Arvidsjaur Tourist Office -

Sports holiday

Maybe it is a Swedish invention, this school holiday when everyone is supposed to do sporty things? Anyway, now it is here and it is time to go skiing. Waiting eagerly for the next entry, you may admire this beautiful panorama photo taken last weekend:

Click for large image!

2009-03-03 @ 14:46:53 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

It's alive!

Last Friday we were on Nyborgstjärn to watch a new kind of snowmobile. The Snowglider seemed to work OK, despite some trouble starting up that saw my toes numb from cold before they even started driving the thing.

Trouble starting

The snowglider zoomed around with fairly good speed, but one can not help having some reservations about a vehicle like this. It doesn't seem to have a reverse. What if you have to turn around in a tight spot...

Zooming around

Or what if you happened to stop in real deep snow...could you get out or not? I would have liked to see harder tests for the Snowglider if I hadn't been freezing to death at the time. One solid stop in the deepest snow available in the area would have gone a long way to convince a doubter like me (if they got out, that is)

What if you get stuck!

The smallest dog was keeping me company...

See Snowglider in action in a short video here:
http://www.arvidsjaur.se/Global/Film%20testmapp/SnowgliderWMV.wmv

2009-02-19 @ 14:10:26 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

--it happens!

It has been snowing in Arvidsjaur for a week, a cold wind blowing and the temperature's been between -15 and -30. It has finally stopped and when walking down the street you might se this. When I see it I quietly ask myself...who owns this car? I want to laugh out loud but cant out of compassion...but the pictures are really funny, there must have been half a metre of new snow. If I walk by here every day I might catch the "empty" pile of snow when the car is freed? Or it might be stuck until spring...

2009-02-09 @ 15:29:19 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Alternative snowmobile

On Friday the 13th a new kind of snowmobile will be introduced in Arvidsjaur: A propeller driven one...

More about this interesting news on www.arvidsjaur.se/en or http://www.snowglider.net/

2009-02-05 @ 10:16:01 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Russian visit to Abborrträsk

We had Russian visitors in Abborrträsk. They took a tour with Abborrträsk Natursafari (http://www.natursafari.se/). Here are some pictures of their fun and cosy day:

Coffee...

A hole in the ice

A fish!

Reindeer furs by the fire

Coffee pots

Fish again

Well deserved food

2009-01-28 @ 16:30:31 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Production

I have produced something today..a small fishing presentation about Arvidsjaur. I can't link to it directly, but go to http://www.arvidsjaur.se/en/Tourism--entertainment/ and you will find the presentation there.

2009-01-21 @ 15:51:18 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (1) Trackbacks ()

Budding Ice Hotel in Arvidsjaur

Arvidsjaur has an Ice Hotel in the bud - in Näverliden! Peter Strohecker from Germany has chosen the small village Näverliden as building site for his igloos. As I write this, two igloos are ready to use with room in each for 4 people sleeping and 10 people comfortably sitting.

There is also a sauna, nice outdoor grill area and guided snow shoe tours in the forest. And as we were standing by the fire, a dog sleigh team from the neighbouring village Auktsjaur came to visit!

Peter Strohecker - Karlsruhe / Näverliden http://www.abenteuer-wald.info/

2009-01-09 @ 11:16:40 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This year's Tourist office Christmas card:

2008-12-23 @ 10:21:11 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

It's Christmas (again)

Christmas is a time of joy. This is something you have to tell yourself every year during December, while working, planning and buying for Christmas. And every year you almost convince yourself that you will spend the next Christmas alone with a book and a bottle of mulled wine.

Then it's suddenly Christmas morning...as in a movie, you celebrate, the dinner goes smoothly, everybody is nice to each other and happy, Santa makes an appearance and everything is so peaceful...until the parlour games are taken out...

Christmas is a time of magic...

2008-12-23 @ 10:05:49 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Comparative weekend study of life in town vs. in the countryside...

During Friday and half Saturday it was snowing, 30-40 cm "heavy" snow because it was quite warm. On Saturday afternoon it was time to clear the snow:

In town.

In the countryside.

In town you could visit Santa and Rudolf.

In the countryside you had to cook outside due to power failure...after digging out the outdoor grill.

Finally, some relaxation:

I town.

In the countryside

2008-12-16 @ 14:25:19 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Idol-Kevin!

Kevin Borg, the world's most famous person from Arvidsjaur right now. He was met by about 600 people at Arvidsjaur airport last Saturday. It doesn't sound like a lot of people, but when you consider that this is 10% of the total population in Arvidsjaur municipality and that the municipality has a high average age it is very impressive.

