It's difficult to embrace the quiet beauty of a place when you're shifting through it at mach 10, skidoo engine roaring in your ears, cheeks whipped to burning in the cold. But as the dying sun cast its light across the thousands of snow crystals thrown up by the wind, the ensuing rainbow which hovered above the Låktatjåkko Mountain Station compelled silent attention. Nestled 250km north of the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland, it's a place where you can let yourself believe in magic.
Låktatjåkko, or Låkta, is a tiny annex of the petite ski resort of Bjorkliden, just north of Abisko national park, accessible only by skidoo or touring skis. On the shores of Lake Tornetrask and dwarfed by the legendary Lapporten Gap, the U-shaped gateway to Lapland, Bjorkliden is a resort surrounded by epic scenery. Trains rattle past it from Kiruna to the better known ski destinations of Narvik and Riksgransen, meaning anyone who gets off will pretty much have all 24 pistes to themselves. Small and charming, it has one ski shop, one restaurant, one bar, one hotel and 80 beautiful self-catering cabins. Almost everyone is Norwegian or Swedish; Bjorkliden was a well-kept secret from British skiers until 2007, when Discover the World started offering packages to the destination. The main targets may be families and beginners, but the area also offers up a world of unexplored off-piste, heli-skiing and powder up to your thighs as late as May. Yet if it weren't for the local tipple being called Wolf Paw, you'd be forgiven for thinking life was pretty chilled in Bjorkliden.
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