A breathtaking summer experience

When I wake up in the morning, I fly out of bed, get my backpack and my four-legged friend and rush out. My dear mother is waiting for me by the car. We travel along the E10 northwest where our final destination is Abisko and Aurora Sky Station. This is a road I have driven along so many times, but it’s just as beautiful each time. At every parking-pocket we pass I feel like I want to stop and take pictures. Along the way we encounter reindeers that slowly walk in the middle of the road. We pass them carefully and then continue all the way to the chair lift where we park our car. As we step out of the car, the heat smacks us in the face, so best to chug some water and a bit manically smear on some layers of sunscreen.

We go to the chair lift reception to buy our tickets, we buy a round trip, but of course you can buy a single ticket if you wish to walk up and/or down. I inform the receptionist that I have my dog with me, but that was no problem at all. We go out and wait for our turn to take a seat in the chair lift. There is a couple before us who go on the lift while their luggage goes in the lift behind them. Smooth. When it’s our turn we place my dog, who’s wearing a harness attached to me, inbetween us. Then the lift slowly takes us up, up and away. Almost immediately we get a great view and along the way we meet people who are heading down, they say hello – we say hello, everyone is happy. The trip up took about 20 minutes, but it felt much shorter.

We step out of the chair lift at the Aurora Sky Station, 900 meters above sea level. Oh my – what a view! We go up a bit and sit down. To the left we see the largest mountain lake in Scandinavia Torneträsk which is 70 km long, and just next to it, the road E10 meanders through the small village of Abisko. To the right we see Sweden’s most depicted mountain motif Lapporten (the Laponian Gate) with its unique u-shape. We sit for a long time and marvel, our eyes are big like saucers.

We walk up a bit more, the heat is really noticeable, but luckily there are some clouds in the sky so we get some shade for a while. We walk around and take some pictures and just enjoy the surroundings. The mobile is turned off. Just closing the eyes, breathe and listen to the silence – this is quality of life. We see some people in every direction, some with huge backpacks, everyone is on their own adventure.

After photographing and walking for quite some time our stomachs tells us we should eat something. We did not bring any snacks since we decided to go to the café and eat. Inside the cafe they have a small menu to choose from, and there was a nice view through the panoramic windows. My dog stayed outside in the shade with a bowl of water.

Toilets are also available on the mountain when nature calls… you know. A lonely little wooden shack in the middle of nature. We saw the sign with the arrow pointing to the toilets but I have to say it took a while before I understood where I should go.

After a full day on the mountain, it was time to go down again. The nice woman helps us aboard the chair lift and it is even more amazing to go down. After five minutes we see an eagle, we guess, hovering beside the mountain, really cool. We jump off the lift and head back to the car. What a day. We have been there for several hours, but it feels like just a moment has passed. We agree to do this again in September when Autumn colours the landscape.