Informasjon anmodning fra Italia

[Redkaa]

Hi guys, I am Mario Redkaa and am Italian.
I am also a member of a offroad club called AvventureOffroad that organizes trips offroad, off course.
I have written to ask you some information about Norway.
I have already visited Norway, but in the summer.
Now we would do it in winter and we would go up to Nordkapp
I was also wondering if all roads are open to traffic, which is the lowest temperature that we can find (here in northern Italy, in winter there are also -20° celsius in the plains) what are the precautions for the car and in 'far north we can see the aurora borealis.
Thank you and if you want information on southern Europe, I'm here
Ciao
Mario Redkaa

[pajeroskru]

Hello Mario. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

Normaly all roads are open during the winter, BUT due to bad wether, roads can be closed suddenly. This happends often there the roads are crossing mountains, and specialy in Finnmark, the northernmost county in Norway. The wether conditions can change at the minute, so this is hard to predict. For information about closed roads you can call 175 from inside Norway. If roads are closed, it can often still be posible to drive in column, guided by a snow-mowing truck in front. In case, you muts be prepared to wait for som hours. Some roads are also closed somtimes during the night.

The road to Nordkapp is a bit special. The last 13 km of the road is closed during the wintertime, but it is provided guided driving up at 11:30 and down at 13:30 and 14:15.

The temperature along the coast of Norway is nothing to worry about, but in the middle of the winter it can easily be -30 in inland areas. If you take the short cut through Suomi or Sweden to get to Nordkapp, you can get lower than that also. I recomend you to have warm clotes and footwear in the car, and also a warm sleepingbag each.

The reparation of the car depends if you are driving at diesel og gasoline.

The north-light activity is highest in a belt arond the globe, through Norway, Sibiria, Alsaka and Canada. In Norway you'll find the senter of this belt in the northern part of Troms/southern part of Finnmark countys. Ofcourse it is posible to see the nort-light in the rest of Norway also, but mostly abow the arctic circle.

Best regards and welcome [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Redkaa]

Takk Pajeroskru, we have Toyota Landcruiser Kzj and Kdj, 90 and 95, diesel engine.
The only problem will be if the gasoil will freeze into the gasoil filter.
It's possible to drive with tires with nails in Norge ?
If we could arrive to Tromso without problems, after we will drive in group to the north
Where starts the area without sun 24 hours per days and in which months ?
I remember with great pleasure a week in summer in Svolvær and, I think, in Storhagen
Ciao
Mario

[ubertor]

You shouldn`t worry to much about freezing the car up north here. Temperatures seldom get that low.
It`s no problem using nailed winter tires up here. Most people do. But be aware that some cities demand that you pay an extra toll to drive through with nailed tires. (Especially Oslo, though not Tromsø or any of the northern cities.)
The sun disappear north of the polar circle in the midwinter. (For how long differs on how far north of the circle you are.) This means that all the three counties of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark has dark times. Though, in Nordland you have to go north of Bodø before it get`s real dark. Some examples are Harstad, dark from 2. dec, to 10. jan, Tromsø with dark from 27. nov to 15. jan and Nordkapp with dark from 20 nov to 22. jan.

[Redkaa]

Takk Nordic for information that you gave me. Our main interest is taking pictures of the aurora borealis and also to see the Norwegian winter. However, this is a project for next winter, a long time to prepare
Ciao
Mario

[ubertor]

For info, in Italian, on northern Norways tourism, and a guide to the aurora: http://mynorthernlights.visitnorway.com/it/

[pajeroskru]

I think the only thing you have to do to prepare your car is to be shure that the dieselfilter is in good condition, and not full of wather. Keep the tank as full as posible. Then you don't get wather in the diesel from condens inside. You can also take the tame to drain your tank for wather on the bottom before you leave home.

Tires with spikes are absolutly the best, however I have been driving at spikeless tires two winters now without any big problems. Most important is that the rubber is not too old and hardened.

The right date for the time of darkness in the town of Tromsø is from November 21. to January 21. Exactly 2 months. This is just as long as the time of midnight sun in the summer. That is from May 21. to July 21. This is because of the mountains in south, but as Nordic tells, the sun is under the horizont at sea-level for a shorter period. Anyway, I'll recomend you to come in the begining of February. Then it is posible to get spectacular views of the sky in the afternoon then the sun is gonig down. Somtimes it looks like the sky is burning in west, with a lot of different colours. In the same time you can see the northlight during the evening and night. The best way to see the northlight is to get out from populated aras, and have as less artificial light as posible around you. Then it can, in the right sircumstanses ,be like the sky is pulled dovn over your head, compared to what you are able to see in urban aereas. In Tromsø it is also provided guided bus tours out of the town to see the penomena, but this is nothing for you I think.

How long time do you think to spend on the trip?

[Redkaa]

<!--quoteo(post=1645746:date=31 Mar 2012, 11:13:name=pajeroskru)-->QUOTE(pajeroskru @ 31 Mar 2012, 11:13) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->I think the only thing you have to do to prepare your car is to be shure that the dieselfilter is in good condition, and not full of wather. Keep the tank as full as posible. Then you don't get wather in the diesel from condens inside. You can also take the tame to drain your tank for wather on the bottom before you leave home.

Tires with spikes are absolutly the best, however I have been driving at spikeless tires two winters now without any big problems. Most important is that the rubber is not too old and hardened.

The right date for the time of darkness in the town of Tromsø is from November 21. to January 21. Exactly 2 months. This is just as long as the time of midnight sun in the summer. That is from May 21. to July 21. This is because of the mountains in south, but as Nordic tells, the sun is under the horizont at sea-level for a shorter period. Anyway, I'll recomend you to come in the begining of February. Then it is posible to get spectacular views of the sky in the afternoon then the sun is gonig down. Somtimes it looks like the sky is burning in west, with a lot of different colours. In the same time you can see the northlight during the evening and night. The best way to see the northlight is to get out from populated aras, and have as less artificial light as posible around you. Then it can, in the right sircumstanses ,be like the sky is pulled dovn over your head, compared to what you are able to see in urban aereas. In Tromsø it is also provided guided bus tours out of the town to see the penomena, but this is nothing for you I think.

How long time do you think to spend on the trip?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Thanks guys for all the information, we will spend at least 3 weeks on the road for this trip.
But we are talking about the possibility of making a fly and drive up to Tromso, although it is less interesting.
It's possible to rent a 4WD in Tromso ?
Of course it will be strange for us to live 24 hours a day in the dark.
For me it was easier to live in Norway in the summer with the sun always shining that back in the dark of the night when I drove south

[pajeroskru]

It is possible to rent a 4wd SUV in Tromsø. A quick search gave me the best price at NOK 5511 ex. fuel, for a week with free milage. This was surprisingly cheap I think, compared to general car rental prices here. I can't confirm that they have this car in Tromsø, and also the car fleet and prices will change until next year, but you've got a clue i think.

http://www.avis.no/Fleet.aspx?PickupCode=T...&awdnumber=

Of course it is also an expesive trip by car all the way up and down, so the costs need to be compared, and also the time you need to spend.

The sun is turning the night between Des. 21. and 22. That days we have about 2 hours of day light, so it's not complete dark 24 hours. In the beginning of February it's around 6 hours of daylight. I ilke the midnight sun best of course, and would like to have it all the year, but in some ways the winter-darkness can be nice too.