This March, I spent 13 days skiing the Southern Kungsleden trail the 250 kilometers from Sälen to Fjällnäs in the Swedish mountains, with all of my gear pulled behind me in my pulk. It was my first winter ski trip longer than a few days, and a trial run for a much longer one that I hope to complete next winter. This trail diary is translated from Swedish (with some help from Google Translate) from the updates I posted on my Instagram during the trip. You can find a lot more photographs and videos from the adventure there.
If you’re interested, you can take a look at the route I followed here, and my very extensive gear list for the trip here. For more background on the Southern Kungsleden trail, check out this folder about the trail (in English).
Day 1
March 14, 2025 (5 km)
It was perhaps a bit ill-conceived when, sometime in the 1970s, they decided to name the new hiking trail between the Transtrandsfjällen mountains in Dalarna and Storlien in Jämtland the Southern Kungsleden. If you don’t notice the big S in ”Southern”, it’s easy to think that it’s the southern end of the more famous Kungsleden in Lapland, between Hemavan and Ammarnäs, which I hiked a few years back. It wasn’t in Hemavan that I started my winter adventure earlier today, in other words, but at Sälen’s Högfjällshotell in Dalarna. For two weeks, I will follow the Southern Kungsleden past Transtrandsfjällen, Fulufjällets National Park, Drevfjällen, Grövelsjön, Långfjället, Rogen and Rödfjället before ending the trip at my partner Rebecka’s family cabin in Fjällnäs. It will be my first long winter hike and my first visit to the mountains south of Grövelsjön.
The first chance to stock up is at the store in Flötningen by the Norwegian border, which I reach around day seven, and I could feel every day’s ration of food and fuel (two spare days, so nine in total) as I made way up to Östfjället, illuminated first by the evening sun and then by the full moon. Even in the final days leading up to trip, I worried that lack of snow would force me to go for one of my backup plans further north (including the southern Kungsleden with a lowercase s). I’m still not entirely sure that snow conditions will allow me to complete the trip, but at least I couldn’t have wished for better weather on day one.
My plan was to go further today, up to Källfjället and maybe down the other side, but around seven in the evening I decided to call it a day and pitched my tent beyond the Östfjället rest hut after five kilometers. If you’ve dragged skis, pulk and 40 kg pulk bags on public transport for seven hours to visit new mountains, you might as well see them in daylight.
Day 2
March 15, 2025 (25 km)
Källfjället gave me a tough start to the day, but after the climb I was rewarded with views of both Fulufjället and Grövelsjöfjällen off in the distance. After the descent to Källfjället’s rest hut, I soon reached the border of the Transtrandsfjällen nature reserve, where the trail wound its way between low-growing spruce trees in hilly terrain through Synddalen. I stopped at the Kläppenskjulet wind shelter to replenish my energy, and had a chat with some cross-country skiers who have a cabin in the area.
The climb up Lägerdalsfjället is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done on a pair of skis. The pulk was insistent on pulling me back down to the rest hut, and after a few hundred meters I threw in the towel and finished the climb in my ski boots, with my skis on the pulk. Once at the top the wind was blowing 10-15 meters per second, so I didn’t stay sweaty for long. Then it was back down into another fairytale forest valley, and back up to another mountain – Östra Granfjället. I’ll feel the altitude difference in my legs tomorrow, but the last part to Närfjällsstugan went faster than expected and also took me through a dramatic ravine with large hanging snow drifts. It turned out that I timed my visit to an event arranged by Snowracer magazine, and several dozen snowmobiles stopped during the lunch break.
When Southern Kungsleden left the snowmobile trail at Västra Granfjället, I had neither ski nor snowmobile tracks to follow for the first time on the trip. It was just me and the red winter trail crosses. That may have been smart of everyone else and stupid of me, because it was also the first time on the trip that I had to navigate around snow-free patches of terrain. When the downhill slopes started to get steep, I released the break rope on the pulk, and with the help of it and a lot of slaloming in the spruce forest, I made it down to the Granfjällssätern break cabin without involuntarily embracing a single tree trunk. From the cabin guest book, it seems that I am the first visitor of the ski season.
