EN : Snowkiting expedition in Sweden (Helags)
After a winter spent searching for snow in the Northern Alps … the need of white and wide landscapes began to arise … but since nature does things well, all the snow we did not receive at home, felt on the Scandinavian countries.
I then decide to join my friend Ivan (Freeairadventures.com), who offers Snowkiting camps in Sweden. For some time he had been telling me about a small expedition that he wanted to achieve over the mountains of the Härjedalen region, more specifically to the mythical Helags (1800m of altitude, with its glacier, the first one South of the Polar Circle). The deal with nordic mountains is not about altitude…but mostly about their access, as weather there is often extreme and highly changeable.
Ivan has planned a journey of 130km (straight lines…), during 4 days minimum, based on optimistic weather forecasts. But we already know that we will have to adapt to numerous changes ….
We start on April 1st around midday from Ramundberget ski resort. In order to get the kites up, we first need to walk up a 400m hill through the forest and reach the plateau. But our 40kg of equipment (per person) spread over two sleds, will remind us the harsh reality of gravity. … After a good sweat on touring skis, trees start to clear up. Excellent visibility, clear blue sky …. but gusts up to 1m / s … We try nevertheless to progress with the kites (9,5m²), but with such little wind it is too difficult to move forward. After 3-4km mostly walking, we decide to prepare our camp for the night, as a storm is announced with gusts of 20m / s.
At nightfall, temperature drops quickly around -10 ° C. The tent is securely stowed, and we built a snow wall toward south east from which direction the bad weather is due to come. Wrapped in our warm down jackets, we enjoy a meal under the stars before reaching our sleeping bags.
In the middle of the night, we are woken up by the wind shaking the tent. It seems that heavy snow or rain is mingled with bursts. But nothing strong to worry about, so we get back to sleep.
Saturday, April 2nd: the tent is surrounded by a thick fog. The wind can still be felt behind our snow wall. The answer to our question : yes, it has rained last night, which is not the most pleasant thing in the morning. Indeed, when camping in winter, it’s better to have some dry and cold than a damp atmosphere, whether for clothing or equipment (tent, sleeping bags, etc. ..)
All our stuff are quickly packed on the sleds. Despite poor visibility, we decide to move forward. Anyway, we have marked the points on our GPS in order not to get losts. For safety reasons, we choose not to distance ourselves from the only snowmobiles « road ». Although we don’t see that many people here, in case of an accident, we would be easier to spot.
Wind speed exceeds 10m / s. On a pretty hard snow, we are moving cautiously in its direction, which does not make things easier. Ivan uses his MontanaVI 7m while I opt for ApexIII 7.5 m². We would have preferred to move sideways, but let’s not be too difficult: at least it works! On top of a hill, visibility seems to be improving toward North … allowing us to see the next 20 km … A good thing? Not really. In the distance, the Helags mountains, whose head is caught in the clouds, appear in front of us. 
Between Helags and us, a vast plain visibly ravaged by numerous winter storms, leaving innumerable black spots of earth and rock. I confess I have to pause my kite for a bit, just the time to realize where we are going. It feels like being thrown into the lion’s den with no real possibility of return (against the wind), and without knowing how the weather will evolve in the coming hours … But Ivan feels the same stress, which reassures me: only the unconscious ones are not afraid! 😉 This ground commands respect, for sure. Anyway, if the weather deteriorates, we will shelter under the tent with a cup of tea!
As we move forward on the plateau between hills and canyons, the wind is really unstable, sometimes falling to zero for several seconds before rising even stronger. It even turns around 180° … without explanation. Aerology is definitely a very complex science … Anyway, we go on through kite sessions, waiting periods and walking.
After 20km, the first decision requires a change of plan: The wind does not allow us to keep going toward our original destination (Sylarna mountains), at least not safely. So we decide to go around the mountain to the East of Helags, rather than to the West, and join the Fjälstation (shelter) at the foot of its northern face. The day was long and tiring, I begin to feel the cold … it is gray and the weather forecast posted at the shelter is contradictory. Motivation is not at the top … so it’s time to get our secret weapon out: the Chilean wine pack, carefully stored at the bottom of the sled! Between a French and an Italian, it’s the least we can do ….
The next night, we will not sleep much… Although the tent is strongly anchored to the ground, it slaps, shakes, crashes over our heads with every gust … The refuge’s anemometer recorded gusts over 100km / h. One only thing to do: dive your head into the sleeping bag … and wait.
The next morning, we are woken up by sunlight through the tent. A quick glance through the unzipped door confirms the good news : clear blue sky ! The northern cliff of Helags is standing in front of us, dark, frozen, massive. At the top, torn clouds indicate that winds are still very tempetuous. But down here so far, everything’s quiet. Breakfast swalowed, we are quickly packing up our gears for the day. No heavy sleds ! We will try to hike up the north face with our touring skis, as high as possible. Our goal is to reach the bottom of the summit ridge, and see from there how conditions are.
