sami culture and a bit about his daily life. After a cosy lunch inside his Lavvo we met his reindeers and some of us got the opportunity to feed them.

Then is was time to continue our trip back to Kiruna Airport, Stockholm and Europe.

I must admit that on the flight back to Stockholm I slept like a baby.

Day 5: Final Celebrations!

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Tommy Sollén

April 25, 2007 in OAS 2007 and Photo. 0 Comments

We later head back to the Abisko Tourist Station and had some free time. A shower and a sauna later we were ready for dinner. Not just any dinner, no. We first met up for a drink down in the bar. There we watched a nice photo/audio slideshow of the northern lights.

After that I presented a slideshow of the pictures I’ve uploaded to this blog’s photo gallery. Finally everybody got to see the result, well the pictures at least - I lost the internet connection just as I was about to show the blog - of the work I’ve been doing during the OAS so far. Many pictures are quite nice and I think people enjoyed watching a recap of what they have been doing and seeing some photos of what other’s have been doing.

We then moved up to the restaurant where we had a good three course meal. Main course: moose burger of course!

Finally back down to the bar again. Time for a well deserved award ceremony!
Everybody got framed certificates proveing that they are now official ambassadors of Sweden!

We then partied until sunrise - which is not as long as you might think in Lapland
But still long enough. I had to go to sleep early though because I left during the night to Kiruna with eight others for the early flight to Stockholm.

That concludes the OAS for me but I’ll post another report based on pictures and stories for those present on the sixth day so stay tuned!

Day 5: The Workshop Day (and SO much more)

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Tommy Sollén

April 23, 2007 in OAS 2007, Photo and Video. 3 Comments

If you’ve read the other posts you can probably appreciate how wonderful it was to sleep in a warm soft bed.

Workshop

After a nice breakfast most of us jumped on a bus heading to the nearby ski resort Björkliden. It was the place where the OAS Workshop would take place.
Björkliden is a very nice ski resort with a good welcoming friendly family feel.
Lot’s of representatives from the region were present and from what I could tell the workshop went very well. Everybody got at least 15 minutes with everybody. Information was shared and business was made. I imagine all the participants of the OAS had good use of their outdoor activities and their new experiences during this workshop.

I said “most” because the journalists had a seperate program. They went to the Kiruna mine or a moose farm. I wasn’t present so I don’t know how it was but I later heard that the trip to the mine had been a good informative trip.The retailers also had a programe of their own. They got presentations about outdoor clothes and materials. Especially about the ones we’ve been wearing for testing and evaluation.

After a lunch together we split up into different groups for alpine skiing beginners/advance, cave touring and ice fishing.
I went joined the ice fishing group for 1.5 hours and then headed back to also be with the beginner alpine skiiers for a while.

Ice fishing

After a 20 minute walk up along the mountain we reached tiny lake which was the location for our ice fishing. We got some instructions on how it was done. After what felt like an episode of Fear Factor with the maggots and the hooks we all went to our own holes in the ice, put out the reindeer hide and started fishing.

After 1-2 minutes one member of the group got the first fish, no kidding! Amazing

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All in all the ice fishing experience is incredably relaxed. You drill your hole. Sit on a warm reindeer skin and casually do some ice fishing. In the hot spring sun it became an extremely relaxed and nice experience.

Alpine skiing, beginners

I had to leave the ice fishing group early in order to also cover the alpine skiing beginners group. I didn’t mind though because I’ve only skiid once before so I’m a beginner myself. As someone born in Lapland I feel kind of silly but hey, not everybody is born on skiis. Not even in Sweden

So there I was in the children’s slope with two more in our group and a ski instructor. There were two excellent small slopes perfect for beginners. We were all on the same level more or less and the instructor was excellent. He was kind and helpful. He taught me how to turn with parallell skiis!

Just when you start to get proud and self confident of your amazing achievments during the skiing a five year child swooshes by next to you bringing you back to reality again. Those little guys have no fear!

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2007 OAS - day 5 - Alpine skiing beginners

Alpine skiing for beginners in Björkliden, Sweden.