As I continued along the trail from Granfjällssätern, it felt quite reasonable that no one had skied it for a while. My guess is that someone had set up the winter trail markings along the winding, hilly and tree-strewn summer trail and hoped for the best. When the winter trail followed the summer trail up a steep, rocky ridge instead of heading out over the adjacent ski-friendly bogs, I gave up and skied off-trail the last bit to the snowmobile trail. It was a happy reunion. I had planned to camp tonight, but the scant amount of snow persuaded me to stay in the Lillbäckstugan wind shelter, which is located next to where Lillbäcken empties out to Fuluforsen. Luxury on a winter trip is not having to melt snow. Nice after a tough afternoon.
Day 3
March 16, 2025 (16.4 km)
Today, three items had to come out of the pulk for the first time on the trip: the sunglasses and sun protection, because the sky was almost cloudless throughout the morning, and the long ski skins, for the 10 kilometers and 300 meters of elevation gain up to Lilldalsstugan. The cabin is located at the northern mouth of a winding U-shaped valley between Mellanfjället and Näsfjället, and has a magical panoramic view of Fulufjället. On the sunny side of the cabin, I met another skier with a pulk in tow for the first time on the trip. She had run Southern Kungsleden a few years ago, so we exchanged some experiences of the parts of the trail closest to Sälen. This time she was out on a spontaneous ski tour of the area.
After lunch and changing back to the short skins, it was off north and downhill, and after the morning it made for four fast and easy kilometers. I had checked the forecast for the rest of the day during lunch, and the promise of winds of 15-20 meters per second convinced me to take a shorter day and let the climb up to Fulufjället wait until tomorrow. The unmanned Björnholmsstugan overnight cabin is located one kilometer inside the southern national park border, and all eight beds were available when I parked the pulk outside at three o’clock. A night of cabin coziness for 200 Swedish kronor (~ 20 USD). Affordable.
Day 4
March 17, 2025 (26 km)
Fulufjället took my breath away as soon as I reached the middle of the round mountain Östertangen, 300 metres above Björnholmsstugan where I spent the night. There were no peaks in sight, just 360 degrees of flat, snow-white horizon. Like skiing in a jar of sugar. The wind picked up the higher I went, and when the peak was reached and I started to slide down towards the Tangådalsstugan cabin, the gusts were probably blowing upwards of 15 metres per second. The guest book in the cabin said that an Eric set off on snowshoes towards Tangsjöstugan the day before. The last guest book entry before that was from September. The balaclava went on before I went out into the wind again and started following the snowshoe tracks north.
Halfway to Tangsjöstugan, a small black dot appeared next to the trail markings on the horizon. It turned out to be Eric from the guest book, who had slept one night in Tangsjöstugan and was now on his way back to the car. We stood and shouted over the wind for a while before continuing in our separate directions. After a while I was back up on 959 meters of elevation again, and after a morning of uphills I felt fast when I got to ride on the flat the last part to Tangsjöstugan. The cabin is of the same eight-bed model as Björnholmsstugan and is beautifully located at the heart of Fulufjället.
I considered continuing a little further and spending the night in the tent, but the sound of the wind howling outside the windows persuaded me to extend my coffee break to an overnight stay. Pretty soon I was joined by a guide with two German tourists and a company of sled dogs, and the wind howled for over 20 meters per second out on the mountain while we sat by the stove and talked about winter adventures with whiskey in our glasses. Kristin from Sörsjön has been running guided dog sled tours on Fulufjället since 1997, so there was a lot to talk about. Cabin comfort night two.
