Winter Week in the Navar Valley

When winter in the wild is something to settle into, rather than push through. A winter state of mind. Shaped by skiing and snowshoeing, fire and craft, movement and stillness – with a safe haven each night. A home where you don’t leave the wilderness when you go inside, it simply changes character.

The entire week is based at our cosy off-grid cabin by Lake Navar. From here, we head out into the surrounding forest and landscapes on skis or snowshoes, returning to the same steady home, sauna and ice plunge each evening. At other times, we stay close, finding quieter pleasures — through fire and ice, through food, and through the cultural traditions of this part of Dalarna.

We tour on skis in nearby nature reserves, including the vast forests and frozen wetlands of Norra Mora Vildmark. This is true wilderness, where we make our own tracks across the snow. Old spruce and pine stand close before thinning into wide mires where the horizon stretches beneath the unbroken blanket of snow. The terrain is softly rolling rather than mountainous. We're stepping into a wild winter landscape – in a way that’s easy, unhurried, with a warm sauna waiting for us back at the cabin. One evening, that turns into something more – a proper sauna ritual. I’s a sensory experience shaped by the same elements as the day: cold, warmth, and stillness.

At certain points throughout the week, the pace softens. A bit of a sleep-in. Then carving ice lanterns from blocks cut out of the lake, and trying your hand at ice fishing on the frozen water. A slower tempo right by the cabin — shaping ice with chisels and heated tools, and waiting quietly above the dark water below. Our catch, Arctic char or trout, is smoked over alder and spruce in a smokebox on the fire. We also roll and fire-bake “kavelgris”, a traditional local flatbread made here for generations.

Later that day, we wrap up our flatbreads and our catch, and ski from the cabin to a nearby lake where a tipi stands on the ice. We settle around the fire on sheepskins and enjoy a leisurely dinner before gliding back through the forest under headlamps and stars.

Another day, a local guide joins us for several hours of traditional kurbits painting, learning the flowing organic forms and colours rooted in Dalarna’s heritage. The style is surprisingly approachable – even simple shapes and patterns quickly come together into something beautiful. We sit inside by wood-fired heaters and candlelight, focused and relaxed.

For those who feel drawn to spend more time outdoors instead, one of our guides leads a more demanding outing than our other ski days. We head to the remote heights of Anjosvarden–sometimes called Sweden’s southernmost alpine peak. In truth, it’s a fell, rising high enough to stand above the tree line. Our journey to the top includes some steeper inclines, but is mostly flat, crossing broad frozen mires. Along the way, we pass low, solitary trees completely covered in snow, "opplega", forming fantastical shapes and silhouettes. If the weather is clear, we get sweeping views of the Transtrand and Fulufjället mountains to the west.

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