Welcome to Arctic Tours

Photography and Adventures Tours

Our Night Skies and Aurora tour is approx. 5 hours long maybe longer if the Aurora is very active.  We will start at 8 pm and group together in a central area on town and then travel out to our cabin located approx. 20 minutes away. The location is ideal as it is all dark skies and open area to the sky.  Once at the cabin we will settle in, get the wood stove started, put the water on for coffee and tea later. We will start to talk about our camera settings, and the night skies above us. We always keep an eye on the skies during this time as things can happen pretty fast.

Before our tour date we will keep track of the Aurora forecast and our night will be dependent on the forecast and clear skies. Now there is no guarantee that we will have Aurora but with our modern day forecasting and Aurora monitoring we don't miss very often and even when we have had less than stellar forecasts for Aurora we have ended up with great Aurora. It is nature after all.

Date and Time: we will hold this tour as often as possible from September to late November and then in early spring March through April. Typically we get good Aurora showing in September as our skies darken and the advantage of warmer weather is a bonus. In March- April the skies can be very clear but the temperatures are often -20 to -30 C so are set for the hardier of participants. We don’t want to disappoint so to we will gather your name and dependent on the Aurora forecast and clear skies typically give a 1-2 day notice of the tour.

What to bring: you will need camera (more on this below), a sturdy tripod that you camera will attach too, extra batteries for your camera and a small flashlight. We also suggest good warm clothing: boots, socks, hat, full hand mitts, and a thinner pair of gloves that fit inside your mitts and will allow you to adjust your camera buttons easily. Dress in layers so when we are in the warm cabin you can take off your coat boots. (For example wear a light shirt /sweater under your coat, light pants under insulated pants.) The cabin can get pretty warm once the wood stove starts up.

More on your camera: one can take good images with any camera and most of the modern cameras are multi-functional so settings can be made for nighttime images. To get the best of your tour typically the camera should be able to be set in “M” mode. (M is for manual). This will allow you to set you exposure to 20-30 seconds and the lens to its widest aperture. Not worry we will talk about the settings. But check you user documentation so you have an idea of how to start.  Prior to your tour we will get some basic information on your camera and setup so we can assist when we gather.

A sturdy tripod for support is also required. As the night time images need to have long exposures for the best results a tripod to keep your camera steady is needed. If you don’t have one we have a couple we can use during the to

Due to retirement we are no longer offering tours