Arctic Sweden: Cold enough for you?

"James, are your feet warm yet?" This may seem an odd question to ask a travelling buddy so I should set the scene. We were huddled together in our sleeping bags listening to the hurricane-force winds battering our tent mercilessly, both fretting, but never voicing a numbing fear, that the tent would not make it through the night. We had spent the day cross-country skiing through the Swedish Arctic in conditions that made even the indigenous Sami think twice before venturing out to tend their reindeer. It was minus 30C outside and probably not much warmer inside the tent; hence the cold feet. I cannot describe our relief on pitching our tent at the end of that day. In fact it was a celebration for two reasons. It was Christmas Day and we had survived our first 24 hours on our own in one of Europe's most inhospitable environments.

You may be wondering why anyone would choose to spend Christmas in a tent in Lapland. The answer is simple: to prepare for one of the toughest races in the world: the April 2007 Polar Race. With preparation time running short and the excessive Christmas celebrations just too tempting, we packed our polar gear and headed to northern Sweden to embark on a five-day 100km trek through the Laponia World Heritage Site. I had visited the same area in the summer but nothing could prepare us for the extreme contrast between the seasons.

The following day dawned leached of all colour and warmth. Our next destination was 30km across the desolate ice-covered plateau. We were using snow shoes and cross-country skis. While I planned the day's route, James began slowly to melt blocks of snow and ice in our soot-encrusted paraffin stove beginning what was to become an oddly enjoyable and hypnotic routine.

Thermoses filled, I prepared a breakfast of porridge with flakes of dried reindeer. Erecting our tent was always a challenge but taking it down again in the mornings involved digging it, and ourselves, out of metre-deep snowdrifts and encrusted ice. Breakfast eaten and tent packed away in our sled, we set off in high spirits.

The British are famous for talking about the weather, but when your life depends on it, the elements become an obsession. Before we had embarked on our trip across the Arctic we'd asked a Swedish ranger what conditions to expect. After an intense conversation with his wife and son he turned to us and simply said, "there will be lots of weather".

The winds were so strong that sturdy pines were snapped in two, the blizzards so thick we could only just make each other out struggling to remain upright, and the temperatures so bitterly cold the sweat in our gloves would freeze solid if we stopped for even a minute. My godmother had given me a little thermometer key ring for the trip that measured temperatures down to minus 20C - the mercury never moved. Luckily the wind was blowing from the south-west and we were heading north-east so at least it was behind us.

Laponia is a spectacular place. In the winter the sun never breaks the horizon. But instead of dreary darkness the three-hour dawn is followed immediately by a three-hour dusk, the skies forever a palette of pastels and stars. But this beauty belies the danger. No sooner did we feel that we were in control, than we found ourselves controlled by nature's forces. At one point we lost sight of the reindeer markers (outlining the path used by the Sami) that we'd so come to rely on. Another time we started to cross a river that wasn't as frozen as we'd hoped, and we almost stumbled over a cliff we hadn't spotted on our rudimentary hand-drawn map.

While the physical side of the expedition was challenging, the mental aspect of surviving such a trip was even more so. Even the simplest decision could make the difference between survival and disaster. We were plagued by weariness and desperation to reach the end of our 100km journey, but had to carry on, heads down, conversation scarce, occasionally stopping to admire the ever-changing view over a slice of dried reindeer washed down with the water James painstakingly produced every morning.

Five kilometres from our final destination of Porjus we realised we were heading in the wrong direction. Completely exhausted and with our Thermos empty, we swallowed our pride and used the mobile (thankfully they work everywhere in the land of Ericsson) to call for a lift (by skidoo) into town.

The locals treated us like celebrities and it was clear we'd earned the respect of the Sami people, although they obviously thought we were a bit crazy. The interest was such that we were even interviewed by the Swedish press. We were later told we'd survived the worst storm to hit Sweden that year.

Adventure over, we spent the rest of our time being fattened up by a fellow Brit, Patricia Cowern. She lives in Porjus and has photographed and studied the Northern Lights here for years. She has also converted a former railway station into guest apartments. Not only did she teach us all things cosmic, she also provided us with Tetley tea and Marmite on our return from our ordeal.

Revitalised, we headed south, across the Arctic Circle, to see in 2007 with friends in a log cabin among towering pines, the only entertainment being a good book, a spot of ice-fishing or a sauna followed by a very Swedish naked roll in the snow.

Jake Morland (an aid worker) and James Turner (A teacher) are now in their final month of training for the 2007 Polar Race. Their team, Team Refuge (www.teamrefuge.org), will brave temperatures as low as minus 40C in an attempt to win the 400-mile race to the Magnetic North Pole. Their main challenge, however, is to raise £250,000 to establish a trust-fund within the UN Refugee Agency to fund urgent medical evacuations for refugee children. To support Team Refuge, visit www.teamrefuge.org

TRAVELLER'S GUIDE

GETTING THERE

The gateway to Swedish Lapland is Lulea, which is served from a range of UK airports via Stockholm Arlanda by SAS (0870 60 727 727; www.flysas.com). Fares start at around £400 return for travel in March.

British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba.com) also flies from Heathrow to Arlanda; FlyNordic (00 46 858 55 44 00; www.flynordic.com) flies from there to Lulea and Kiruna, also in Swedish Lapland. Alternatively, you can reach Lulea by train or bus from Stockholm.

To reduce the impact of your flight on the environment, you can buy an "offset" from Equiclimate (0845 456 0170; www.ebico.co.uk) or Pure (020-7382 7815; www.puretrust.org.uk).

STAYING THERE

Patricia Cowern's property, a converted railway station, is the Stationshuset in Porjus (00 46 9 73 10306; www.arctic-color.com). Doubles from SKr350 (£25), room only.

At Sorbyn lakeside cabins in Sorbyn (00 46 924 22036; www.sorbyn.se), self-catering cabins start at SKr800 (£58).

At Arstidsfolket, Gunnarsbyn, Lake Gorgiim, near Boden (00 46 925 33023; www.upplevboden.nu/accommodation), you can spend some time in Sami culture. Self-catering cottages from SKr300 (£22).

VISITING THERE

Ski rental and adventure tourism can be arranged through Outdoor Lapland (00 46 70 260 0537; www.outdoorlapland.com).

Activities are also

available with a local tour guide, named Love Rynback (00 46 70 207 5873;

www.creactive-adventure.se).

MORE INFORMATION

Laponia World Heritage Site (00 46 97 117 081; www.laponia.nu).

Visit Sweden: 020-7108 6168; www.visitsweden.com

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