Fjällräven Classic Sweden 2022
Hey all, it’s Lucy here. Thanks for joining me on my experience completing the Fjällräven Classic Sweden walk. This all happened at very short notice; 4 weeks prior to the event, my colleague Jacob who was meant to be walking the route in 2022, unfortunately, had to take a step out this year. No doubt he will be walking in a future Fjällräven Classic!
Ben and I left for London on Thursday 10th of August 2022 around 4pm-ish to avoid rush hour. I had packed and repacked my bags about six times over having never done a multi-day hike, I was slightly apprehensive, however, the excitement outweighed my nerves. I felt quite happy how I’d divided everything up into their individual dry bags, it was going to be one big adventure! My pack weighed around 10 kg; (strong trail snacks included). Just as I was leaving, my iPhone sent a huge wobbly and I now had a purple screen. Isn’t technology great when it works but useless as soon as it goes wrong?
Ben picked me up from home and we were off heading towards London Heathrow, where we stayed for the night, making the morning flight much easier. For tea, we went to a pub not far from where we were staying. On the walk back to the hotel we were welcomed by the bright full moon and we sorted our boarding passes. Hooray!
Thursday 11th August – London > Stockholm > Kiruna
Our alarms were set for 6:15am. The bus to Heathrow was at 7am. Once we handed in our luggage and grabbed our plane tickets, we met with Ruth & Anna who are, ‘Friends of Fjällräven’ and were joining us on this epic adventure, we headed through security and off for an airport breakfast we went.
The flight to Stockholm was 2.5hours in the sky, we had a connecting flight up to Kiruna for 90 minutes. After two flights down, we made it… coming in for our final landing at Kiruna Airport, I’d never seen so many uninterrupted trees and so much Fjällräven kit in one place, we were surrounded, it was amazing to see! We grabbed our luggage and felt quite lucky, we had met a lady on the bus, herself and 3 others luggage hadn’t arrived. ☹
After a short bus ride to Kiruna, where we were starting our trip, we found the information centre and chalets for the night. We decided to leave check-in until tomorrow and opted to settle down in our huts for the night.
That evening we were fed well, reindeer, buttery mashed potato and lingonberry jus were on the menu. We popped to the local Co-Op for any last-minute food – they had the most amazing selection. I love looking around foreign supermarkets. It was nearing 10pm and it wasn’t at all dark yet, nowhere near. We noticed that the local cars all have big additional bright lights on the front for their super dark wintery nights! We headed back to the main hall to chat with everyone around the table. Ready to bring on tomorrow!
Day 1 (Friday) > Nikkaluoktoa > Kebnekaise | 12.5miles
Oh dear, my snoring didn’t go down so well last night. All packed and showered, we headed for breakfast I had scrambled egg, bacon, bread with ham and cheese with a jam compote with a black coffee and orange juice.
Afterwards, we went to check in for Fjällräven Classic, and grab our passports for the trip, to complete the classic you had to have your Fjällräven passport stamped at each checkpoint. We collected our dehydrated food, gas and any last-minute clothing or utility shopping you needed. Before catching the bus, we weighed our packs; mine was 16Kg, Ruth’s and Ben’s were 17Kg and Anna’s was 24Kg.
Kiruna > Nikkaluoktoa… Driving into the middle of nowhere with lots of trees and no interruption. Heavenly!
Once we arrived, we took a group photo, and off we set…
The track started off through woodland, with many silver birches, Sweden’s national tree, with occasional board walks. 6km in, we were met with delicious ‘Lapdonalds’ (Swedish reindeer burgers or waffles).
At this point, you could take a shortcut boat ride of 6km on Lake Laddju. We decided to keep walking… our first day was 20km long with an elevation of 250m, up to Kebnekaise Mountain Station. This was our first checkpoint; as we got closer to the station, we heard the checkpoint was currently closed due to bad weather ahead in the valleys; many people started to set up camp. By now we’d caught up with 2 of our guys we knew, who had already set up camp. We were told you might not be able to pass; luckily, Ben and I were in the right place right time. As we got to the Kebnekaise Mountain Station, the mountain ranger told us it was opening at 6pm; in 20 minutes, that was enough time to put our packs down and relax.
The checkpoint opened, we got stamped and walked 150 metres after the checkpoint to pitch camp. I was on a nice section of semi-dry mud, out of our group I was the only one who used their tent pegs; everyone else had to use stones to pitch their tents. For tea tonight, it was dried chilli con carne, with two pints of White ale, a lovely and refreshing beer with an aromatic citrus and grapefruit taste, delicious! I found it’s a vegan-friendly beer made in a microbrewery in Vårby, Sweden. Bedtime soon beckoned around 9pm for me.
