Exotic Winter Fun - Part 1 - Arctic Norway By Photographer, Author & Contributor Don Hurzeler
I was raised in Palos Verdes and retired a couple of decades ago to the Big Island of Hawaii. Spending money to be cold in winter is never my first thought. But, that thought finally came up and I am glad it did.
My wife and I are professional photographers. In addition, I am an author with a current book series just started called The Geezer’s Guide to Adventure. We have about run out of warm and tropical spots to visit, so these past couple of years we lost our minds and headed north. Most brutal was beautiful Yellowstone National Park in winter at a mind blowing and “ice cream headache” minus 40 degrees…more on those trips (we’ve gone two years in a row because we loved it) in another issue. Most comfortable and unbelievably different were the Lofoton Islands in arctic Norway. We went to Norway just a week after being in Yellowstone and Norway was about 32 degrees most of the time we were there…72 degrees warmer than Yellowstone, despite being well inside Arctic Circle.
To get there, we flew from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii to San Francisco to Frankfurt, Germany to Oslo, Norway and then two small plane flights into Lofoton. Took us about a day in the air to get there. We used Sky Luxe Travel to get Business Class seats at about 60 percent off normal cost. The travel was easy.
We joined a small group of photographers to tour the large island for about nine days…plenty to see and all of it gorgeous and different. For much of the trip we stayed in the red cabins in the above photo located in Hamnoy.
You will feel comfortable in Lofoton…it is really a beach community, with some ice and snow on the beach in winter. We saw surfboard rental shops…closed for the winter...places to rent snorkel gear and the water looked crystal clear. I have a friend who runs winter adventure trips near Lofoton where you get in the water and photograph feeding orcas in a near frozen ocean…I hope you don’t try that one…it is not on my “to do” list.
What makes Lofoton unique is the fact that, across the street from the beach, the mountains go straight up. They are rugged and snow covered. Lakes, fjords, inlets and bays reflect the mountains and sky perfectly.
The food was great. The roads were good. You can drink the water.
Linda slipped on a loose rug in our cabin and managed to dislocate her shoulder. Think about that…very painful…at night…in the arctic…on an island…snowing out and cold by our standards and on an island in a country where we could not understand the language. No problem, we found an ER, they all spoke English and they put her back together pronto…and then stuck us with the medical bill…of $16.22! They apologized for the cost…said it would have been free if we were from an EU ( European Union) country.
The ER doctor asked what we would have been charged for the visit if it were done in our hometown of Kona, Hawaii. We explained that our health care is not great in Kona…but that there is a guy in the parking lot at Walmart who would give it try at getting the shoulder back in the socket for just $50. Otherwise, it would be so expensive that we would just let the shoulder hang and hope it would eventually ride up with wear.
The biggest draw for Lofoton in winter is the possibility of seeing, and in our case photographing, the aurora borealis…the Northern Lights. They were active every night we were there, but it is the arctic and most nights had clouds. We caught one perfect night and I will never need to take another aurora shot…Linda and I got them all. So can you…contact me at djhzz@aol.com and I will teach you how to get those shots…much easier than you might think.
On the night when the sky was clear, we spent all night, dressed warmly, standing in sand on a beach alongside a broad bay…with surfable waves breaking in the middle of the bay. The Northern Lights were so bright, colorful and dynamic that I count that one full night as one of the best nights of my life. I will never forget it…and have hundreds of great photos to remind me.
Along the way, we spent time in Oslo…a great city. We then flew to the Ice Hotel in arctic Sweden…more on that in an upcoming article.
We LOVED our time in Norway in the winter…and have loved it in summer many times. We felt safe, warm, comfortable and well taken care of the whole trip. Transactions were easy with Apple Pay or credit cards. Everyone seemed to speak English. Although the trip felt exotic, it did not have the feel of danger or isolation that we often encounter on our wilder trips. Dress like you would for Mammoth Mountain and bring along some clips for the bottom of your boots if you run into icy conditions.
Bring along a converter for your electronic devices and don’t expect that it will work for a hair dryer or Water Piks…we have burned up a few over the years by not reading the instructions ahead of usage. We had internet everywhere. Although we were on a remote island, there were adequate stores to buy things.
I wrote this article for this time of year to give you time to plan and book your trip. It is an island…things fill up early. Drop me a note at djhzz@aol.com if you have specific questions or want some recommendations.
And I think that I am most proud of the fact that I made it through this whole article without once mentioning that I was recently at the PVHS graduation for our grandson, Nathan Stanczak. Nate made first team All CIF for lacrosse and won many other honors. It was fun to celebrate with him on the 60th anniversary of when I graduated from PVHS. Of course, it would be unprofessional of me to try to cram the info on Nate and myself into this article on Lofoton, Norway…but I am pretty much through trying to be professional at this late point in my life…so there you go. Aloha.
Don and Linda are “lucky to live Hawaii” for the past seventeen years and claims to have never experienced an unhappy day on the island.
However, he does admit that he thinks of PV often…as it stands today and as it was. And what he misses most from those early days on the hill are growing up with a great set of friends and neighbors and the unimaginable freedom enjoyed in those days. He claims that he was raised like a free range chicken, able to hitch hike to get around town, to go out in surf that would scare any parent and to carry around a bow and arrow or small caliber gun to protect himself from rattle snakes when he hiked the canyons…not as a highly trained, accredited, licensed gun owner…but as a 12 year old kid whose dad treated guns like tools…there for protection and to be treated with respect and care.
And the best part of his freedom, no cell phones. Don was basically on his own and no one could track him or reach him until he decided to come home. Don always knew when dinner was served and he made sure to sneak in the door a few minutes prior. And, get this, dinner always included beer for Don…from about age 9 on. Or a milkshake made using 31 Flavors Baskin and Robbins ice cream from the Hollywood Rivera store mixed with crème de menthe. His dad felt the alcohol would whet Don’s appetite and help him grow from the skinny kid he was in those days. That did not work, but it did make him (temporarily) unafraid of orcas.
You can catch up with Don Hurzeler on Facebook. He is also on Instagram @donhurzeler. His book writing website is donhurzeler.com and his photography website is lavalightgalleries.com.
For a kid who grew up on the mean streets of Palos Verdes Estates, parented in a way that would land everyone in jail today, but supported, coached and loved…Don came out alright. A PV boy who fully understands how lucky he was that his parents built their dream home on a hill with a million lights sparkling below…or a fog bank a thousand feet thick.
To purchase Don’s books, please visit his Amazon page: