 André Breutel 21.9.2007 9:27 21.9.2007 9:27
Respect for the achievement of driving up there in winter with a car. What kind of tires did you have? Spikes? In January 2001, we drove all the way to the bitter end to Vardø and from Hammerfest back down via the Lofoten. In February 2003, I experienced mirror-smooth roads on the Helgeland coast. That was really tough! The bare, reflective ice on the Rv 17. In the same winter, we had -34°C in Björkliden. The car must be well prepared to start daily. Here is the experience report:

http://www.breutel.de/tour2003w/index.htm

 Günther Glauz 23.9.2007 21:28 23.9.2007 21:28
Hello Andrè,
I had winter tires without spikes and snow chains, the latter I did not need, but I just managed a slope at Alta. On Mageroya, we got stuck in a snowdrift but were able to dig ourselves out. The roads along the coast were sometimes very slippery, pure ice, sometimes only 30 km/h was possible. I bought a new battery before the trip, the old one was already a few years old. The car was a diesel, but I had no problems up there. In Northern Scandinavia, there is the "Polar diesel," which is operationally reliable down to -44 degrees, a bit more expensive and has slightly less power, but otherwise good. Only with our winter diesel did I have problems at -32 degrees in central Sweden, but with breaks, I still made it to the next gas station. Besides this trip, I went cross-country skiing six times to Mumio on the Swedish-Finnish border, and twice I used the Hurtigruten with car transport. The prices in Norway in winter were only half as expensive as in summer or compared to here.
Best regards
Günther