Skinning up is quite easy. The slope isn’t too steep, but snow is very icy and many rocks are sticking out. Looking north, the landscape is breathtaking : this area is definitely big and wild. We have brought each a snowkite and a speedflying wing, which makes our bags quite heavy. We can now see the glacier entirely at the bottom of the massive cliff. It does look and feel like being at 4000m in the Alps, even though we are below 2000… One again, altitude is nothing here…
Just before reaching the lower part of the summit ridge, we are caught into some clouds coming from the South. Wind is still strong (10m/s) so we decide not to go higher, but rather south to see if we can take of from there. Indeed, Ivan really wants to fly : taking of from Helags with his Bobcat 18m is one of his dreams… We find a small area where snow seems « cleaner » (no rocks or ice bits sticking out) and properly orientated facing the wind. So Ivan decides to go for it… His take of ends up being tricky with skis, as the wind is pulling him backward. I have to push him with all my strenght in order to throw him into the slope, before he can get speed and lift up in the air. A few seconds later…. he’s gone ! 🙂
I am now alone up there. So after a quick look around, I decide to keep my speedwing in the bag for safety. The south face looks quite clean with enough snow, so I decide to launch myself on skis. It quickly becomes even better than expected, as the snow has softened on the surface, letting me draw some nice curves at full speed. 🙂 The view is amazing now that all clouds have gone away, especially looking West toward the pic of Predikstolen. I am enjoying this moment so much : skiing down this mountain on my own is giving me such a feeling of freedom !
At the bottom, it’s another world. No wind at all. Wet snow and heavy sunshine. There must be a difference of 20°C with the top of the mountain. Ivan is standing there wearing only a T-shirt, packing his speedwing, with a large smile on his face. He looks as happy as me after his descent, even though we did not play with the same « toys » 🙂
With a true motivation, we are starting to skin up again on the South face, hoping to get some wind and our kites out. After 300m of hard hiking in the sun, the brise comes back to our hears… Our HQ MontanasVI 9,5m are starting to jiggle in the bags, asking to get out and pull us toward the summit. Again, we are so amazed by the power of our kites which gently help us ski up the hill. Over the fact that it is probably a « première » on this remote mountains, having such a wide open landscape below makes us feel like kiting into the sky.
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Within a few minutes, we are back at the bottom of the summit ridge. The wind has dropped, temperature is fine, so we enjoy the views one last time before skiing back down to the Fjälstation, this time on the north face.
What a day ! What an experience ! From ski touring, to speedflying, snowkiting and skiing… with 2 ascents of Helags within a few hours… It is still hard for us to realize what we have just done, but above all, how lucky we were with the weather. Thank you Helags !
We could stop there, tired and happy… but NO ! Down at the refuge, the wind is blowing strong enough for us to start our journey back. This is a chance we cannot miss… as pulling 40kg of sleds along 30km isn’t a great perspective. It is 5pm 
and here we are, on the road again. During 2 hours, we are tacking up wind toward the South. But soon before sunset, Eole decides that it is time for us to set up our camp, and stops the blowing machine. Good thing, as we are exhausted.
A quiet and cold night (-15°C) seems to be ahead of us. But we are so happy after today, than we don’t feel the cold and stay out for a while, celebrating our experience with pasta carbonara (dried of course) and a few glasses of our Chilean wine. Stars are shinning above us, it’s just perfect.
When I wake up around 7am, the tent is still, covered with a thin layer of ice. Not a good sign… But after only a few minutes, a light brise starts coming from South West. So we are starting our long journey upwind toward Ramundberget, sometimes walking uphill as the wind isn’t strong enough. Slowly, it seems to rise, until it gets to a moderate strenght. In the distance, we can already see a large band of dark clouds coming in our direction. After 4 days in the wild, the thought of spending another night in the storm under our tent isn’t really pleasant… We are then pushing harder on the skis in order to tack even more efficiently, looking for the best route up wind, in the middle of the rocks. We really want to reach the car before nightfall.
We reach our camp of the first night in the middle of the afternoon. We are more or less 3 kilometers from Ramundberget. Stress is behind us. So we decide to drop the sleds for a little while, and celebrate this last day with a little « freestyle » sessions and a few jumps in the air. The last descent through the forest with the sleds is quite acrobatic, but we manage to reach the carpark before 4pm. Our GPS indicates that we have been kiting over 80km since this morning… it was definitely not easy to tack upwind between the rocks ! In total, we have kited over a distance of 130km minimum, after 4 days on the plateaus.
We stop at a Pub in Funäsdalen and enjoy a well deserved local beer. I can see on Ivan’s face how tired he is, but I know I’m not better ! We are talking loads about this experience : pleasure, emotions, sharing, stress and even fear sometimes… but what comes out first for both of us is the respect for this environment, where even trees don’t grow…
Helags welcomed us and was rather lenient with us … Thanks. 
So what’s next ? I do not know. Improvised trips are often most appreciated. But I admit I glanced over my shoulder towards the mountains of Sylarna, which seem to be a fantastic playground …
A big thanks to our sponsors: HQ powerkite – Bergans of Norway – Julbo – Volkl skis and Olympic sports
and Ivan who worked the route of this expedition, and welcomed me with his family at his house.
And a big thought for my friend Morgan who had to stay home because of a broken knee…
Video edit by Ivan :
F-Mountains Snowkiting School - Ecole de Snowkite 