Norrland – Leonberger Life

Esther’s writing prompt: January 7, 2026: Snow

I grew up in northern Sweden (Norrland), which means that I saw a lot of snow. I loved playing in the snow, building snow castles, snow tunnels, throwing snowballs, building snowmen, going sledding and going cross country skiing. I don’t remember being cold. I had warm clothes on, and I often stayed out very late playing in the snow. Now I live in Texas where snow is very rare.

Winter landscape at sunset in direct light with plenty of snow on the trees, Gällivare county, Swedish Lapland, Sweden — Snow on the trees, Gällivare county, Swedish Lapland, Sweden Shutterstock Asset id: 2035482680 by Mats Lindberg

Female cross country skier walking through heavy snow in a wild pine forest at night. — Cross country skiing in Sweden Shutterstock Asset id: 1888204651 by Henrik A. Jonsson

Later in life, maybe at the age of 12-13 I also started doing downhill skiing / slalom. We had four ski resorts close to my hometown Örnköldsvik. I can add that the snow packed northern forests can be very beautiful. Northern Sweden is also a very dark place in winter, being close to or above the arctic circle. Therefore, I also watched some spectacular night skies and auroras from my snow castles. The Milky Way and even the Andromeda Galaxy were visible. One time as I was sitting in the snow, I saw a very large meteor moving across the sky. It had a tail of fire and was not moving too fast. I believe I could see the piece of rock, but I am not sure. In any case, it put up a show.

Stars in the sky. Blue night panorama, a universe full of stars, nebula and galaxies. — Milky way sky on dark background, and a lot of stars. Spectacular night sky in the polar winter. Asset id: 2524020369 by MR.PRAWET THADTHIAM

Stunning aurora borealis lights up the night sky with vibrant colors, creating a mesmerizing natural display in the Arctic wilderness. — Aurora Borealis are often spectacular in the polar regions, especially during the polar night. Asset id: 2499746583 by HappyVibeArt

Unfortunately, according to my brother, this winter my hometown Örnsköldsvik did not have snow for Christmas. According to Science Daily the data from weather stations in northern Sweden indicates that the snow season has decreased by over two months in a 30-year span and according to the National Library of Medicine the cold season in northern Finland (next doors) has gotten warmer with reduced snow cover. This is quite noticeable and the reindeer are suffering as a result.

Visiting the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi

Luckily the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi nearby Kiruna in northern Sweden is still open since December 12, 2025. The ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi opened the first in 1989 and it is the first and largest ice hotel in the world.

I should say that Jukkasjärvi is located north of the arctic circle and is typically very cold in winter. However, you sleep in very warm sleeping bags on top of ice blocks covered by reindeer hides. The ice hotel itself does not have any bathroom, but they have an adjacent wood building with bathrooms and showers. They also have rooms for people who don’t want to sleep in a cold ice room. We visited the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi as a family in 2004 and I took a lot of photos.

Photo is of a large ice table and ice chairs located in the middle of the lobby, which is filled with tall pillars made of ice. — The lobby of the ice hotel. Our kids are sitting around a table of ice. A chandelier of ice is hanging above the table. The light is from fiber optics, so the ice won’t melt.

Again, the photo is of a large ice table and ice chairs located in the middle of the lobby, which is filled with tall pillars made of ice. In this photo there are no kids except for the faint figure behind one of the ice pillars. — Another photo of the lobby at the ice hotel. My son David is barely visible behind one of the ice pillars.

The photo shows a big hallway with large ice pillars and an ice statue of a man. — One of the beautiful hallways in the Ice Hotel.

Photo of a beautiful table made of ice and two sofa chairs and one sofa, all made of ice. — My oldest son sitting at an ice table in the lobby.

The photo shows an entrance looking like a bottle and there are several pillars and statues made of ice. — Entrance to the ice bar where you could food and drink and sit on ice chairs by ice tables.

Photo of my wife with our three children standing in front of the ice bar where two servers are standing. Everyone is holding glasses made of ice filled with juice. — We started the evening with a visit to the ice restaurant and bar. Everything in the ice restaurant was made of ice, the tables, the chairs, the counter, the glasses, the plates, and the art.

The photo show rectangular ice glasses standing on an ice counter. They are filled with differently colored drinks. — Close up of ice glasses on the ice counter in the ice bar.

A photo of an ice table and 7 instruments made of ice standing on an ice stage. — This is a photo of the ice instruments standing on the ice stage.

Photo of a beautiful cello and guitar sculpted in ice. — A close up of an ice cello and an ice guitar.

The photo shows elaborately sculpted parts of a organ all in ice. — This is a portion of an ice organ in the ice bar.

My dad Stig and his girlfriend Ulla came with us on the trip.

We are all laying on top of our ice bed. We are inside our sleeping bags except my head and part of my body is out of the bag. — We are going to bed in our room. I think it was my wife Claudia who took the photo.

A long white icy hallway in the darkness. — This was the hallway where our room was located.

My wife is sitting at the end of the sled and in front of her are the kids. Everyone is bundled up. — We are going on a dogsled tour. The ice theater is in the background, and you can see part of the ice hotel on the right.

You can see ten dogs and the sled with us on top of it. On the left is a kåta, a movable Sami structure (indigenous arctic Scandinavian people). It is similar to a Tipi. — The kids had a lot of fun during the dogsled tour

The photos show a dogsled with dogs and some people. The kåta on the left is pretty prominent in this photo. — On the left is a kåta, a movable Sami structure (indigenous arctic Scandinavian people).

This is the ice theater. It was located next to the ice hotel (not in the picture).

The ice hotel had put out lots of kick sleds, referred to as “spark” for people to use as a mode of transportation on the snow and ice, or just to sit on. As my dad, Stig, was sitting on one of them, our son came up to him and told him “Stig the hotel put out these sleds for children to play with. It is not for adults to sit on.” My dad was so surprised that he just handed him the sled.

He is standing and kicking with his feet to move forward with the sled. He is passing in front of the ice theater. — Our son David with one of the kick sleds called “spark”.

Photo of men with a machine cutting ice blocks. — They got the ice blocks for the structure and for the art from nearby Torneå river.

The next day I took photos of some other rooms

There is a huge ice and snow decoration on the wall featuring an angry looking face. — Another room with a snowy wall decoration.

A close up of an elaborate ice bed. — Some of the rooms were really beautiful.

An ice room with an ice motorcycle and other ice art. — Some of the rooms had beautiful ice art.

A very large ice bedroom. — You had to pay more for a big room. You paid the price of Hilton and got the comfort of camping in winter.

An ice bedroom with an ice statue of a moose. — More ice art.

Someone reminded me that today is the day of writing, so I decided to make a blog post even though I made one yesterday. This post is not about Leonbergers or dogs but about our visit to the ice hotel in Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden. It was 2005 and the kids were still small. It was the first ice hotel in the world and is the biggest one.

I should say that Jukkasjärvi is located north of the arctic circle and is typically very cold in winter. The ice hotel itself does not have any bathroom, but they have an adjacent wood building with bathrooms, showers, and rooms for anyone who can’t stand the cold for too long. If you are OK with being a bit cold, you sleep in sleeping bags on top of blocks covered by reindeer hides. Below are some selected photos that I took.