An ice adventure and light show in Norway (From The Bolton News)

An ice adventure and light show in Norway

10:21am Saturday 26th December 2009 in

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THE cold night air hugged us as we sped over the snowy white trails of Norway’s Arctic Circle.

Our guide had told us to keep one eye on the road and another on the sky, but both my eyes were on the green and blue lights flickering along the horizon.

As the Northern Lights shimmered briefly between trees and then disappeared I’d forgotten that I was behind the wheel of a snowmobile.

In the split-second that I’d looked up instead of straight ahead, our snowmobile had flown off-piste over a small cliff and slammed into the banks of an icy creek.

Our first night on our adventure-packed short break to Norway, and I’d already fluffed the healthand- safety talk we’d had just moments before.

My partner and I had flown, into the pretty port city of Tromso, the gateway to Lapland, for a weekend that would take in snowmobiling, husky sledding and Northern Lights viewing.

We would be spending two nights in the snowy peaks and valleys of Lapland, a short drive away from the city past fjord-hugging roads and yellow and red fishermen’s shacks. Our third night would be in Tromso, known for its trendy shops, cafes and maritime museums.

After checking in at a quaint red cabin — Guesthouse Vollan and lunching on a hearty meat stew, we met our fellow snowmobilers, and piled on the supplied sweaters and snow suits, along with helmets, gloves and night goggles.

We headed for the snowy valleys between Finland and Norway, where the Northern Lights — caused by light particles blown to Earth by solar winds, and also known as Aurora Borealis — are reportedly best seen.

Snowmobiles require a balance of weight and speed.

The natural urge is to speed along the dark woodland trails, even though you don’t know that there are bridges over icy creeks or just how narrow those bridges really are.

The next day, I was eager to try my hand at a new (and, I was sure, less dangerous) sport: husky sledding.

Our ‘musher’ for the overnight sledding adventure was Espen, who shouted over excited yelps as he introduced us to his 14 dogs, among them Wagner, Penny, Podka, Lotta and Vroom Vroom.

After teaching us how to properly hold on, brake and lean into a turn, we were off bobbing through birches and pines. We held on tight as the dogs plodded through the thick snow, up what seemed like a vertical mountain and down into another valley on our full-day trip.

Dogsledding is arduous work and I soon found myself wrestling with the sled as the dogs took tight corners through trees and over icy rocks.

Although we’d only had a brief glimpse of the Northern Lights, the snow, the fresh air and the endless adrenaline had combined to make for such a superb holiday that we’ve already planned a second Norwegian adventure.