Niclas Waara grew up in a small village outside Falun in Dalarna. Fishing was his way into the outdoors — from a rowing boat on the lake to fly-fishing in mountain rivers. Skiing came later, and when it did, it took over completely.
Norway på langs on skis
It was his colleague David who first floated the idea: ski the entire length of Norway, from Lindesnesfyr in the south to Nordkap. Niclas said no. He had a flat, a relationship, and five months of absence ahead of him. But the fear of future regret tipped him: "I'll regret it in my life — when I look back at what I did and didn't do. So I said: we're doing it. We're going."
Norway på langs: 2,530 kilometres, 129 days, south to north on skis. A few days in, they both knew they wanted more. As Niclas put it: "Damn, this is the best thing there is. What are we doing next winter?"
Vita bandet — the white ribbon
The answer was Vita bandet — Sweden's entire mountain range on skis, from Grövelsjön to Eriksröset. There was just one problem: Niclas and David could only take 30 days off from their jobs at the mountain station. Most people take 60 days to complete Vita bandet.
So they reframed it. "Doing it in 29 days wasn't really a goal in itself — it was a consequence of not being able to take more than 30 days off at the same time." They stripped the gear to a minimum, swapped the pulk for a backpack, and doubled the daily distance. 1,305 kilometres. 29 days. A record.
What backcountry skiing teaches you
Both journeys shaped Niclas's understanding of what people are capable of. The body adapts faster than the mind expects. What feels impossible on day one becomes normal by day five. The mountain has a way of stripping everything unnecessary away — fear, ego, comfort — and leaving only what matters.
His advice for anyone curious about backcountry skiing is simple: start local. Learn to read snow. Find a mentor or a group. The skills matter — but so does the community around them.
The thing about distance
Both Norway på langs and Vita bandet taught Niclas the same lesson about long-distance travel: distance is not the point. Days add up. Kilometres accumulate. What you're really doing, every single day, is making a choice to continue.
The mountains demand everything from you. But what you get back — the clarity, the confidence, the knowledge of your own limits — is something you can never buy.
