We received an Email from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) about an Ice Driving experience in Sweden and 2 days later we were booked.
Sunday, February 11
Woke early because I do, transferred Dame Maggie to "Camp". Got back to the estate on time and left for the airport at 2PM. Our flight from Newark to Stockholm was on SAS 904. It was a disappointing flight due to a plane change and wrong seats and no WiFi and no video screens, only iPads with a disappointingly small video selection and a broken reading light. Slight arrival delay on the tarmac due to deicing fluids at plane parking space. Arrived Monday morning, I did not get any sleep.
Day 1:
Monday, February 12
Spent 4 hours in the SAS Lounge in Terminal 5.
The spiral staircase was a good landmark, but a bad choice after too much time without sleep.
The next leg of our trip was from Stockholm to Arvidsjaur on NextJet 2N596 out of Terminal 3. This was across the airport and through SkyCity, an easy 10-15 minute walk. The flight was delayed an hour. Concerns about our luggage being loaded onto the plane dissolved once we realized the plane we expected to fly out on was not our plane at all. We arrived Arvidsjaur in the dark and landed on a snow covered runway.
Arty arrival photo at Arvidsjaur Airport. Not as cold as expected.
We were met in the airport by a JLR representative and we were driven to the hotel in a LR Discovery sport. The drive to Arjeplog and the hotel was 1.5 hours.
We arrived at night, but this was the entrance to the hotel in the day.
This was the front entrance, but our group had our own special secret entrance.
There was another driving group at the hotel driving Maseratis.
This was our entrance and the Tipi were we could hang out and relax.
So we arrived at the hotel around 6:45PM Monday night and were greeted by more JLR staff.
Our room (533) was clean and we had presents awaiting us. Mugs and a heavy picture book of what the experience should be. We had a short time to get ready for the 7:15PM meeting followed by dinner. Dinner was a 3 course affair and all the food was very good.
Day 2:
February 13, 2018
The vehicles waiting for us at the hotel for the first trip to the Lake House. The drive was probably 10 to 15 minutes. The guests drove to the lake following a lead driver and were trailed by another JLR driver.
We were met each morning by Bond Villain henchmen at the Lake House.
Normally there are 30 students in the Ice Academy, but we only had 12, so there were 3 groups of 4 people with 2 people to a car. Each Group had 2 instructors and a recovery driver. Every day we drove 3 different cars. Day 2 we drove Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar and Jaguar F-PACE, day 3 we drove Range Rover Velar, Jaguar F-PACE and the Jaguar V6 RWD F-Type and on day 4 we drove the Jaguar F-PACE, V6 RWD F-Type and the V8 550 HP AWD F-type. Both F-types had non street legal studded tires.
Except for the F-Types, I believe all the vehicles were diesel. Oh, and we always left the cars running.
At the lake we did three driving stints in the morning and then 3 more driving stints after lunch. There were also coffee breaks and a very good, very large lunch. The days felt long and we did learn a lot.
The Lake House had a map of the courses out on the Ice.
On Day 2 we drove on Dynamic Platform 1 and 2 around orange traffic cones to learn the maneuvers. In the cold the cones tended to shatter. There were plenty of pieces that some poor worker needed to pick up at the end of the day. In the afternoon we graduated to the Slalom course.
Here we are at the Drift Circle with the Lake House in the background for an idea how large the lake is.
Day 3:
February 14, 2018
More driving today, but no more cone courses, real driving circuits and the V6 F-Types were added today. Handling Circuit 3 was added in the afternoon and it was so long that it never seemed to end. It had a straightaway which was the only relaxing section of the whole course.
It was a large lake.
We had a trip to the Testing facility this day, no cameras allowed. There were various cars in camoflage and hills designed to test traction control. The quick tour was quite interesting. There was to be an off-road excursion, but a leader had gotten stuck so that was cancelled.
Day 4:
February 15, 2018
We drove the V8s today. They had a lot of power, but I preferred the rear wheel drive F-Type. We covered the same curcuits, but started taking them the opposite direction. Over the course of trip we both only needed to be extracted from the snow twice.
V6 F-types in the foreground, V8s in the background.
At the end of the last day everyone was driven in the V8 F-Type by one of the professional drivers on Handling circuit 3. It was called a Customer Hot Lap and it was quite something. When we were driving you wondered how much faster could someone go and much faster was the answer.
The sight you were met with at the end of the day upon return to the Hotel, our Tipi, reserved only for the Ice Academy guests. You could relay and get a drink or review you day and have a laugh.
Dinners were at 7 and were 3 courses and not a course was bad.
On the last night, dinner was at another Tipi, we were driven by bus and had traditional foods including moose and reindeer sausages and moose hearts and a very good pea and spinach soup. The main instructors were there and it was nice to socialize with them.
The only bad luck we had was cloud cover at night, so no Northern Lights were seen. Other than that it was a great trip.
Day 5: Trip to the Arctic Circle.
February 16, 2018
There were 5 of us on the self driving trip to the Arctic circle, 3 Range Rover Sports and our 2 chaperones each driving a Discovery. Passed this sign many times during our stay.
Most signs were partially or fully snow covered.
Normal sight on the way to the Arctic Circle. Lots of lakes and more houses than I expected. If a house was painted, the color would have been barn red, light blue or light yellow. No other colors were seen out in the country.
Houses at the end of the road.
The outhouse at the end of the world.
Way easier to get to than the Antarctic Circle.
We were provided a bagged lunch and arrived back at the Hotel around noon.
We hung out in the Tipi till our ride back to Arvidsjaur Airport.
Arvidsjaur to Stockholm on NextJet 2N593
The flight had a quick stopover, but no problems getting to Stockholm. Once at the Stockholm airport we had to find the bus to the Airport hotel which was quite difficult in the dark. Luck was on our side and we just made the bus and got to our hotel in less than 10 minutes. The room was small, but it was just for one night. Dinner was a smorgasbord and cost almost as much as the room.
Saturday, February 17
No problems today, bus back to airport, spent some time in the SAS Lounge and caught the flight from Stockholm to Newark on SAS 903. A much better flight, got the seats we wanted and watched a few movies.
Once home we picked up the dog from "Camp" and drove home in a snowstorm utilizing the skills learned while at Ice Academy Sweden.
