Moreaurora
Reading Simon's earlier post about the Aurora reminded me of my own experience, It was something I'd wanted to witness since I'd first seen it on TV as a teenager. It was on my favourite show at the time 'Northern Exposure' (did I really say show? I meant program, sorry).
We (me and my girlfriend) planned a trip around Norway, starting off in the capital, Oslo, in the south and ending in Tromso, in the north via the beautiful Lofoten islands
and a touch of whale watching. The trip was planned over the summer while my girlfriend was recovering from a nasty operation. It was a fun thing to plan while recovering and gave her something to really look forward to once fit and well. We would set out at the end of October, in order to catch the Orcas on their way in to the Fjords while still having enough daylight in the north to be able to, well, see stuff! And also we'd be in a good position to see the Aurora. To cut a long story short, we didn't see a thing. For two weeks Norway had borrowed cloud from all over Europe, or so it seemed. We'd even arrived in a time of high activity, so a single cloudless night would have shown us the lights, even as far south as Oslo. It wasn't to happen. The only faint glimpse we got was on the way home over Oslo from the plane window. Not to worry, we loved Norway so we'd be back.
Snowboarding became my next favourite hobby, beating guitar playing and photography to the top spot. So over the Christmas and New Year break we'd head once again to Norway with the premise of getting some practice in on the slopes and hopefully, hopefully a chance to see the New Year in with the Northern Lights. Once again we'd be let down, low activity and cloud made sure it wouldn't happen, we saw plenty of lights illuminating the sky, but that was more to do with the crazy Norwegians love of fireworks. I've really never seen so many private displays in one go, the whole of Norway was lit up by gun powder. Mad!
Anyway, finally I was lucky enough to get a third chance in March this year as we'd decided to try snowboarding away from the usual crowds of the Alps. This time we'd head for Lapalnd, northern Finland. It was here that I finally got my first chance to see the aurora. The days were bright and cloudless and cold, very cold. It was -24ºC first thing in the morning. That's pretty dam cold, but it didn't seem as bad a you'd imagine. The nights stayed the same, barely a cloud in the sky, perfect Aurora weather.
The setting was amazing, everything was just right, just how I wanted it to be. A snow covered winter wonderland, crisp and clean. Hardly anybody around, this was going to be great. I was lying face up in the middle of a frozen lake with very little in the way of light polution from the village nearby. I had all the clothes on I owned, my eyelashes covered in ice and my bogies frozen, but I was quite warm inside my jacket.
The sky filled with a greenish glow, the shapes moved and twisted, like time lapse cloud photography. As the activity wasn't high we only saw the 'green' show, but for a whole week I got to check it out every night. It was close to magic and for me it was a dream come true. Ah!
Something about official and football and at Holy Hoses!
We (me and my girlfriend) planned a trip around Norway, starting off in the capital, Oslo, in the south and ending in Tromso, in the north via the beautiful Lofoten islands
and a touch of whale watching. The trip was planned over the summer while my girlfriend was recovering from a nasty operation. It was a fun thing to plan while recovering and gave her something to really look forward to once fit and well. We would set out at the end of October, in order to catch the Orcas on their way in to the Fjords while still having enough daylight in the north to be able to, well, see stuff! And also we'd be in a good position to see the Aurora. To cut a long story short, we didn't see a thing. For two weeks Norway had borrowed cloud from all over Europe, or so it seemed. We'd even arrived in a time of high activity, so a single cloudless night would have shown us the lights, even as far south as Oslo. It wasn't to happen. The only faint glimpse we got was on the way home over Oslo from the plane window. Not to worry, we loved Norway so we'd be back.
Snowboarding became my next favourite hobby, beating guitar playing and photography to the top spot. So over the Christmas and New Year break we'd head once again to Norway with the premise of getting some practice in on the slopes and hopefully, hopefully a chance to see the New Year in with the Northern Lights. Once again we'd be let down, low activity and cloud made sure it wouldn't happen, we saw plenty of lights illuminating the sky, but that was more to do with the crazy Norwegians love of fireworks. I've really never seen so many private displays in one go, the whole of Norway was lit up by gun powder. Mad!
Anyway, finally I was lucky enough to get a third chance in March this year as we'd decided to try snowboarding away from the usual crowds of the Alps. This time we'd head for Lapalnd, northern Finland. It was here that I finally got my first chance to see the aurora. The days were bright and cloudless and cold, very cold. It was -24ºC first thing in the morning. That's pretty dam cold, but it didn't seem as bad a you'd imagine. The nights stayed the same, barely a cloud in the sky, perfect Aurora weather.
The setting was amazing, everything was just right, just how I wanted it to be. A snow covered winter wonderland, crisp and clean. Hardly anybody around, this was going to be great. I was lying face up in the middle of a frozen lake with very little in the way of light polution from the village nearby. I had all the clothes on I owned, my eyelashes covered in ice and my bogies frozen, but I was quite warm inside my jacket.
The sky filled with a greenish glow, the shapes moved and twisted, like time lapse cloud photography. As the activity wasn't high we only saw the 'green' show, but for a whole week I got to check it out every night. It was close to magic and for me it was a dream come true. Ah!Something about official and football and at Holy Hoses!
posted by HolySwerve at
Thursday, June 08, 2006
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