Day 2 (Saturday) Kebnekaise > between Singi & Salka
It rained on and off throughout the night I woke up a couple of times, my eye mask had come off, so my beanie went over my eyes. I’d been recommended an eye mask as the nights aren’t dark, sunset is 10.30pm with sunrise at 3am.
Rising around 7am, I saw Darren leave ahead of us through my tent window. For breakfast I had warm chocolate muesli. I was surprised at how good it was! Time to pack away a wettish tent (I wiped off the excess with the magic sponge soaking up most of the water – Steve had given me lots of tips before leaving).
5 of our group were off to summit Kebnekaise, which is the highest mountain in Sweden, 2,096m high (the equivalent journey up Ben Nevis, in the UK) Adding an extra 20km on top of the 110km. There had been a fresh amount of snow on the top that morning; before leaving, I wished them luck on their journey.
Off we went, Anna, Ben, Ruth and I, today we were walking right through the mountain valley, it was incredible. The landscape turned from grey and rocky to more of an orange stone with hints of green and lots of stone surrounding it. The weather was dry with a slight breeze, thankfully enough to keep the midges at bay!
We hit the Singi checkpoint, where we were greeted with friendly faces and unexpected treats. We ate reindeer wraps and drank Swedish squash. We continued walking until we were about 7km from the next checkpoint (Salka), where we decided to set up camp for the night at around 6pm. We were surrounded by groups of Reindeer and mountain views. For tea tonight I had creamy salmon with pasta, with a fruit tea. Our camp was an epic spot tonight and was just a tad chillier. Blister arrived today – Small scissors and compeed plasters to the rescue.
Fjällräven Classic Sweden: Day 3 (Sunday) between Singi & Salka
I’d had a disturbed night’s sleep, it had rained heavily on and off and sleepy me thought my bag was going to get wet in my porch, so I brought it in with me to go back to sleep. I had brekkie with such a fantastic view, with the mountains right in front of me. I was a bit slow at getting myself together this morning; my body was tired.
All packed away, with our backpacks on, off we set for the next checkpoint, Salka 7km to go…
It felt long, but we made it and got stamped! We refuelled with more dehydrated food and re-energised at this checkpoint; there was a small shop to buy things. Ben bought me the most amazing coffee coconut cake; a little energy boost; it was delicious. I bought a sew-on patch which had flowers on it and a can of coke to give me some energy!
My pack now felt slightly heavier. This next stage we were heading towards was the highest point of the Fjällräven Classic Sweden, which is 1140m above sea level. We made a group decision to stop before climbing over the pass, for lunch, ready and energised.
After lunch, we set off, it was very rocky in places compared to what we had walked previously. We steadily climbed up in elevation without really noticing as you could see the pass in front of you. The steepest part wasn’t too bad. It was a little steep in one section, but overall, it was fine and nothing we couldn’t handle. To celebrate our victory of making it to the highest point, we had a swig of whiskey to celebrate. 😀
Off we descended down the mountain to the next checkpoint, ‘Tjaktja’. The ground around us now had tonnes of rock in the valley. The walk down consisted mostly of board walks it was a good couple of kilometres down until we got to the grass and the landscape changed again from grey rock to green grass and lower mountains in front. We made camp between 2 rivers, surrounded by lovely white noise.
Once pitched, we crossed the river to go to the checkpoint, Ben and I got stamped and collected the best brownie. It was raspberry milk chocolate with white chocolate mixed in, DELICIOUS! We demolished it quickly. On our way back to the tents, we met a guy called Matowy, Matt in Polish, who had recognised Ben from our YouTube channel. I found out he lives in Sweden and is a big fan of our videos, we’d promised to give him a big shout-out 😊.
Overall, an excellent day 23km completed. It was a clear night watching the beautiful sunset through the valleys. The clear sky also meant a cooler night. I took a little longer to nod off compared to previous nights.
Fjällräven Classic Sweden: Day 4 (Monday) Tjaktja > Alesjaure
Waking up early without a phone or watch, I found it quite hard to tell what time it was. With the sun already risen and quite high up in the sky. I packed up all my kit and reorganised, ready for the day ahead.
Chris, Georgie and Paul had caught up with us, having done a 45km day yesterday. Today was meant to be an easier day, 17 to 18 km. It was a relatively flat day compared to previous days and the weather was lovely and sunny. The terrain felt quite easy, having changed from rock and board walks to mud and a few more swing bridges. As a group, we had a long lunch at the checkpoint in ‘Alesjaure’. Here we got to see a helicopter land and take off very close to us. We re-energised with a dehydrated meal and two beers down, ready for more walking.
