Sledding my way down
The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, the air is freezing... What better way to start the day than by doing some dangerous sledding? For real, I had my little scare as I spedded down Fjellheisen, the infamous mountain accessible by either foot or cable car.
One fateful sunny day, some friends and I happily hiked up the hill, each of us equipped with our trusty spade sleds. The plan was to slide down the path after reaching the top of the mountain, where the restaurant Fjellstua is located. This seemed like a good idea at the time: some exercise in the snow, fresh air, gorgeous nature and a fun ride down. Except that we chose the forest path, and not the nice spatious slope to our right. Boy did we get down fast, but while the others skillfully sledded in between the trees, carefully following the path and avoiding the walkers, all I saw was the open area in front of me, overlooking the city. I could not quite control my spade, and ended up as a human snowball rolling on the ground (I'm okay now, by the way). Needless to say, I quickly gave up on the idea of sledding down narrow curves for the rest of the way. For a safer sledding path, I'd suggest the mountain Kjølen situated on Kvaløya and easily accessible by bus, definitely the easiest hike I know. But honestly, with the amount of ice on the sidewalks, you don't really need much to enjoy yourself.
The beginning of the month was also marked by the Sami week, celebrating their culture with various events such as a reindeer race right in the city centre, exhibitions, concerts, lasso throwing (you heard that right) and an Arctic market. I found out way too late that the area to watch the reindeer race and shop in the market was enclosed, which meant that you had to pay a small fee to enter. So I just sort of watched everything from afar, scanning through the crowd to spot one or two furry creatures. Everything happened very fast, but I could actually snap some pictures. Which are now completely lost. All my files are still here, only... a big block of colour permanently covers more than half of them. I'm fine. Looks like someone messed up with my photos on paint and pressed save for fun but I'm just fine.
In addition to the Sami week in town, the University of Tromsø also organised its own events. On the 6th of February, which corresponds to the Sámi álbmotbeaivvi (Sami national day), students and teachers were invited to attend an intimate concert featuring poems, songs and a speech, all in the Sami language. Almost all of the guests were clad in their traditional costume, a gorgeous combination of bright blue and red for most, and it was truly heartwarming to see such a blissful reunion. As we take a look back at history, we soon notice that the Samis have endured centuries of discrimination and oppression (notably as a consequence of the process of Norwegianisation or fornorsking av samer), thus celebrations like these are essential. They bring Samis and Norwegians together, preserve traditions and radiate joy all around.
On this note, let's take a look at the many snowscapes Tromsø offered this month (we'll just have to ignore the missing pictures...)
