2018 - Fjällräven Classic Sweden

Tent: MEC Wanderer 2

Pack: Fjallraven Kajka 65L

Sleeping Bag: North Face Dolomite Double 20 (-7C)

The Swedish Classic was our very first long-distance hike, and the journey started months before the actual event. I found a passing reference to the Classic on one of Fjallraven’s webpages and made an offhand comment to my husband, “Hey, we’re going hiking in the arctic circle next summer.”  He said “Of course we are.” Four months later we were up at 4 o’clock in the morning, credit cards in hand, making sure that we snagged our tickets before they sold out — which happened within about 10 minutes of the tickets going up for sale. 

This hike is the original Fjallraven Classic — 110km through the arctic on Sweden’s famous Kungsleden (King’s Trail). Participants (about 2000 in all) start the hike in 9 waves spread out over three day, and have up to a week to finish the trek. Fjallraven has had many years to work out the kinks in this hike, and I spent the entire trip being completely impressed by the smooth event organisation. We decided to aim for 5 days, giving us time to enjoy the after party at the end of our hike before having to head home.  

The check-in for the hike is in the small town of Kiruna, where Fjallraven rents out a school gym. Hikers filter through, picking up all the gear that Fjallraven supplies: freeze dried Real Turmat meals, stove fuel, garbage bags, map, safety flags, and hiking pass. The took the train from Stockholm, and were incredibly impressed that we could board the train at the airport in Stockholm and go all the way to Kiruna (20+ hours) without ever changing trains. Sleeper cars were already sold out when we booked, but sitting up on the train was reasonably comfortable. Our only annoyance was a woman in our train car who spent - no joke - 7 straight hours talking on the phone…until 2AM. 

In Kiruna Fjallraven sent buses to pick us all up at the train station. We camped at Camp Ripan — which was conveniently located about 100m from the check-in point. We didn’t need any reservations and were even able to get a hot buffet breakfast before leaving on our hike the next morning. We spent a lovely afternoon eating in a local pub, and picked up a bottle of scotch to carry on our travels. 

The next morning we were bused to the official start point - Nikkaluokta - and set off on the trail! We didn’t make it far before stopping at the famous LapDonalds for a reindeer burger. It was about 9:30am, but we didn’t mind. 

We were worried that it would be hard to get space to ourselves on the trail but it was amazing how fast the crowd from the start line spread out and by mid-day we were mostly alone on the trail, which was ever changing terrain but really well marked and easy to follow.

There were six checkpoints spread out along the train. We got our hiking passes stamped at each one and usually got offered a little snack as well. Many people chose to camp at the checkpoints, but since we had the option to camp anywhere along the trail, we usually opted to camp off on our own. The absolute best part about this trip was being able to drink the water right out of the stream without needing to filter or boil it. We only needed to carry a 1L bottle each as we were never far away from a stream or river running down out of the mountains.

We set a pretty fast pace during the days - snacking on chocolate bars and trail mix instead of a hot meal most days. This was great because we could cover our distance for the day by about 4PM, pick a campsite with an incredible view, and then sit back and watch everyone else hike through during the evening. 

The weather for the 2018 Classic - in mid-august - was by far the biggest challenge. We got lucky with sun on the first day, but ended up in a torrential downpour on day 2. On day four we woke up to discover that there had been a light dusting of snow just a little bit further up the mountain than we had hiked! Needless to say, we were very glad to have our three season sleeping bags. We met some people at the end who got very, very chilly in their summer weight bags.

There was good news though, with all this cold weather we never saw any of the infamous mosquitos that the region is known for. All the rain did result in wet feet at a few river crossings - I was glad to be in hiking boots, although I saw many people hiking in trail runners.

The scenery was a huge highlight of this trip — it changed constantly as we wound between the mountains, through forests, and across some plains. We also saw reindeer every single day!

When we hiked in to camp on the 5th day, we found out that our final time had been just under 100 hours total. The end of the trail was also located next to a campground, and we were able to set up camp, check out emails, and enjoy the party at the Trekkers Inn. There was a large outdoor beer garden right next to the finish line and everyone cheered each time someone came across the finish line! In addition to serving up beer and reindeer wraps, a live band did a great mix of songs that had everyone up and dancing, despite our sore legs. It was a really excellent way to wrap up the trip!