Welcome to Jämtlandsfjällen — and to my small corner of Sweden. I’m Sofie, and I run Strövtåg from the village of Handöl. Forty permanent residents, mountains in every direction, and the Norwegian border a short ski away. This is where I live, and this is where I guide.
I hope you find something here that you didn’t know you were looking for.
My philosophy
Sustainable tourism isn’t a certificate on the wall. It is every decision I make — which route we take, how many of us go, how we move through the landscape. My compass is respect, care and love: for you as a visitor, and for the nature we share. The mountain doesn’t care who you are or where you come from. It treats us all the same. That equality is one of the things I love most about it. And it is us — as a group, as different people with different eyes — who together make every mountain day richer than it would have been alone.
About Sofie
I was born and raised in the Jämtland mountains. Being outside in all seasons isn’t a lifestyle choice for me — it is simply life. Skiing in winter, fishing in summer, cooking over a fire in autumn. I have done these things since I was small. My passion is good local food, the simplicity of being outside, and the quiet that comes with it.
Since 2017 I have been guiding mountain hikes here. I am a certified Mountain Leader and trained in Wilderness First Aid — because the mountains deserve respect, and so do the people who come with me.
I want to share this place with those who are willing to slow down and see it properly. Not as a backdrop, but as something alive.
I provide Kammarkollegiet’s Travel Guarantee through Visita and hold the permits required to arrange hikes and activities in the mountains.
The nine seasons are the heart of my business
The world divides the year into four seasons. The Sámi people, who have called these mountains home for thousands of years, have always known better. They see eight.
I see nine.
The South Sámi seasonal calendar is not a curiosity. It is a precise, living map of how this landscape actually behaves — built over generations of intimate knowledge, reindeer herding, and quiet observation. Each season has its own light, its own smell, its own silence.
This calendar is the heart of everything I do at Strövtåg. My activities are tied to the seasons — which means you come when it is truly at its best. Not when the calendar says summer. When the mountain says summer.
The mountain is changeable, here the weather and the season control everything that happens. My activities are tied to the seasons and that’s why you can come along exclusively when it’s at its best! So what are the eight, or nine seasons if you ask me?
The eight seasons of Jämtlandsfjällen:
Gïjredaelvie — Spring-Winter
The sun returns. The crusty snow carries us everywhere on skis. The evenings are bright. Nature is slowly waking from its long hibernation.
Gïjre — Spring
The Great Snipe plays over the bright nights. The wind is warm but the birch leaves have not yet opened. The mountain becomes a nursery for all its animals.
Gïjre-giesie — Early Summer
The birch buds. The rivers roar with snowmelt. The prime time for bird watchers at Lake Ånnsjön arrives.
Giesie — Summer
Everything moves at speed. The mountain birch glows green. The last snow patches disappear. This is when I take you to the hidden gems — far from the crowds.
Tjaktje-giesie — Late Summer
Dark evenings, spectacular sunsets. Blueberries, cloudberries, chanterelles. The light turns golden before it turns away.
Tjaktje — Autumn
The landscape burns — orange, red, gold. Warm days, cold nights. The earthy smell of frost and wet earth. The first snow on the peaks, a preview of what is coming.
Tjaktje-daelvie — Autumn-Winter
The colour disappears overnight. Ice snaps and roars on the lakes. Candles and crackling fires replace the sun.
Daelvie — Winter
Deep cold, deep silence. Diamonds in the snow. Anyone who has not experienced a winter in these mountains does not know what darkness truly is — or what light means when it returns.
But the ninth season?
Those are the weeks when the sun warms enough that we ski in shorts. We hang the dried meat outside. The mountains are still white and perfectly still, just before life rushes back to nature.
It has no name in any language. It sits between spring-winter and spring, and it is my favourite.
Welcome to find your favourite season.