Day 5
March 18, 2025 (26.1 km)
Today I got the mountain weather I dreamed of before the trip. A few degrees below zero, light wind, and enough clouds in the sky that you don’t take the sunshine for granted. The kilometers to the privately owned Rörsjöstugorna flew by, and in the clear weather I could see both Drevfjällen to the west, Grövelsjöfjällen to the northwest and the ski slopes och Idrefjäll with Städjan and Nipfjället in the background to the northeast. The word “Kiosk” caught my eye in the corner of my eye at Rörsjöstugorna, and after a while I was sitting in a wind sheltered snow pit with a cup of coffee, biscuits, chocolate and locally made elk sausage. I stayed there for a long time.
The skiing continued with expansive views and small elevation changes all the way to the shoulder of Brattfjället, where the snowmobile trail took me down to the small village of Gördalen and out of Fulufjället National Park. I’ll definitely be back here. Maybe on a guided dog sled tour…? The descent was exciting after a lot of skiing on the flat earlier in the day, but the thought is always in the back of my mind that every meter of altitude you lose will be have to be regained later. In previous days I’ve slept at a low altitude and started the day with climbing, but I wanted to save myself that tomorrow.
When I started to climb my way up from Gördalen, I skied without my shell jacket for the first time on the trip, and every zipper on my bib pants that could be opened was open. The pulk at least feels noticeably lighter since the start of the trip. Halfway up, a sign told me that I was inside the Drevfjällen nature reserve – a roadless wilderness and the largest old-growth forest area in Dalarna. My home for the next two days. The tent was pitched among the birches just below the tree line. Snow depth: 60 centimeters.
Day 6
March 19, 2025 (28.2 km)
Right after breakfast I realized that the snowmobile trail I was following over Drevfjället was not marked on the map. My first thought was that the trail had been redrawn somewhat, because the trail I was following ran parallel to the trail on the map about 800 meters southwest and slightly higher up the mountain, but when I skied down towards Drevsjön and my trail did not turn north towards Drevfjällsstugan I sensed something was wrong. A bunch of snowmobile tracks veered off off-trail in the direction of the cabin, and after following them for a few hundred meters I arrived at the cabin and the trail I had planned to follow all along. The stove was still warm from the last guests, and served as a drying rack for clothes that had already become damp in the warm weather.
The skiing in the old forests of Drevfjällen was nice, with many gnarled and twisted old pines and some preserved mountain pastures, but the combination of the very well-maintained and easy-to-ski snowmobile trails and a few degrees above zero and sunshine meant that I soon switched to autopilot. Six snowmobiles passed during the day, which was fewer than I had expected. Based on the amount of tracks on the trails and in the terrain, the nature reserve must be a snowmobile hotspot on the weekends. I saw neither skiers nor ski tracks all day.
After lunch at Fågelåsen, the trail gained altitude above the tree line, and the autopilot was switched off when it was time to climb. From the shoulder of Vithågna I had a view of Grövelsjöfjällen to the north and the highest mountain in the Drevfjällen to the west: the 1185 meter high Härjåhågna, which is crowned by border cairn 136. As I stood admiring the view, I realized that for the first time on the trip there was no wind at all. It was nice to stand there in the silence. The trail had also started to freeze a bit in the afternoon, so I ended the day with a good glide past the Röskåsen overnight cabin and back down into the pine forest where I pitched my tent. When the sun went down, the northern lights came to visit.
Day 7
March 20, 2025 (24.9 km)
Today went by quickly. Partly because it was cold last night, so the tracks were nice and hard when I woke up. But the real explanation must be the magnetic pull of Flötningens Gränsbua, the border super market that I reached after lunch. My only longer break before I got there was to admire the first snowfall of the trip.
I actually had enough food to get to Grövelsjön, but after a week with the food I brought from home (except for the kiosk visit at Rörsjöstugorna on Fulufjället) it was wonderful to be able to browse freely among the store shelves. Like all super markets close to the Norwegian border, tobacco seemed to make up a large part of the inventory. After I pitched my tent at Källåsen north of Flötningen, I had sausage and flatbread rolls with beer for dinner and a bag of pick and mix candy for dessert.
