Altai skiing trek in Swedish Lapland

A 8-day / 7-night stay in Sweden

Pictogramme Raid chiens de traîneau en Laponie

Discover the bliss of gliding through the wilderness with our Altai skiing Trek in Swedish Lapland.
Come for a week trek in the boreal forest where the only noise you will hear is the friction of your skis on the freshly fallen snow. Those skis originated in the Altai mountains of North Asia and were used for hunting and/or travelling through the rugged landscape. Being short and wide, they are very stable and combine cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Only 2 dates are available for this tours, so don’t hesitate!

DAY TO DAY DESCRIPTION

Day 1 – Arrival in Swedish Lapland

Arrival at Skellefteå airport or Jörn train station from Stockholm. Welcome by a member of our team. Transfer to your guest house, located 65 kms away from the airport, and 20km from the train station. You will have time to settle in your rooms before having dinner with the whole group and with your guide. It is the perfect time to get to know each other and talk about the Altai Skiing Trek in Swedish Lapland coming ahead. Night at Guest house.

Jour 2 – Preparation and start of the Altai skiing trek in Swedish Lapland

After breakfast, we head to the base camp located a few kilometers away from your guest house. There, we start by the dressing room to round off your gear if needed.
The trek starts close to the small village of Petikträsk, where we will be dropped off by car. We carry all our personal belongings for the week and food for a few days on 3 pulkas that we share during the trek. We journey through the woods following the Petikän river in order to get to our first camp (15 km). This region is not touristic, so shelters can be hard to find. The camps we use are old lumberjack or fishing cabins that we renovated. For this first night’s camp, which we created ourselves, we got inspired by the movie “Into the wild”. While you relax your muscles in the sauna, your guide prepares dinner over the fire.

Day 3 – Trekking on the beavers‘ trail

For this second day of the trek, we go up the Petikän river on several kilometers in the direction of the north. This river bank shelters a big population of beavers. We follow their trail and can admire their work! Beavers are very shy animals but traveling silently with our skis, we might get the chance to see some. After lunch by the fire, we leave the river bed to join our next camp – a 100 year old timber cabin – through the denser forest. We spend 2 nights in this place. While dinner cooks slowly in the chimney, you can enjoy a sauna. Itinerary of 13 to 18 kms depending on weather.

Day 4 – Trekking to Vithatten

Today, we leave our pulkas behind as we hike to the summit of Vithatten. This mountain is the highest peak of Västerbotten region and offers and 360° view of the surroundings landscape. The panorama is exceptional and enables us to retrace the entire trek’s itinerary from above.

After lunch at the summit, we head down through a primary forest that open up on an old farm. The old house is well known in the area and the stories associated with the place have become a legend in the region…We will tell you all about it.
A little further down is our cabin where we will get a sauna and dinner ready.

Day 5 – A river runs through it

It is time to leave the cabin to start our journey to the next one.
We head south through forests and swamps. Our trail leads us through a thick birch forest. Since these groves shelter snow grouses, black grouses and capercaillies, it is quite common to see some going about their business.
We stop for lunch by the edges of Ljusvattnet Lake, which straddles two regions, Västerbotten and Norbotten. This place is magical, light being always stunning.
After a few kilometers, we cross Bredträsk Lake to arrive at our camp located on the other bank. You can again relax in a sauna and might have the chance to observe northern lights.

Day 6 – Journeying south

Same morning routine. After breakfast, we load our pulkas and head south in the direction of the river. We cross the site of Holmjarnen, an ancient gold mine. Often, imagination take over and we are left looking and searching for a shiny stone under the snow…

In late afternoon, we arrive on the banks of the river where we install our camp for the night. No cabin, no sauna. Today we set our own tent, which would have been previously dropped by a member of the team during the Dog Sledding Trek Adventure. We need to cut come birch tree branches and twine them in a layer, just as the Samis used to do. We unroll our reindeer skins and we have now our cozy shelter for the night.
We then have to cut some dead wood to feed the fuire and small stoves that warm the tent up. Gold mines, explorer tents, wood fire…That night, your dreams will most likely be full of Jack London’s novels’ heroes.

Jour 7 – Back to civilization

The Skellefteälven runs Est…Imagine the sunrise. However, we must continue our journey. After having packed our camp, we first enjoy the river that we follow for a few kilometres. At this time of the year, mature awakens and birds are out! We then arrive at the starting point of the trek where a vehicle picks us up and drives us to the base camp. After one last sauna, we have our last dinner together before heading back to the guest house.