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Lapland, Sweden

Adventure and teambuilding combined in one trip.

By Jochen Vander Eecken

The Challenge.

To give you a little background to the story: As my daily job I work as a project manager in a digital web agency located in Belgium. Within the office there is a strong focus on a healthy lifestyle (since we are behind our screens for +8 hours a day), that's why we have an annual teambuilding challenge. Previous challenges included running a marathon, crossing a mountain pass in a four day hike and this year we went out to explore the beautiful landscapes of Lapland, Sweden.

Brussels ✈ Kiruna

To travel to our destination we flew from Brussel to Copenhagen onwards to Stockholm and as a final destination Kiruna. You can only fly to Kiruna on Wednesdays and Sundays, other than that, there are no other options available. As we went on a five-day trip, missing a flight was not an option.

The drive to Kangos.

Our starting point - the Pinetree lodge - was located in a small village named Kangos. From Kiruna airport this was a two hour drive across many lakes, plains and a few small idyllic villages.

From the outside the pinetree lodge was already beautiful but on the inside I found it absolutely stunning.

After we dropped off our luggage and got a bite to eat we went outside. Boy, so this is what they can call a starry night! It is in times like these you start to realize that you really need to enjoy the simple things in life...

Day two.

After a good night’s sleep we got up early to start the adventure! Our guide Johan gave us an extensive briefing before going on the three day journey with our own four dogs and sled. Driving a sled seems rather easy but you do have to keep some essential actions in mind; most importantly: the brake system.

Time to meet our four new best friends for the next three days! I am a dog lover so this trip is right up my alley. Not only did we need to take care of the dogs, we also got to harness them, feed them and even make their sleeping place for the nights. For the next three days I will be accompanied by Ivory, Fieke, Max and Lotion.

And off we go!

After 52 kilometres and temperatures of -10°c we reached our cabins to stay the night. This second day was absolutely amazing. Frozen lakes, numerous pine trees covered in fresh snow, early sunrise, early sunset, very long nights.. Words can not describe.

What are these photos about?

Day Three.

Oh! And it even got better the third day.. According to our guide Johan this was the first and most intense aurora appearance in months. I myself have never experienced this before, it was truly a magical experience.

A nice reward from mother nature after traveling 46 kilometres by temperatures of -25°c. This really makes you instantly forget a long and hard day of running with the dogs on steep hills in very fresh snow. Also: each wilderness cabin has its own sauna. So going from -25°c to 70°c in a few minutes really gets you right back on your feet.

Day Four.

Good morning! And what a day it would be! The last 50 kilometres of our three-day journey with the dogs before we get back the Pinetree Lodge, a decent bed, a shower and cellphone connection. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the simplicity of the last few days but it truly was a nice thought to look forward too. We started off on a hardened road and reached speeds up to 25 kilometres an hour, ow yeah!

The more you travel, the more you enjoy the beautiful sights and scenes along the way. This fourth day was even colder than the day before, reaching actual temperatures of -27°c! However, on these open lakes there was quite a strong breeze so believe me, it felt much colder than our thermometer showed.

What are these photos about?

Nevertheless, the cold temperatures and all our hard work were so worth it!

Upon arrival at the Pinetree Lodge we got another reward from Mother Nature. For the second day in a row we got to enjoy these beautiful northern lights. This would be a trip we never to forget!

What are these photos about?

Day Five.

Time to head back to Belgium. You could tell by the looks on my colleague's faces that none of them really wanted to head back, we could have easily stayed there for a few more days. To ‘stretch’ the adventure a bit more we got up early and visited a Moose farm on our way to the airport. We had seen a few on our trip at a distance, but up close they were truly impressive!

So, this was it... The adventure, the teambuilding. Lots of moments of joy and pleasure shared with friends, formerly known as good colleagues. Moments of solitude with no sound but the wind and four working dogs. Sights and landscapes too beautiful to describe. Would I recommend this journey to any of you reading this? Absolutely! In my opinion this is something you should have done at least once in your lifetime, you just have to go for it!