During a week in March 2021 in Laponia (the Swedish part of Sápmi or Lapland), Johan Lindfors and I had great ice conditions and were able to put up five routes on Nieras (1,424m), one of the beautiful peaks of Stora Sjöfallet National Park. With a convenient place to sleep and eat at Stora Sjöfallet Mountain Lodge, we explored the southeast and northeast faces of Nieras, which turned out to hold lots of potential for new lines.

Our first route was on the southeast side, where we hoped we’d be somewhat protected from the strong storm winds blowing at the start of our visit—which it turned out to be, as long as you didn’t object to the spindrift pouring down the route. We took a full day to climb a quite interesting three-pitch WI5+ line. In the following days, we climbed on the northeast face, putting up three more routes, from four to six pitches, with climbing up to WI6. Then we had to return to the southeast side for a thin, steep line of ice that looked just amazingly good: Den Tunna Blå Linjen (4 pitches, WI6), with technical ice formations over very steep rock. Starting in beautiful blue-sky weather, we finished in beautiful spindrift and full-on storm, again!

In March 2022, Johan and I returned to Stora Sjöfallet and climbed another new route on Nieras’ northeast face, called Nattsudd: a major line with seven pitches and WI6 M4 climbing. Stora Sjöfallet is reached from the road between Gällivare and Jokkmokk. This area was the site of massive hydroelectric development, which drowned many traditional Sámi villages and changed the environment in many ways. It also provided a good road into these mountains, making it possible to access the ice climbs. The winter season is very long, usually from October/November until May.

— Krister Jonsson, Sweden