‘Snow Zaragoza’ reaches the Arctic and welcomes Santa Claus after overcoming avalanches and snow storms

Through videoconferencing, he shows the map on the mobile screen, in which you can barely see the sequence of exclamations, warnings and prohibitory signs. it means that roads are closed And officials don’t expect they’ll reopen in three or four days. José Andrés Abián Pajares, also known as the ‘Zaragozan of the Snow’, has had to endure bad weather during his latest cycling trip, but – without fail – visiting Finland, Norway and the That’s what it means for them to get to the Northern Cape in the middle…

“The worst thing is the soft snow, it slows down the march the most, and there are strong winds even when the temperatures are mild,” explains Abian, who has experience of this. winter campaign After traveling across Russia, Mongolia and Siberia, pedaling in temperatures as low as 55 degrees below zero. It was actually the Russian media who, faced with such an achievement, began calling this 53-year-old resident of Botorita ‘The Spanish of Ice’.

“After Siberia, except for another bicycle trip through the Balkans, I was unemployed for two years. I wanted to start again on an adventure of this type and Lapland seemed like a good destination to me” explains Abian, who left Zaragoza at the end of December and it took him a little more than a month to reach Cape North, which was his objective.

“I haven’t met any cyclists or motorists in all this time.”, he explains, showing that the inaccessibility of roads discourages this type of adventure. The stock of anecdotes is extensive – such as the ‘hunt’ for the northern lights or the trouble caused by a pedal breaking – but the most impressive thing about this walk through the Arctic Circle is that “How dull some Finnish roads are”, “They reminded me a lot of the Siberian tundra and, at times, majestic elk crossed“They are very big animals, but very timid,” says a man from Zaragoza. “I have also seen many reindeer, some even running away, their antlers buried under a huge layer of snow.”

The coldest temperature experienced this month The temperature in Rovaniemi city was minus 37 degrees., where the popular ‘Santa Claus Village’ is located, which arouses mixed emotions in Abyan. “They have a lot of business with tourism there. Reportedly there are queues to see the real Santa Claus and you can spend half the morning until you get home. It’s quite an amusement park. Taking a picture with Santa Claus will cost you dearly. Falls an eye on the face!”, explains the man from Zaragoza, who was able to meet another character (not an ‘official’) of the city, to whom he was able to give the bow tie that he was wearing in Cadret. Kadrit school in. ambassador of abian bow tie club, which won the National Award for Promoting School Co-existence for this project a few years ago. club encourages Educational value through artistic and audiovisual production And the bicycle-adventurer delivers bow ties, balloons and smiles to the most disadvantaged children during his journey.

Even Santa Claus got one of these statues, a landmark for the Zaragoza school. Fernando Melero He is the head of studies at the center and follows Abian’s adventures very closely, even though he is thousands of kilometers away from home. The second one who is in direct contact with the adventurer is Doctor and mountaineer Manuel Avellanas, who treated him in the frozen unit of the San Jorge Hospital in Huesca after Abbian suffered a deformity in three of his fingers during a Siberian trip. “He looks at me on the mobile screen and tells me: ‘Your eyes are very red, be careful,'” says Abian, who appreciates his concern and all the health advice he gives., “My fingers still feel sore and sore sometimes from being so cold. That’s why sometimes the videos turn out the way they come.”Such Aragonese Marco Polo jokes.

Well equipped, partly with material provided by Altus from its facilities in the Malpica industrial estate, Abian was last month “housed in small hotels, in five-square-metre rooms, in salmon sanctuaries and, even in a tent outside. Had to sleep”. And though comforts seem scarce, The worst thing about traveling is loneliness,you have to be mentally prepared Because it is very difficult to spend so much time alone. I have been traveling this way for more than twenty years and I am already accustomed to it.” Apart from the northern lights, another milestone of the trip that has surprised him is crossing A tunnel “which is 250 meters below the sea” And it has automatic doors “so that deer don’t enter or create snowballs or snowballs,” he comments.

Abian’s Arctic adventure is now coming to an end, but the Zaragoza native is already thinking about the next challenge. “I was planning to fly back from Oslo or Stockholm, but eventually I will Direct connection from Rovaniemi to Madrid on day 3” he explains. After completing the most demanding routes in Pakistan, Iran, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Morocco, Abyan confesses that he would like to return to Russia, but the circumstances do not seem favorable. “I would like to do this type of travel. I am staying. For 24 years and now it’s time to work and save to be able to start another journey.”