The luxurious mountain life continues the day after tomorrow, as I will stay one night at Grövelsjön mountain station before continuing north towards Fjällnäs. If my need for more food was a bit arbitrary, my need for a shower is a lot more pressing. I think the snowmobile riders are starting to smell me through the exhaust fumes.
Day 8
March 21, 2025 (25.4 km)
When I woke up, the only white thing in the sky was the soft peaks of Grövelsjöfjällen, poking up above the treetops. It had been a cold night, which was good news for me. Today I was going to get past an obstacle that the Dalarna County Administrative Board had warned about on Facebook weeks earlier: a few kilometers of the snowmobile trail closest to Guttudalskojan had been plowed. In the worst case, I thought I would be able to ski in the forests next to the road for those kilometers, and for that, a it’s nice to have a frozen snow crust to ski on.
The plowed winter trail was fortunately an anticlimax. There was enough ice left on the road for me to be able to ski around the gravel patches. I soon arrived at the Guttudalskojan overnight cabin, which at least on the inside was stuck in the 1950s in a very charming way. I took a coffee break in the sun outside. The reason the winter trail has been plowed is that there is logging going on in the area. Why they should cut down a small strip of mountain forest between two nature reserves, next to one of the County Administrative Board’s overnight cabins and by a popular hiking trail is beyond me. I’m glad I got to see the area before the devastation.
Eventually, the Southern Kungsleden trail left the plowed road and followed the winter trail into the Långfjället nature reserve, through pretty pine and birch forest to the old mountain farmstead Valdalsbygget, which is located a stone’s throw from the Norwegian border and also has an overnight cabin. Here the winter trail became a tracked ski trail, which after another coffee break (you need many coffee breaks) I continued to follow towards Grövelsjön. The cross-country skiers in fast clothing stared at me and my pulk. Maybe I skiing against the track direction.
About an hour later, I found a tent site above the tree line a bit from Silverfallet, only three or four kilometers from the Grövelsjön mountain station on the other side of the valley. Tomorrow will be a short day with a lot of rest time before I continue north towards Fjällnäs the day after tomorrow. I’m about as excited about resting as I am about continuing skiing. That’s how it should be.
Day 9
March 22, 2025 (4 km)
I’ve arrived at the Grövelsjön mountain station! A place I have many fond memories of. The day was spent resting, eating, washing, drying, charging and shopping before the trip continues north towards Fjällnäs tomorrow. The shower was the most anticipated item on the agenda. The staff probably got tired of me asking if the room was ready a dozen times, but it was at least partly out of concern for the station’s other guests. After nine days on the tour, I didn’t exactly smell like a summer meadow when I stepped through the entrance doors.
Day 10
March 23, 2025 (18.8 km)
After a hearty breakfast at Grövelsjön, the trip continued north. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so the motivation to take on the climb up Långfjället came easily. Of course, I had a coffee break with a view of Storvätteshågna, the highest mountain of middle to southern Sweden, and with coffee and some biscuits in the tank, I then quickly headed down to the County Administrative Board’s cabins by Lake Hävlingen.
The fastest winter trail north from Hävlingen goes directly to the Rogenstugorna cabins across the lakes to the north, but my planned arrival day isn’t until Friday (day 15), so I’m in no hurry to reach the end of the trip. Instead, I followed the winter trail east that goes back up above the tree line and past the Swedish Tourist Association (STF) Storrödtjärnstugan cabin. The freshly snowmobiled track up from the lake was so icy and slippery that I had to double-check that the skins were still there, and so narrow that my skis repeatedly got stuck in rocks and gravel on the sides when I tried to make my way uphill. I wish you could see yourself in that moment, with panicky eyes as you tense every muscle and desperately hold on to your poles to keep from falling flat on your face (whereupon the pulk pulls you down to the bottom of the hill to a Looney Toones sound effect). After sweat, swearing and a little bloodshed, I finally made it up to the tree line where I ate a packed lunch from the mountain station with a view of Töfsingdalen National Park. Another place to visit sometime.
