XC-Skating, Locknesjön, Dec 31st

Last day of 2015 and before champagne I went for a ice skating trip with the lady on Locknesjön.. This lake is pretty special thanks to being created by a meteorit and having a lime stone bottom with very clear, greenish water.. Smooth surface and when you look at the rocks, logs and sand 5-10 meters beneath you, you sometimes slightly loose your balance when your eye impression don't match the surface.. A bit windy from the south but rewarding on the way back..

XC-Ice Skating, Gisslaren, February 22nd

XC-skating with my brother Jon on Lake Gisslaren in Uppland, 22nd of February 2014.. After 3 weeks of warm weather and rain, the ice is in bad condition on most of the lakes in the Stockholm region.. But we had a great morning on sufficiently strong but soft ice, covered either in 1-2 cm of water or soft slush..

XC-Skating, Trosa Archipelago, Sat 26th of Jan

After a period of cold weather and no snow, the outlook was good for some proper skating out in the archipelago.. I headed to the Trosa Archipelago with Emil and we were far from dissapointed.. We started from Kallvik and headed nort-east towards Kockelskar.. Grey skies, fairly windy,  but we  found often great but sometimes challenging ices in beautiful and serene surroundings.. With the open sea near and big waves coming in under the ice, it billowed up and down, fascinating but slightly disconcerting.. Twice I thought I would swim but managed to turn around just in time.. We spotted a couple of Sea-Eagles and 3 mooses walking between islands.. It was a good day, hoping for many more..

XC-Skating, Båven, 22nd of Jan

Not nearly as good conditions as previous skating trips this year, as there was now a fairly thick layer of snow on the ice.. Still, nice to see lake Båven which is supposed to be one of the best for this sport in Sweden, and it does show some promise.. Distance was very short, but we managed to have a "fika" just when the sun showed itself for a few minutes during the day..

XC-Skating, Tämnaren, 15th of Jan

XC-Skating with my brother on lake Tämnaren north of Uppsala.. Great ice, hardly any wind, nice area.. Total distance covered was 30 kilometres, with a combat-style lunch break at 15 kilometres..

XC-Skating, Gisslaren, 8th of Jan

Sunday skating on lake Gisslaren with brother Jon.. A few degrees below freeing, almost no wind, and perfect ice conditions.. This lake is a bit smaller than Vällen, but with more wilderness feeling, no houses and much fewer fellow skaters.. Distance was about 17 kilometres..

XC-Skating, Vällen, 7th of Jan

Finally, after a very delayed winter in Stockholm area, we could go cross-country ice skating today.. Myself, Jon & Emil went to Vällen, about 100 km north-east of Stockholm, and the conditions were superb.. 5-7 cm of mostly clear ice, mostly sunny, a couple of degrees below freezing.. We covered about 35 kilometres on the northen and southern part of the lake, with a few stops for coffee and lunch.. Great day, hoping for many more!

Ice skating on Storsjön, Jämtland

Headed to the island Andersön in the lake Storsjön in Jämtland with brother Trond and friend Markus for a few hours of ice skating.. We parked the cars at around 09.30, about half an hour before the sun raises above the horizon.. (Days are only 4-5 hours in mid-winter this far north.) The ice was really smooth and nice with a few inches of snow that fell the night before.. A few cracks was pretty easy to navigate past, and we had a rest break with soup and chorizo on the island Norderön.. Back at the cars at around noon..

Cross-Country Ice Skating, Vitsand, Sweden

These last couple of days of 2006 was spent in a log cabin in Vitsand, Jamtland, some 700 kilometres north of Stockholm in Sweden.. The weather was very mild for the season, with most of the snow melted away. After re-freezing on the ice, the conditions for cross-country ice skating was simply fantastic, the best I have ever seen up there.. Moving much faster than you can run but with much less effort is a nice feeling.. On the pictures are me, Hans and Markus..