The hunt for Father Christmas

Oct 20 2007 by Paul Cole, Liverpool Daily Post

Paul Cole travels to Lapland to find Santa

IT WAS a call that came right out of the blue. Santa, it seemed, wanted a chat. Would I care to join him for a berry juice?

We’d met a couple of years ago in Lapland as he made his famous list, checking out who’d been naughty and nice. Perhaps he needed a second opinion – he wanted it checking twice.

It was an invitation impossible to pass up, even if it meant trekking high into the Arctic Circle by husky sled, reindeer sleigh and snowmobile.

After a trip to stock up on thermal undies and winter woollies, the quest began . . .

THURSDAY

6pm: Land at Rovaniemi Airport, in Finland. From here, it will be a two-hour drive through the darkness to our staging post in the Lapland ski resort of Salla, below the icebound fells. Cross the Arctic Circle and head north-east.

At the moment it is just -10ºC, something of a heatwave in an area where temperatures have been known to sink to -50.

8.30pm: Arrive in Salla, where a mysterious figure dances briefly in the headlights and hurls snowballs at us. “That will be Tricky Dicky,” says our Lappish guide, Hella, mysteriously.

Get kitted out in Arctic survival gear that makes us look like Michelin men. One-piece snowsuits are followed by leather thermal-lined boots to ward off the chill. It’s going to be cold where we’re going.

10pm: Chat with the locals. Apparently, Tricky Dicky is one of Santa’s favourite elves and is not to be trusted.

An hour later, we hit the sack. The search begins in earnest tomorrow.

FRIDAY

9am: Feast on rice cakes and yoghurt at Hotelli Revontuli, a favoured haunt of skiers and winter sports adventurers. Then travel to Temppupaja, where we’re told Santa has recently been seen.

Venturing into the forest, we chance upon a wooden cabin where small, elf-like people are busy sorting Christmas mail.

Outside, there are hitching points for reindeer. The names Dancer and Prancer figure among them, so we must be on the right track. Suddenly, there’s a commotion as Santa appears in the cabin window. The familiar figure magically transforms into the cackling Tricky Dicky. We’ve been had.

11am: Undeterred, we set off across the frozen Lake Onkamojarvi on two-man sledges. There’s no sign of Santa, and we press on.

We arrive at Tahtikuta, only to see Santa driving away in the distance. We’ve just missed him.

In hot pursuit, we transfer to a reindeer-drawn sleigh. They’re friendly creatures, as long as you don’t invade their space unexpectedly and, boy, can they move! No wonder Santa gets round so many homes each Christmas.

At this time of year, there are only two hours of daylight (or rather greylight – it never gets bright) in Lapland.

3.30pm: The chill air is full of yelping, barking and howling as we reach Tuohenlusikka, where we ask the owner of a husky farm if he’s seen our quarry. Sadly, he hasn’t.

But wait, what’s this? In a tent deeper in the trees, there’s a fire burning. Beautiful Snowy Bowy glides out of the forest. She’s the elf closest to Santa, and says she’s sure we’ll catch up with him soon.