Nikkaloukta to Abisko June 2019 Day 1.

Nikkaloukta to Abisko Trek June 2019. We arrived in Kurina on the 16th of June and we where greeted with 22c of sunshine.

I originally walked this route in 2017 during the Fjallraven Classic and I wanted to experience the route without the thousands of people on the trail and at a different time of the year.

Day 1: Nikkaluokta to Abisko (Nikkaloukta to Kebnekaise).

This making me think about swapping some of my cold weather gear out.

I had planned my gear to cover all weathers and knowing what the trail is like I had planned for every weather condition the Gods could throw at us.

My pack was just over 15kg with hiking, camping, cameras and drone and the idea of loosening the load sounded pretty good.

Here is a list of my gear load out for this trip prior to swapping out some stuff.

What I removed.

I had decided to remove the following”

Gaiters.
Cold weather synthetic down jacket.
Change of clothes.
Swapped Jet boil for lightweight cook kit.

This brought my weight to just under 14kg. Base weight (not including Food & Water was now 11kg and that was enough.

Kiruna.

The first night in Kiruna we stayed at Spis which I cannot recommend enough, the staff where great, accommodation was perfect and the food in the restaurant was second to none.

They had a great selection of world beers and a few of my favourite Belgium fruits beers but please check the prices before buying as one 75cl bottle of Belgium Kriek cost 270 sek!! But hey we where on holiday.

I had pre booked the bus from Kiruna bus station to Nikkaloukta in the U.K.

So we just had to meet the bus at the station at 10:05.

The journey is about 40 mins from Kiruna to Nikkaloukta.

Whilst on the bus we got talking to a couple of Swedes who where planning to stay at Kebnekaise that night and summit Kebnekaise.

One was amazed at the weight we where carrying compared his bag was 21kg!

I wouldn’t want to be carrying that bag!!

Arriving at Nikkaloukta it was warm so stripping down to base layer and opening the ventilation panels on my Revolution Race Gpx Pro Pants.

This part of the 110km hike from Nikkaloukta to Abisko is not the most interesting.

You are mainly walking through trees so you don’t get to see much.

Being so warm it was nice walking and soon we had reached Láddjujávri.

Being so warm it was nice walking but we decided to take the boat along the glacial lake shaving 6km of out trip and gave some beautiful views of the mountains en-route.

The boat from on Láddjujávri costs 350 see per person one way and is a great way to see the area from the lake.

Nikkaloukta to Abisko (Boat Trip)

The boat is run by Enoks. The operation is run by Enok’s son Nils Sarri and grandson Andreas Sarri.

They offer accommodation, restaurant, boating and guided winter / summer activities.

We had a good conversation with the two offering the boat ride and what wonderful and knowledgeable people these where.

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/enoksladdjujavri

The boat trip had taken 6kn of walking through the heat and we arrived at kebnekaise at around 18:00.

Bryony had slipped on route on one of the ‘ankle snapping’ boulders and injured her right hip. We had planned to walk a little further but due to this we stopped just outside Kebnekaise mountain station.

First Camp

It was quite windy where we pitched and whilst filming the video of the first day my camera on the tripos fell over and the lcd panel broke but luckily still functioned.

Real Turmat: Real Outdoor Food. Photo taken at Kebnekaise Mountain Station.

Once we had setup we fed ourselves, this evenings meal for me was a Real Turmat Chicken Curry.

We had walked a total of 12km on the first day from Nikkaloukta to Kebnekaise which is a good distance for the first day.

I had finally decided after much deliberation to wear my Lundhags Vandra boots instead of trail runners which later on in the walk I was very glad to have done.

The boots themselves had been worn in but still quite stiff and wearing the armaskin anti blister socks.

These kept my feet happy and blister free and gave the leather on the boots a chance to further loosen.

Fed and watered and a night cap of Kracken Spiced Rum I decided to get to sleep.

Being 24hrs day light I had brought an eye mask and fell asleep pretty quick.

I slept really well and only woke up around 00:30 to the sounds of Jared snoring.

I found out next morning found out it wasn’t Jared snoring but Reindeer walking through our camp.