Summer hiking in polar regions

04 August 2020

Although I’m one of the more experienced guides and expedition leaders in the polar regions, I never get tired of the beauty of these amazing places. In the last weeks, together with my expedition companions, I had the pleasure to sail to one of my favorite places in Norway, the Lofoten archipelago.

lofoten panorama with boat in the background

Dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. It’s located in the north part of Norway, 2.240 km away from the North Pole, which makes Lofoten one of the world’s northernmost populated regions. The expedition itinerary consisted on an entire week spent visiting the archipelago and its numerous wonders: fishers’ towns, like Kyllingdalen, and the majesty of uncontaminated nature.

Lofoten at midnight (archipelago view)

The first day in Værøy, we had an unforgettable midnight hike. The raw and harsh landscape surrounded by the blue waters of the Arctic sea was astonishing, and the midnight sun sticking out of the ocean, painted the bay, where our faithful vessel “MS Villa” was anchored, with its faint light.

Steinbock Wt posing for a panoramic pic

Here temperatures are perfect for hiking, even using summer shoes. Although Lofoten is in the north part of the Arctic Circle, it has the largest positive temperature anomaly in the world relative to latitude. For our expedition in fact, we used a summer model, the Dolomite Steinbock WT GTX, which revealed to be the perfect companion for our adventure.