Northern Lights Forecast for Björkliden

Northern Lights in Björkliden

Björkliden is a ski and mountain resort on the slope above Lake Torneträsk, about 7 km north-west of Abisko on the E10 and the Malmbanan railway. About 20 people live here all year. The village is a hotel, a cluster of cabins, the lifts and a railway station, so there is no town glow to get away from: the dark starts where the buildings stop.

Lapporten across the lake, Låktatjåkko above

From the village the view runs out over Torneträsk to Lapporten, the U-shaped valley about 20 km to the south-east, and both are in sight from the hotel and cabins.

Låktatjåkko mountain station, about 10 km west at 1,228 m, is the highest mountain station in Sweden. It is closed through the dark months and opens in late winter, from late February into spring. In that season a tracked vehicle runs up from Björkliden, and people also ski up. Overnight guests can watch from the mountain itself.

Between Abisko’s rain shadow and Riksgränsen

Precipitation rises steeply as you go west along the lake. Abisko lies in the rain shadow of the mountains and gets less than half of what falls at Riksgränsen on the Norwegian border, about 20 minutes’ drive west of Björkliden, which lies between the two on the map.

The aurora season runs from the first dark nights of September into April. The sun stays below the horizon for several weeks in December and January, and the ski lifts only open in early February, once it has returned. Skiing then runs to around the start of May, so February and March give you a ski area of 23 runs and 530 m of vertical by day and long nights after dark.

Björkliden station and Rallarvägen

Björkliden station is about 1 km below the village, a 10 to 15 minute walk. Trains on the line between Kiruna and Narvik stop here, and both are about an hour and a half away; the night train from Stockholm also calls here. By road, Kiruna Airport is about 90 minutes away along the E10, and Harstad/Narvik Airport at Evenes is on the Norwegian side. The E10 section over the border can close for a while in wind and heavy snow.

Rallarvägen, the old construction road along the railway, passes through Björkliden on its way to the cemetery at Tornehamn, where many of the navvies who died building the Malmbanan are buried.