Home of the Wind

Have you ever wondered where the wind comes from? It starts here at North Cape. As I stand here, there is nothing between me and the North Pole a thousand miles away. It feels as though every wind in the world begins here.

I cannot recall being in another place where the wind is actually dangerous. Here she has teeth. I reckon there are sustained winds of 45 to 50 miles an hour here with gusts between 60 and 65 miles an hour. The wind almost succeeds in blowing down an able man. It contorts your face face into grotesque caricatures. It never stops. It carries fine dust the consistency of talcum powder that gets in your eyes and your nose and your ears and your mouth.

Simply standing requires a major effort. After merely standing outside for ten minutes, I was exhausted. Even so, the scenery here is stunning. An 18th century explorer called this place North Cape. The name stuck, and the monument designating this spot as the northernmost point in Europe was built here, even though the cape a few miles west of here extends just a few yards farther out into the Arctic Ocean.

The barren hills just south of here host reindeer and little else. No tree, no flower, no animal has ever survived these winds, nor the six months of constant darkness from October to March. Nothing lives here.

Except the wind.Read more