Travel and Adventure by Various Travel Authors

By Steve Bergsman

Where do you go when winter arrives with its surly winds and plummeting temperatures? Some people dream of a Caribbean beach with soft ocean breezes wafting through the palm fronds somewhere above their heads. Others, like me, look forward to something more adventurous and head north -- and then farther north into the Arctic Circle

I'm not recommending a hardship trek across frozen wastelands like Roald Amundsen's of a century ago. My preference is someplace more fun and scenic with food that goes beyond barbecued ptarmigan.

The best place to fill that bill is Tromso, Norway. Not only is it located above the Arctic Circle, but it is farther north than Labrador, Iceland or even Fairbanks, Alaska.

Yet Tromso, which sits on an island in a fjord, rarely gets iced in, and when I was there in late winter, the temperature didn't dip below the 20-degree range. Snow swirled about, yet it wasn't all that cold. I felt the weight of the humidity more than the sting of the frost.

Tromso, a growing community of near 70,000 people, is a university town and a center for polar research. It also boasts some interesting architecture of a century ago, surprisingly excellent restaurants and cafes, and a number of museums.

My first choice was The Polar Museum, which showcases the history of polar exploration. It's a bit quirky, with displays such as the stuffed and preserved lead dog from Amundsen's polar expeditions.

My next stop was the Polaria, an aquarium dedicated to Arctic marine life. The architecture is extremely modern and looks like collapsing dominoes. It isn't large, but it does its job of showcasing Arctic fish well.

Tromso is surprisingly popular in the winter with some segments of the tourism industry because it is one of the great places to see the aurora borealis, or northern lights. This nighttime spectacle is best seen outside settled areas and away from ambient light, so many visitors eventually journey away from the city into the countryside.

The region boasts just about every winter activity -- from skiing, extreme skiing and dog-sledding to ice fishing, glacier hiking and even some sports such as reindeer sledding that are found at only a few places on Earth.

During my visit it snowed every day, almost 24 hours a day, but the roads in northern Norway are excellent and as well maintained as possible considering the atmospheric conditions. Also, the communication systems are up to date. I got better reception on my BlackBerry in the rural areas of Arctic Norway than in some places in the United States.

For my outdoor adventures, I was recommended to an outfitter called Lyngsfjord Adventure, which is a cooperative where individual entrepreneurs with specific skills such as dog-sledding market cooperatively with someone who does snowmobile safaris. Lyngsfjord Adventure is based about an hour and a half southeast of Tromso in an area called Camp Tamok. In a period of 24 hours I did dog-sledding, snowmobiling and Sami (native peoples of Northern Scandinavia) activities that included reindeer sledding and receiving a tutorial on reindeer lassoing.

Probably the most unusual thing I did in that 24 hours was stay overnight in a tent at Camp Tamok. It sounds insane because of the frigid Arctic weather, but I was comfortable. The idea was to approximate the nomadic ways of the ancient Sami. The tent was large and tepee-shaped. Instead of a fire in the center it had a diesel-burning heater, which kept the tent reasonably warm. The floor was covered in twigs so that as the snow melted off my boots and clothes, it didn't accumulate into puddles. On top of the twigs were reindeer skins. I was warm to take off my outer clothes once I was in my sleeping bag. A sauna was available and a towel and robe were provided, but I arrived to the tent very late at night and too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

An excellent surprise was that northern Norway boasts unusual but excellent cuisine that is indigenously based. The night I stayed at the tent, a local Sami guide cooked up a delicious reindeer stew.

After overnighting at Camp Tamok, I drove back along the east coast of Storfjorden, which eventually meant taking a ferry from Olderdalen across the fjord to the town of Lyngseidet, where I stayed the night at a guesthouse called Stigen Vertshus. The owner cooked me up a terrific two-course dinner of baby goat (served over mashed potatoes and a swirl of mushrooms and red peppers) and Arctic catfish that was breaded, fried and served under grated carrots.

In Tromso, at a restaurant called Fiskekompani, I ordered the very seasonal molja, which is cod served three ways: a meaty filet, the roe (in its own skin and sliced like pieces of sausage) and the liver (steamed separately and delivered in a separate cup). As the appetizer, I ordered the shellfish soup, which came with chunks of cod and shrimp floating in a blue mussel broth -- the perfect complement to my Arctic adventure.

IF YOU GO

Tromso: Amalie Hotel, a small boutique hotel, www.amalie-hotel.no, or Grand Nordic Hotel, a businessperson's hotel with a good casual restaurant, www.rica-hotels.com.

Camp Tamok: for Arctic adventures and Sami tenting experience, www.lyngsfjord.com. Lyngsfjord Adventure offers numerous outdoor activities and will arrange transport from Tromso as well as outfit you in Arctic wear if you need it.

Lyngseidet: Stigen Vertshus, a barebones guesthouse with excellent cuisine, www.lyngsalpeprodukter.no.