Kevin is a modern hero, he is everything other people aspire to be: talented, happy, confident, humble, polite, kind to animals and old people and famous.

It is big to be big, but bigger to be human.

2008-12-09 @ 12:51:27 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

History

The last couple of days I have spent updating the Tourist office Power Point presentation. It has been a long time. When you start thinking about what pictures to use you suddenly see the old ones in a new light..and realise thay are older than you ever thought. Some of the pictures were not taken with a digital camera, but "scanned from slides". I don't even know what that means, but it was probably new and advanced not too long ago.

Now when the pictures are being rejected (by me) I thought they needed some last "minutes of fame":

Great pictures...

And it you are curious about the probable (not 100% yet) replacements:

New, tougher pictures...

2008-12-05 @ 14:11:42 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Main street - honestly

The main street in Arvidsjaur is under reconstruction. According to the plans it will become both more beautiful and better for the traffic. But the change (like most) is not entirely painless. Many are claiming (sometimes very firmly) that it will be a lot worse. But honestly, will it really turn out bad at all? Or is it our inherent resistance to change speaking? Feel free to comment!

Before

Now

2008-12-03 @ 11:37:11 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (1) Trackbacks ()

Bright future?

This morning the temperature was -20. And it was cloudy. It feels like something bent has been straightened. Last winter was, when you think about it, outrageously warm, you had to walk around in too much clothes and hardly froze at all. New Year's Eve for example, last year was the first time I can remember, ever, that it was warmer than -20 on New Year's Eve. You would think that it would be nice when wearing thin clothes as one traditionally does at New year's parties, but it felt...wrong.

Now it has been quite cold for a while, and my hopes are up...we are bound to freeze on New Year's Eve!

Dawn in Arvidsjaur, -20 and cloudy...

2008-12-02 @ 10:14:03 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Rally in the morning

You wake up, tired and bitter, it is still dark outside. When it is time to leave for work you realise that 30 cm of snow has fallen during the night and you might not make it out to the big road through the snow. The first thing you have to do is clear the garage door.

Then you get into the car and are suddenly a proffessional racer. Driving like crazy, skidding and accelerating because you know that if you stop, you die (or get stuck with the car, which is almost as bad). Then you see it: The wall of snow left by the snowplough. It is 60-70 cm high and looks quite solid, but I know what I have to do...in a cloud of snow I speed through it with a laugh! Suddenly I am not tired anymore...

This is how it looked in central Arvidsjaur this morning

2008-11-28 @ 13:45:52 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

A colorful day

This time of year, before the thick layer of snow cover the lakes, the fish is eager to bite! This pictures are taken yesterday at one of Arvidsjaurs 4000 lakes. http://www.natursafari.se/

2008-11-21 @ 15:58:45 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Preparing for the winter

This time of the year the people of Arvidsjaur make decorations around their houses, and material is collected from the forest.

2008-11-20 @ 12:36:27 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

The snow has arrived!

Not in large very quantities, but still. And it is cold, -10 Celsius.

The other day the Blogg went for a exursion to Arjeplog and the beautiful Vauka rapids. And we were blessed; after a few minutes a king eagle passed with impressing wings over our heads...

2008-11-15 @ 17:54:51 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Where's the snow that fell the year that's fled?

The snowlessness is eating away. Many times this year we have been complaining and bitching about how terribly trying last winter (when we had a1,5 metre snow depth and it was snowing every other day) was, and now we are paying the price. Not one single centimetre of snow! Now we have romantic thoughts about the snow, long for it and cheer if one flake should float to the ground.

Snow does not only mean a beautiful white blanket in nature and more light reflected on us light-starved northeners. It is also a social engine. How many times during a winter do we compare snow depth with each other or go on about who has shoveled the most snow? Not to mention all the snow related subjects like snowmobiles or snowclearing tools and machines that are lost in the snowlessness. The pictures below bring tears of longing to ones eyes...

2008-11-06 @ 11:46:12 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

Every day drama

I am walking softly in the forest...suddenly there is a tension in the air, the dogs are bristling. We come to a dead stop and turn our heads in the same direction. One of the dogs starts to creep towards a thick spruce a short distance away. We are now on red alert. The other dog barks suddenly and a flock of hazelhens flies up about 10 m away...

One of the moments of excitement I get just because they exist:

Man's best friend

Man's best friend in the world

2008-11-05 @ 07:10:28 Permalink Allmänt Kommentarer (0) Trackbacks ()

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