03:12

The three of us who were skiing had another thing in common. We had all only skiid once before. After this pleasant experience we all agreed that skiing is incredibly fun and that we want to do it much much more.

Cave Tour

I wasn’t there myself but I’ve gotten some good pictures and some stories from the trip.
The group suited up with snow shoes and went on a 40 minute walk on the mountain to get to the cave.
As it turned out the cave wasn’t so easy to explore as some believed. There were some challenging climbing up and down ropes down there. But I think it was a good adventure for most participants. Another lesson learned for the OAS though (see the ski touring story) Some activities have proven to be harder than first communicated.

More about the evening celebration in another post!

Day 4: On top of mount Nuolja!

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Tommy Sollén

April 22, 2007 in OAS 2007, Photo and Video. 2 Comments

As amazing as these sleeping bags are I still felt a bit cold this morning. Nothing that couldn’t be solved with a pair of socks and some more clothes of course. But I was quite suprised when I unscrewed my water bottle and nothing came out of it. The water inside had frozen! And there we had slept. In 11 minus Celsius.

The weather today was amazing! Sunny and blue skies - the best weather we’d had so far. So we moved the benches outside from the Lavvo and into the sun.

It was now time for the second day of our big activities. The telemark groups went back to Björkliden, the ski touring groups went out and my group, the snow shoe group, set off towards mount Nuolja.
This majestic mountain towers over Abisko and it’s presence is always felt. It has only one lift and it’s the longest and oldest one in Sweden. It takes twenty minutes to reach the top but it’s worth it.

Once we were up on the top we got to experience what the word view means. Amazing!
Still the enormous lap gate watches over the entire are. It’s easy to see how it has become such a popular symbol for this region.

Snow shoe walking with the magnificent Lap Gate in the background

We walked around on top of Nuolja for a a while before heading down the mountain. I didn’t go with the group back down again. Instead I stayed on the top and had a little walking of my own.
It can be hard to relax and really enjoy the event and the surroundings sometimes when you’re in a big group. Spending a little time alone though I could really feel the peaceful rythm and the majestic nature all around me. This is the feeling everyone should experience!

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2007 OAS - Day 4 - On top of mount Nuolja

Snow shoe walking on the top of mount Nuolja by Abisko, Sweden.

00:42

We had moved all our stuff to Abisko Tourist Station today so we met up back there later, one group at a time. We now have rooms with real beds and showers!
After a shower and a sauna I was ready to go again.

The King's Trail / Kungsleden begins here!

The start of the King’s Trail / Kungsleden

When all the groups had found their way to the tourist station, showered and gotten settled in we headed back up to the top of Nuolja again. Only the snow shoe group had been up there before. For everyone else this was a new experience.

Lift up to Nuolja - extremely cold strong winds

Once up there we had a very good dinner. The sun was setting and from this beautiful restaurant we could see the evening sun on the mountains. Good food, drink and company.
The restaurant is called the Abisko Aurora Sky Station during the winter.

Putte, manager of the Aurora sky station, holds a toast

Warm… soft… bed!

Day 3: Ski touring for beginners

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Tommy Sollén

April 21, 2007 in OAS 2007 and Photo. 0 Comments

The ski touring beginners group had a tough day! Right after start one member decided to call it quits. Then one hour later after camping for lunch more members decided to head back. The conditions were too hard for beginners.

The brave group that continued ahead still had big challenges ahead. Read Jenny Jonevret’s story about the day’s ski touring:

What a exciting day! Me and my brave friends went away on a ski tour.
The conditions were pretty hard with hard and icy snow interspersed with mud! We often had to carry our skis.
We were suppose to reach a cabin up at Akisko Jaur but after 6,5 tough hours we had to make a difficult decision: should we continue or should we go back?
We were not sure we would reach our destination before it would be dark. After discussing in the group we decided to go back to the Lavvos camp (tipi tents).
It was tough but we survived! Phew.

Jenny and the rest of the group came back to the Lavvos camp at about 9 pm. They looked exhausted but they had had a real adventure and the mood was good despite the day’s difficulties.