We were now at Paul’s pace, which was fast. We finally found a pitch for the night next to the Alisjávri Lake. We were roughly 15km from ‘Kieron’, the next checkpoint. As soon as we pitched Paul was in the water with Chris, Georgie and Anna. We spent our evening together having our tea, which was shortly interrupted by midges. I bailed and went to bed; my legs and feet were very tired!
Day 5 (Tuesday) Alisjavri lake > to Kieron > Abiskojaure Fjallstuga
I woke up feeling okay, tired, but that was to be expected my legs took a while to wake up. This morning the guys went swimming again. Ruth and Darren left a little beforehand whilst we had breakfast.
Over the next part of our walk, it became a lot less stony more boardwalks and trees started to arrive again, silver birches and many of them. We were around 5km in from our morning walk, where we stopped to enjoy a cup of coffee, enjoying the view on top of the hill overlooking the water. Our group had brought along the Primus Lite+ stove with the coffee filter– it was such a lovely treat to have a good decent cup of coffee! I would highly recommend it!
The landscape we had travelled so far had been so vast and open, it was now changing once again as we descended from the mountains back into the valley, from wooden boardwalks to walking downhill over rocks and bigger descents welcomed by a large amount of running water over a swing bridge.
At ‘Kieron’ checkpoint, we checked in and had the loveliest treat waiting for us, with the warmest welcome from Fjällräven staff. We had pancakes with jam and cream! We were all very excited and it was the best treat yet. Just as we finished our well-deserved treat, it started to rain – waterproof jacket and trousers were on, the rain wasn’t super heavy and once moving I felt quite warm so my waterproof trousers came off.
We arrived at the beginning of Abisko National Park and found our campsite, which was 15 km from the finish in Abiskojaure Fjallstuga. Pitching our tents in woodland, I chose my spot in the middle surrounded by silver birches, there were Swedish great tit birds and lots of wildflowers.
The lads went for a quick dunk again in the lake. At this point we all got demolished by mozzies and midges. At this campsite, we had a local shop to grab a few treats, crisps, sweets and sew-on patches. There was also a sauna you could use with a ladies’ hour, men’s hour and mixed hour where you could jump in the lake afterwards.
We all made tea together in the open space around the camp, where we shared a bench with an Australian guy and his mum. He described how life in Sweden is and the ways of living and talked about his previous experiences with Fjällräven Classic Sweden having taken part in 2018. Tonight, there were the most bugs I had seen, many midges and mosquitoes, I had my head net on, but it just got to the point where I decided to escape and go to bed and put my feet up for the night.
Fjällräven Classic Sweden: Day 6 (Wednesday) > Abiskojaure Fjallstuga > Abisko > Finish Line
It was the last morning of putting our tents away, it had rained through the night, so again I used Steve’s tip with the sponge to dry the tent off. Before leaving, it was breakfast and coffee time. We all set off together back over the swing bridge and along wooden slats.
Not long into our walk, maybe around 6 or 7km in, we decided to stop for a coffee break as a group. When we set off it really started to rain and it didn’t stop!
At this point, we all divided off into groups with Paul, Anna and Ben leading in front, followed by Chris, Darren, Georgie, Ruth and me. The rain continued; the puddles got bigger as you descended to Abisko. We all just wanted to get to the finish line now… feeling tired and exhausted.
We arrived at Abisko park village! As you entered, they had a lovely art piece made from silver birches showing you all the rivers, lakes and mountains along our entire walk and throughout the area. We made it!! Over the finish line, HOORAY!! Feeling very happy and relieved we’d made it, we collected our last stamp, along with our medal, our Fjällräven classic patch and Fjällräven Classic pin. We put our packs down and head into the ‘Trekkers Inn’ for some proper food, a reindeer kebab with salad – it was demolished and watered down with a beer in hand to ‘cheers’ us all for making it over the finish line! Whilst taking part in the Fjällräven Classic Sweden you’re encouraged along your route to collect any rubbish you see and of course your own. At the end of the hike, you have your trash weighed. If you have 600gms or more, you’re given a branded Fjällräven Classic Grayl filter water bottle, which Ben & I were given.
Having never done a multi-hike trip before, I really enjoyed myself and would highly recommend anyone thinking of doing one. Obviously, make sure you carry the right kit with you for all types of weather you never know what you may need. It was an incredible experience having 6 full days out in nature I felt content and relaxed having connected to such a beautiful place. It’s an experience I will remember for the rest of my life! Priceless.
