While planning my third trip to Arctic Norway I decided it was time to explore some new places beyond the incredible Lofoten Islands. I had heard others talk about another amazing place even further north than Lofoten, an island called Senja. I was told it was more remote than Lofoten with less facilities but also had a lot of amazing locations to explore and capture. I made some plans to spend 5 days exploring Senja with a couple of friends in Winter of 2020.

The number one attraction in Senja is Segla, a jagged mountain peak with picturesque mountain ranges to the south and a sharp drop straight into the Fjord below.

Segla is best viewed from the hiking track that heads up the neighbouring mountain Hesten. During Summer it's the most popular hike on Senja but attempting the climb in Winter is not recommended due to thick snow and ice, poor track visibility and the risk of potential avalanches.

I had hoped to climb Hesten while visiting Senja but there had been tonnes of snow when we arrived and I was concerned about the risks. After doing some research I discovered that we could hire snow shoes from our resort which would at least make the hike a lot easier. I hadn't used snow shoes before but i'm always up for a new challenge!

We watched the weather carefully during our stay and a couple of days before departing a high pressure system moved over Senja bringing some settled conditions and a chance of a nice sunset. We hired the snow shoes and drove to the small village of Fjordgard where the hike begins near sea level. When we arrived a small group of tourists were just setting off up the snow covered hiking trail without snow shoes. They didn't get far before turning back, returning to their cars.

We strapped on our snow shoes and loaded up our backpacks full of camera gear. I had reduced the size and weight of my bag by removing unnecessary gear but it was still around 20kg! We hiked for about an hour and a half through deep snow straight up Hesten, the 3 of us were seperated along the way as we all followed our instincts for different compositions of Segla.

Eventually I arrived at the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped some 600m into the Fjord below, the view from the edge looking back towards Segla was mind-blowing.

I captured this 8 photo panorama just as the last of the sun lit up the scene before me, a truly incredible moment!