Day 3: Snow shoe walking

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Tommy Sollén

April 21, 2007 in OAS 2007, Photo and Video. 0 Comments

We survived the cold night in just our sleeping bags! Phew. Actually, except for the hard ground, I think it was perfectly OK. The huge fluffy sleeping bags we borrowed were amazing.
You don’t even need to take my word for it. Look at this picture! This is the first thing I saw when I stepped out of my Lavvo(Tipi tent) at 7 am. Some guys had actually slept outside!

After a nice breakfast together we split up into two groups and we then watched two presentations.
One by Silva about compasses and navigating and another by Primus about their portable gas canisters.

We then split up into our respective groups depending on what activities we had chosen. I had decided to go wherever the most people were going and that was snow shoe walking. Others went ski touring, one trip for beginners and one for advanced. The third activity was telemark skiing for beginners and advanced.

On with the snow shoes and away!

We immediately started climbing a big hill to get a good view and it was a challenge. The view from the top was amazing. After everybody had taken the opportunity for some good photos we moved on and found a good less windy spot to dig in and have lunch.
And by dig in I mean literally: dig in the snow, as this video clip will show:

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2007 OAS - Day 3 - Snow shoe trip - How to make a camp

Time for lunch! Making seats in the snow and cooking lunch with portable cooking stuff

00:42

The lunch was very nice. There’s a special feeling in preparing your food in the outdoors. Especially in circumstances like these where you cut you seat in the snow, you’re a little tired and you’ve carried all the equipment and all the food. Basically you deserve that lunch! You’ve earned it

The ski touring group for beginners camp across our lunch camp. Say hello to Jenny! At this moment she had know idea of what challenges laid ahead. More about that later.

After a couple of hours of snow shoe walking we head back to the Lavvos. A small group of tough souls went out for a second walk without the back packs. I was later told they had a very nice time.

We made dinner together in the big Lavvo with our portable gas canisters. Amazing how good some semi ambitious pasta can taste after a day of snow shoe walking

One night outdoors in sleeping bags is not enough. We settled in for a second night as the thermometer plummeted down to - 11 degrees Celsius. Oh sleeping bag! Don’t fail us now!

Beautiful mountains in the sunset close to Abisko

Day 2: Dog sled, Ice Hotel and Sami Lavvo (updated with pics&video!)

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Tommy Sollén

April 20, 2007 in OAS 2007, Photo and Video. 1 Comment

Some of us discovered the hard way how difficult it is to sleep when the sun comes up at about four am and shines you straight in the face. But hey, it’s exotic!

First breakfast together and presentations

We kicked off the day with an early breakfast, a equipment meeting and some presentations of everyone present involved in OAS.
We then proceeded with the checkout and hung around waiting for the dog sled trip to start. The weather was beautiful and the anticipation could be felt in the air.

We were forty(40) people that were going to go on this dog sled trip. There are four people + a driver in every sled. There were 12 dogs for each sled. That’s a whopping 120 dogs!
As you can see in this video clip it started out as pretty crazy but then became a very nice trip to the Ice Hotel. The dog sled trip took 80 minutes.

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2007 OAS - Day 2 - Dog sled

40 people, 10 sleds with 12 dogs on each. That’s 120 dogs!
Amazing experience

00:16

The weeks just prior to this event have been unusually hot so much of the snow has melted. This has of course also effected the Ice Hotel. It had started to melt quite alot and many parts were shut down. We were still able to go inside and look into many of the rooms. We even got to see their newly built ice factory!
Check out this video and of course the foto gallery.

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2007 OAS - Day 2 - Ice Hotel

The amazing Ice Hotel in the north of Sweden.
It’s already melting though but check out some of the inside

04:42

After a quick bus trip to Abisko we got ourselves settled in some real Sami Lavvos. There were five smaller ones and one very big one. We had a wonderful dinner inside the big one. There was a fireplace in the middle to help keep us warm.

