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Jämtlandstriangeln

An odyssey of Fjäll cycling into the wilderness of Sweden.

By TheBikepack

February 1^st, 2022

It's the 13th of July, smack boom in the middle of the summer, the good vibes, vacation season and adventure times. We are The Bikepack, a pro everything cycling and adventure tribe with a passion for all two wheeled endeavours and this summer is not an exception. This is an article about our trip to Åre and a testimony from circumnavigating the alpine trail of Jämtlandstriangeln. An odyssey of Fjäll cycling into the wilderness of Sweden.

It all start at the begining

Our vacation took an unexpected start when we after weeks of “kind of meticulous planning” realised, the evening before departing for Åre, that our car, “The Bikepack express”, “old faithful” the “damn car” had a break failure and needed some urgent repairs. We ended up at Biltemas (autopart super store) parking lot at 7.15am and managed to change the brake calipers there and then (in less than 4 hours) with the help of our friends, multiple store visits and a lot of determination.

So here we go again... it's still the 13th of July, not the morning but the afternoon and all is set for departure. The car is fully operational, the gear is loaded, the bikes are attached to the back and the “bikepack” is getting in the car - its a Monday but there’s a real nice Friday vibe going.

"The Åre pitch"

We are heading to Åre with a quick stop in Vansbro to pick up more bicycles for the trip. Åre is a skiing town situated in Jämtlands county and a solid 10h drive from Gothenburg where the journey begins. The last few years has been a true “downhill” and cycling revival for the Åre area and the town has had an amazing upswing of tourism and cycling, this is the place to be if you are craving adrenaline, stump jumping and shredding down-hill in the summer. It's a small town tucked in between a ski-mountain and a mirror lake, a ski bum paradise in the winter and a bicycle mecca in the summer. We rode into town in our Bianchi striped van turning heads like rockstars, parked in the city center surrounded by the mountains, the “good vibes only”, got out and took a big breath of fresh mountain air - let the adventure begin!

There is however much more to the surroundings of Åre than what initially meets the eye, more than the quick adrenaline and shredding downhills, there’s the mountain or the “Fjäll” as we call it in Swedish. We are here for some proper “fjäll-cycling” and we are so happy you decided to join!

You can read more about the Åre cycling paradise here.

Jämtlandstriangeln

Our cycling adventure starts in Storulvåns Fjällstation about 6 miles driving towards the Norwegian border from Åre. This is one of three base-camps along the famous Swedish “hiking triangle” called Jämtlandstriangeln. Blåhammar and Sylarna, the other two mountain hiking stations are located “off the grid”, meaning only accessible by foot, air or…you guessed it, bike!

You guessed it... bike!

The full hiking/biking path is 50k all together. 50k of breathtakingly beautiful mountain landscapes, no cellphone service, no noise from the city or cars and all fresh air.

Game day!

The day starts with a delicious breakfast a’ la scrambled eggs over an open fire as we quickly gather our camp and re-pack all things back into the Bianchi tour bus. We transform from regular higers into proper bikers within minutes as we emerge in full kits as Superman changing shapes, ready to tackle today's adventures!

The day started off with a twist as we literally took a wrong turn right off the bat. The beginning of the hiking path coming out of Storulvån was split into two, one built with nice footbridges and one with nothing but the wilderness of nature to support us. We did the only choice possible in a situation like it, we chose the raw, “straight into the wilderness” path and stuck to it, and man did we get our money's worth. The situation turned quickly from off road cycling into trying to survive a full on swamp. Every meter of progress turned into a battle as we slowly biked, walked, jumped and almost swam through the stick swamp-trail and we feared it would be a very long day as we had planned for 100% dryer conditions.

We later got the news that what we had started out on, and what took us about an hour to get through was the beginning of the winter snowmobile trail and something not at all intended for summer use. The day took a turn for the better when we finally found our way back to the actual hiking trail, a dry, nice and winding road that set a smile on our faces. There we were, three soaked, exhausted and surprisingly happy riders swooshing down the new found trail.

The people you meet on the hiking path all cheer and say hello when you pass and we got a hoop of questions and comments on how nice it looked like to bicycle the mountain trails - and we of course highly recommended two wheels, allways. The surrounding “fjäll mountain” tops are covered with snow even though it is in the middle of the summer but the day is still hot-ish (18c) with open skies and a cooling but not cold wind at times.

