Northern Lights Forecast for Kilpisjärvi

Northern Lights in Kilpisjärvi

Kilpisjärvi is a village of about 100 people at the tip of Finland’s north-western “arm”, in Enontekiö municipality, about 170 km north-west of Hetta on the E8. It sits at 480 m on the shore of Lake Kilpisjärvi, under Saana, a 1,029 m fell that rises more than 500 m above the water. Norway is less than 10 km up the road. The village is the only light for a long way in any direction.

The lake ice under Saana

Once Lake Kilpisjärvi has frozen, the ice is where you get the whole sky. Ski tracks of 5 to 40 km run over the lake between Saana and the Malla fells. There is no shelter out there, and the local tourist office warns of high winds and blowing snow on the lake.

For somewhere to wait by a fire, a 5 km ski track climbs from the village to Tsahkaljärvi, a small lake below Saana with a lean-to and a hut. The summer trail to Saana’s summit, with stairs up its steep upper slope, is a daytime walk, and Metsähallitus advises against going up at all in strong wind or a snowstorm.

Malla and the three-country cairn

Across the lake from Saana, Malla has been protected since 1916 and is a strict nature reserve, so in summer visitors keep to the marked route. That route, about 11 km, ends at the cairn where Finland, Sweden and Norway meet, a concrete cone about 10 m out in Lake Goldajärvi. In summer a boat crosses Lake Kilpisjärvi and cuts the walk to about 3 km. In winter it is a ski trip over Malla or along the lake ice to the Kuohkimajärvi wilderness hut near the border.

Snow from October into May

For more than a month around the winter solstice the sun does not rise. Winter arrives in October and lasts into May, and Kilpisjärvi holds Finland’s snow depth record, 190 cm on 19 April 1997. The aurora season ends in April, when the nights get light, long before the snow melts.

The E8 over Muotkatakka

The only road in is the E8, which crosses Muotkatakka, at 565.8 m the highest point on any Finnish road, about 15 km before the village. Rovaniemi is about 440 km away and Kolari station about 270 km. Buses come up from Rovaniemi and Kittilä Airport through Muonio and Palojoensuu, but the daily bus may not run in October, November and March.

Beyond the border the E8 drops to Skibotn on the Lyngenfjord, about 50 km away, and the coast road to Tromsø. Aurora tours from Tromsø sometimes drive over the border when the conditions look better in Kilpisjärvi.