Fjällräven Classic Sweden: My top tips I learnt from my first multi-day trek;
- Buy drybags (Individual coloured ones) – I found this really helpful, I knew where and what was in each bag, ready for any time of day, if I needed my waterproofs, or my tent & bed for each night (plus everything would be dry if and it rained).
- Take good snacks! It really helps your morale, and if you’re using the Primus Lite+ take the coffee filter if you drink coffee or tea bags 😊 the little things go a long way!
- Set a timer for snacks, when to take a break, drink water, it’ll make you get into a rhythm and let you rest, hydrate and take in the awesome view, remember it’s connecting with nature – not a race.
- Let your feet breathe, when you take a break, take your shoes or boots off –or best yet at night if you’re near water take your feet for a fresh dunk!
- Don’t forget some comfy shoes for the evening I bought crocs, best thing ever! Your feet will swell as the days go on, a little foot massage in the evening helps too, when you go to bed make sure you sleep sock free.
Top Tips from Ben; (what he wish he’d taken and handy tips for multi-day hikes).
- The only kit that I took that didn’t get used at all was my MSR water filter, but for peace of mind, it’s worth packing in case a less than ideal water source or one in a high-traffic area was the only option. The water was pristine though so there were no issues filling up straight from the streams/rivers.
- The main things I wish I’d taken were a few luxuries just to make the downtime a little more enjoyable, fortunately, some of our trail-mates decided to bring them and they were keen on sharing. A big one for next time would be coffee and a coffee press for the Primus Lite+, the one we had in our group proved ideal for a morning brew, so one of those is definitely getting added to my kit list.
- If I was being critical, I would swap out my Titanium folding spork for a long-handled spork, just to make life a little easier with the dehydrated meals. My one was fine but getting right into the corners of the Real Turmat Meals to stir them was a little tricky without getting fingers covered in dehydrated food!
- make sure your pack admin is on point. Both in terms of how it’s packed for proper weight distribution (makes a huge difference for carrying comfort), but also for finding things in your pack. Colour coding your drybags inside the pack makes life so much easier when you need to grab specifics from your bag, for me that was mostly for finding my snack bag.
- Bring more snacks than you think you’ll need. The trail is a very social space and a few extra snacks can make it a much nicer place to be. Sharing snacks leads to some interesting conversations and can be used to bargain if you forget something, it’s how I ended up in on the coffee some of our friends bought with them.
- Bring a small microfibre towel with you. Useful for so many things, including drying your pots and cups, removing moisture from the inside and outside of your tent and also for washing/drying yourself if you decide to venture for a swim or sauna.
My breakdown of kit
Shop my whole collection here or individually below on the links.
Compass & Stove – Primus Lite+ (shared with Ben)
Food, included, Gas included
Backpack = Ospey Renn 65ltr (I would recommend a 52 Ltr personally)
Tent – Nordisk Telemark 1 LW (I separated my tent and put my tent into the Exped pumpsack which is also a drybag) – 2 in 1 (Bed, pump and drybag)
Then poles and pegs on the side of my bag.
Camelbak Waterbottle 1.5ltr
5 days of trail snacks
Sleeping bag – Therm-a-rest Questar 0’c
Shoes; Meindl Comfort Fit – Antelao GTX
Walking Poles – Leki Micro Vario Carbon poles
Crocs for downtime
Waterproofs | Rab Downpour ECO F2 pants & Mountain Equipment Manaslu Jacket
Tops | Mountain Equipment Head point Tee (Vermillion) & Haglofs L.I.M Tech Tee (Maui Blue)
Trousers / Leggings | Fjallraven KEB Trousers & Montane Ineo Lite Pants
Fleeces | Helly Hansen Fleece & Mountain Equipment Lumiko Zip-T
Underwear | Royal Robbins ‘Ready dry’ x 3 pants
Royal Robbins ‘Ready dry’ x 1 bra
Socks – x 4 pairs of Darn Tough x 3 hike socks and Darn Tough x 1 boot sock
Montane Dart (Long sleeve) baselayer
Merino Leggings
Sleeping Mat – Exped Ultra 5R Mummy
Fox beanie
Trek buff
Eyemask
Iphone cable
Camera
Charger
Long handle spoon
Sponge
Dish cloth
Meds
Jungle formula max
Blister plasters
Extra tough plasters
Tweezers
Wilderness wash in 30ml Nalgene bottle
Toothpaste in 30ml Nalgene bottle
Niveacream
Deogrant
Hydration tablets
Hayfever tablets
Wound gel
Anti septic cream
Paracetamol
Iburfopen
Anti blister balm
Ben’s breakdown of kit
Shop Ben’s whole collection here or individually below on the links.
Leave a Reply