Once back from our initial de-tour the path let us push up the speed and with great speed comes great mood! We were flying over the rocky path, meeting happy hikers, enjoying the amazing views and the great company of friends. The “swamp trail” had blessed us with more mosquito bites then we could count but this all felt more like distant memories now. Heading into open wilderness as long as they eye could see, the fjäll mountains that surround us and no worries in the world.

Snack attack

The first snack break of the day was such a memorable break, not just because it meant hopping off the bikes and devouring some delicious bars and energy but because of where we were. Stopping also gave us a chance to appreciate the effort and the views from the perspective of the stillness, calm and majestic silence that the Swedish Fjäll grace its every visitor with. We made camp in a meadow, sheltered from the wind by the next hill and right next to a rippling mountain stream where we could fill our bottles with crystal clear, fresh mountain water. These are things that you can not buy with money, these are things that you only can get to and appreciate by the sweat of your brow and hard earned miles!

But every good thing comes to an end and so did the meadow snack break. We got back on the bikes full of energy and returned to our journey towards Sylarnas Fjällstuga/ mountain station!

The trails of Jämtlandstriangeln had us spellbound, both from its beauty and from the concentration it demanded of us to navigate the narrow path full of rocks and obstacles. We were and still are amazed by how beautiful, vast and peaceful a place can be.

Fjäll fine-dining

Hiking and dining is an interesting concept as you have to carry EVERYTHING with you, both to the meal and after it. It can in our experience get either really heavy to carry and delicious or lightweight and lets say “spartan”.

lightweight and ridiculously delicious

After a morning of intense cycling we stopped and unloaded our pre-made adventure meals from our friends at 24 hours food, and this led us to the last version of “fjäll food” lightweight and ridiculously delicious. Heat the food with 1 dl of mountain water from a nearby stream together with a heating pad that reacts with the water and we had hot, nutritious and delicious food 10 minutes after we stepped off the bikes. The mood was at a record high as we all shared a log with a 360 view of the fjäll and dined on both starter, main course and a desert that were to die for.

The hiking trail offered a variety of vegetation, from footbridges to rockier sections to streaks of flatter trampled soil. As the day went by we became more and more daring and trusting in our bikes and abilities. We were crossing footbridges with ease, sending rocky trails like pro’s and overcoming mountain streams like we’d done nothing else.

Alpine KOM hunters

If there would have been a KOM for the last 30 min of riding to the Alpine station then there would have been no disputing who would have been the keeper of the blazing record as we were crushing the hill to get up to our home in the middle of nowhere. The afternoon/evening came with colder weather and we geard up to our “KOM cruising pace” right as the cold rain started pouring down on us. We conquered the path with energy that we did not know we had and determination from another dimension and arrived at the alpine station right when the clouds opened and the sun once again graced us with its presence. Sylarnas alpine station is situated halfways up a mountain towards a glacier, tucked in between two high mountains and with a mind blowing view of the Swedish fjäll as we turned around and looked back at where we came from.

all supplies are flown in by helicopter

This place is 100% remote, all supplies are flown in by helicopter. This was a perfect stop as our packing capabilities on our bikes did not allow for packing sleping bags, cots, tents etc. We had booked a “dog” room at the station - this is a room that allows for dogs, an extra spacious room, a room with lots of space for bicycles and gear turns out… we felt like geniuses as we stowed the bikes into our room. This called for a celebration and what would be better than a beer, a beer flown in by helicopter to the station, a “helicopter beer - cheer!

We spent the evening contemplating drinking another helicopter beer, enjoyed a great soup at the terras of the alpine station but first and foremost long warm showers. The northern parts of Sweden got this thing called “Midnight sun” as you are geographically so far north that the sun never really sets. We stayed awake just to establish this and went to bed right about 03.00 with the sun still up, happy about our findings and really ready to hit the hay.

The Wrap-up

This is the first day of our adventure from the Swedish fjäll, mountain bikes around Jämtlandstriangeln. We hope you have enjoyed to tag along on our adventure and hope this can inspire you to endevor out into the wilderness and maybe even come visit Sweden and Jämtlandstriangeln. We are always happy to hear from you and love to chat about adventures and cycling, so if you have any questions, ideas or just wanna catch up for a chat let us know in the comments or via social media and we will be seeing you for sure!