Across the Finnmarksvidda

We spend the night on the frozen expanse of Lake Lesjavri. The Northern Lights build up in an arch above our tent and we watch for several hours how they magnify into rippling curtains on either side of the lake and finally flow in a curling and waving stream right above our heads and into the distance. The Inuit of Alaska believed that the lights were the spirits of the animals they hunted. Out on the lake, surrounded only by snow and mountains, we are far more susceptible to this legend than to any geophysical chart showing collisions between particles. Through most of the evening, commands of “Don’t move” and countdowns for exposure times echo across the lake as we try to capture the lights on camera.

Two days earlier my partner, Jamie, and I had packed our pulks and set out from Jotka Fjellstue to cross the Finnmarksvidda plateau north to south-east. The Finnmark region lies at the very top of northern Norway. The Finnmarksvidda is in the interior part of this county and covers ...