The Arctic climate calls for certain innovations to master the art of ice fishing. To close the door on the cold, be comfortable and catch a fish you sometimes need a whole house. But inside the house, things are as they should: the smell of coffee on the stove, newly-baked cinnamon buns and today’s latest gossip.
Suddenly you see them through the window of the train between Kiruna and Riksgränsen. The small ‘houses’ out there on the white canvas of winter. You ask yourself: “But could that really be a good spot for a caravan?”. But they aren’t caravans from summer left to fend for themselves in winter. No, those little houses are there for a purpose. Someone has towed them there with a snowmobile and placed them where they think they’ll best serve that purpose. They are so-called ‘ice-fishing arks’. Little sheds on runners that provide shelter for ice fishing on lake Torneträsk. If you’re lucky and visit them at the right time, you might be able to see a big, arctic char appear through a hole in the floor.