15- 28 september 2026, vindelfjällen SWEDEN. Mountain expedition

As part of my training, we went to the Swedish mountains for a multi-day backpacking trip in the backcountry. There would be no trails, no towns, and no connection during these seven days. It was also an interesting time of year, with changing weather conditions, so we needed to be prepared for everything from 15-degree sunny and windstill days to freezing, snowy conditions with low visibility. Good preparation was key.

We spent the first few days deep-diving into getting to know the terrain, orienteering in low visibility, learning about the local plant and animal life, and learning about Sami culture. We ended the preparation with a safety debrief and went through what to do in an emergency.

At the start of the expedition, we divided into three groups, each with a GPS responder for emergencies. The first day started perfectly, with sunny weather and a rather easy route to our first campsite. The campsites had been chosen beforehand based on terrain, exposure, and experiences from past expeditions. They also had to be large enough for seven tents in total. The first night was very cold, but calm.

The next day, we aimed for our next campsite, a place near the river where we would have to do our first river crossing of the trip. The hike went rather flawlessly, with very wet mires and marshes in between, but we managed to keep our feet dry and arrived on time at the next campsite. It was just on the border of the tree line, so we found some dead branches to create a campfire and boost our morale while preparing for the next day.

The third day of the expedition started during the night with a lot of rainfall, and it continued throughout the morning. Everything got wet, including the shoes that I had waxed thoroughly. They were no match for the water coming from all sides.

We packed our tents and buckled up to find a place to cross the river. About ten minutes upstream, we found a shallow spot that could work as a place to wade through. The water was freezing cold and numbed my feet after only a few seconds. It was still raining, and the wind had picked up somewhat, but the whole group managed to cross safely.

After everyone had changed into some drier socks, we started putting trash bags around our feet to form a vapour barrier and protect them somewhat. From there, we marched on towards higher and drier ground. But going higher in elevation also meant more exposure and more wind.

Around noon, we decided to pitch the outer tent, wait out the rain, and have our lunches inside. The weather finally cleared a bit, and we could venture towards our next campsite. Just before reaching camp three, we had to wade through yet another, but smaller, river.

We arrived just before sunset and had a brief chance to air out and dry some clothes before the frost came in. We gathered around the campfire, and at that same time, we saw the first northern lights! Very brief and not for long, but they were there. It was a magical but frosty evening by the campfire.

The fourth day would prove to be the longest and most exhausting day of the whole trip. We split into smaller groups and headed for a small cabin in the next valley. To reach it, however, we had to cover a lot of distance, with a lot of ascending and descending.

The day started very foggy, and with no visual context, navigation became surprisingly tricky, but we managed to find our way. We crossed two rivers this time, went all the way down into the valley, back up onto the plateau again, and then down once more towards the mountain hut.

It was surrounded by wet marshes and mires. Our feet got soaked once more, but we did not care that much. We knew the cabin had a fireplace where we could dry everything. We arrived again just before sunset, and everyone was more quiet than usual.

We lit the stove inside the cabin and set up a drying rack for everything that was wet. I will spare you the smell inside the cabin…

On the fifth day, we split into even smaller groups. This time, we were only with our tent group of three people. We felt comfortable enough with our navigation, and the weather forecast looked extremely promising.

The first step was to get out of the valley and above the tree line, where visibility would be better and it would be easier to cover ground. It was a very steep climb out of the valley, and my legs were no longer the same as they had been on day one. The exhaustion, soreness, and small aches were starting to add up.

Up on the plateau, we were treated to some beautiful vistas, with roaming reindeer herds crossing the tundra. We even watched two reindeer bulls having a turf over a group of female reindeer!

We had chosen a campsite on the map next to a very small mountain lake surrounded by some hills. The night was very cold, with freezing temperatures. During the night, I woke up once and heard a herd of reindeer passing our tent just inches away. I waited ten minutes for them to pass so I could go for a pee in peace.

On the morning of the last full day, we teamed up with another tent group that also happened to camp at the lake we had chosen. I think this might have been the warmest and sunniest day of the whole week.

Because we had started at such a high elevation, we only had to descend down into the valley, following a small creek. Although the environmental conditions were extremely favourable, everyone could feel the exhaustion from the previous days creeping up.

Eventually, we found the most perfect campsite next to a creek, where we could refill our water and safely have a campfire. It was an awesome evening, and we reminisced about the past week—the good, the bad, and everything in between. We were looking forward to more comfort, but at the same time, we felt sad that the adventure was almost over.

On the seventh day, we started packing our tents and everything else just before sunrise. We still had some ground to cover to get back to civilisation. After the last stretch of bushwhacking, we finally found an ATV trail that would guide us back down to the closest town.