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2007 OAS - Day 2 - Sami Lavvos

The inside and outside of a huge Sami Lavvo. The sun sets in Abisko approx 8 pm. Northern Sweden

00:42

Now however comes the challange. The other five lavvos don’t have any fireplace or any form of heat source. It’s just us and the sleeping bags.
It will probably be about - 10 C tonight so this will be exciting

Good night!

Day 1: The Travel Day

Published by

Tommy Sollén

April 19, 2007 in OAS 2007 and Photo. 2 Comments

As I’m writing this it’s past 1 am. We’re all safe and sound at the Ripan Hotel in Kiruna.

It’s been a day of traveling indeed. Some of the participants have had a long day with many flights. Some even came yeasterday and then had a nice calm day in Stockholm city before meeting up with the others at Arlanda airport.

The typical image of Sweden? Vikings and reindeer hides.I had the pleasure to join a group of four that went for a visit at the company Silva. They make all kinds of outdoor equipment but they are perhaps most famous for their compasses.

During the presentation we were shown this funny commercial video for Silva - check it out:

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the United States

tihs is very funny

02:17

We later met up again back at Arlanda for a dinner together. A good opportunity to meet some more people.After the dinner flew up to Kiruna with a quick stop in Umeå on the way.

How do you know that you’re in Lappland?
The candy served on the bus is a mixture of chocolate and smoked dried reindeer meat!

Tommy the camera guy

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Tommy Sollén

April 17, 2007 in Crew, OAS 2007 and Photo. 3 Comments

Hi! My name is Tommy Sollén and I work as a project manager at VisitSweden.
Part of my job is to keep up to date with web trends and new media and so oas.visitsweden.com was born

During this 2007 OAS I will be blogging daily reports about this event. I’ll be taking pictures and even filming short video clips here and there and upload everything to this blog together with some stories of what’s happening.

The goal is to provide a near real time reporting during the event using the best tools available. That means using proven popular services like flickr for photos and youtube for videos etc.
After this event, and many future ones, this blog will be an amazing archive of what’s been, what is and what’s coming.

I’m very excited about this project and this event and I look forward to see you all tomorrow!

Weather forcast

Published by

Tommy Sollén

April 17, 2007 in OAS 2007 and Preparations. 0 Comments

Here’s an early weather forcast for the Kiruna region where we’ll be during the 2007 OAS.

Weather Forcast 2007 OAS

Martin Kössler says hi!

Published by

Martin Kössler

April 17, 2007 in Crew, OAS 2007, Photo and Preparations. 3 Comments

Hi all old & new Outdoor Academy friends, hope you are all doing well.

I will join you at the Iceotel on Thursday, looking forward to see you all!

The final preparations

Published by

Jenny Jonevret

April 17, 2007 in Crew, OAS 2007, Photo and Preparations. 4 Comments

Hi!
I’m Jenny Jonevret and I’m the event manager from VisitSweden for this project.

I wanna take a few minutes to update you on what’s happening here in preparations for the OAS 2007.
We’re going through all the check lists, double checking travel details, planning the Sunday workshop, packing all the stuff.

Me, Tommy and Tanja will be present at Arlanda airport tomorrow. If we’re having trouble finding each other please don’t hesitate to call me on my cell: +46 706 440 604.

We’re arranging a tour of Silva - the leading manufacturer of compasses worldwide - at 4.15 pm. Let’s meet in the lobby of SAS Radisson hotel in Sky City.Around

6.30 pm we will have dinner at the airport in Sky City at Alfredos Restaurang & Bistro before taking our onward flight up to Kiruna.

I look forward to meet you all tomorrow!

/Jenny

Welcome to the premiere of the Outdoor Academy of Sweden blog!

Published by

Tommy Sollén

April 13, 2007 in About, News and OAS 2007. 12 Comments

This blog will be a virtual meeting place where both new and old “Outdoor ambassadors of Sweden” will be able to meet and establish new contacts as well as sharing their experiences.

During the next Outdoor Academy of Sweden, which is taking place around Kiruna north of the polar circle in Sweden between 18th and 23rd of April, you will be able to read daily reports including photos and video clips.

If you have stories or pictures that you would like to share, please feel free to email us! oas@visitsweden.com