After another bit of climbing up to Slagusjön, the effort was rewarded with a fun downhill to the Storrödtjärnstugan cabin, where I took the opportunity to add to my collection of cabin patches. I had to restrain myself from continuing to ski down the winter trail to Rogen in the afternoon sun. Instead, I put that energy into hunting for a nice tent site. Finally, I found a plot with a patio where I could sit on the thawed mountain heath and admire the view of Rogen during dinner.
Day 11
March 24, 2025 (18 km)
Today’s 18 kilometers were probably the most boring of the trip. That’s because 14 of them took me across the frozen surface of the lake Rogen, and even with the wind at my back (5-10 meters per second in the middle of the lake) it’s quite tiring to ski past a seemingly endless line of trail crossings from morning to afternoon. I stopped at the Rogenstugan cabin and had a chat with the cabin host, which was a nice break from the monotony. I also bought a beer at the cabin store. “Because you’re worth it” is not the Carlsberg slogan, but those were the words I heard whispered when I saw the can on the shelf.
I pitched my tent next to Bustvålen on the small strip of land between the Rogen and Rödsjön lakes. The forecast calls for strong winds after dark, so it feels good that I’ll stay the night in the forest. After the tent was up, the snow melted and the bags unpacked, I set off to admire the local supply of wolf lichen and look for running water. The simple pleasures of the mountains.
Day 12
March 25, 2025 (22.3 km)
”Klabbföre” is a Swedish word describing the dreaded snow conditions when the half-melted snow gets stuck beneath your skis, and that’s what I woke up to. During the morning, every single snowflake that had fallen during the night seemed to stick to my skis until I was walking on stilts. When I arrived at Skedbrostugan, I took off my skis and scraped and brushed until there was not a single ice crystal left, and after that the skis got along better with the surface. I had great skiing all the way to Broktjärnskojan, right next to the beautiful Rödfjället. It was snowing quite heavily and I had been looking forward to a break indoors.
In the door I met three skiers who were on a trip from Ramundberget to Grövelsjön. One of them had a bit of a bruise on his face after he fell on the steep downhill slope from Rödfjället, but he said that his glasses took the brunt of the impact and that it wasn’t as bad as it looked. It looked pretty bad. The slope that was so steep that he fell on the way down, I was now going to climb, so there was a long coffee break in the cabin before I started. Considering how little the pulk weighs now, it is probably the hardest climb on the entire Southern Kungsleden.
It was a nice reward to get up to Rödfjället and get a little view of Tänndalen’s familiar peaks.
Day 13
March 26, 2025 (10.8 km)
13 days after the trip started at Sälens Högfjällshotell in Dalarna, I reached my partners family cabin in Fjällnäs and completed my first long winter adventure. I finished with a nice morning on the snowmobile trail that runs over the Storkläppen mountain, between Svansjön and Tänndalen’s ski lifts, where I had a view of the entire valley and towards the higher peaks to the north. After arriving at the cabin, I hung things out to dry, showered (three times), spent some time in the sauna, ate pizza, had a bottle of red wine, and lay on the couch a lot. I’m tired, but very happy and satisfied with the trip.
I highly recommend the Southern Kungsleden trail. For me, who has never visited the mountains south of Grövelsjön, it was fun to see both Transtrandsfjällen, Fulufjället and Drevfjällen on the same trip, and Fulufjället in particular has me keen on return visits in both winter and summer. Apart from a tricky ski trail close to Granfjällsstugan in Transtrandsfjällen (and the plowed snowmobile trail at Guttudalskojan), there has been good skiing all the way, despite a winter unusually skimpy on snow. It was nice to see the stretch between Grövelsjön and Fjällnäs again, but from a new perspective and in the wintertime.
If all goes well, me and my pulk will be back in Grövelsjön in February next year to start an even longer ski trip, all the way up to Treriksröset, on the ~1 300 km Vita bandet (White Ribbon). But before that, I’m going to enjoy the summer season.