We remember meeting Chad around 2011 when, as an aspiring entrepreneur, he was looking at setting up a business in the tourism sector in Abisko, which was then taking off as a destination.
Chad, from Missouri USA, like many foreigners before him, met and fell in love with a Swedish girl which is how he came to end up in Abisko! Before creating “Lights over Lapland” with the idea of running photo tours to this celebrated corner of Swedish Lapland he will proudly say he was the ‘bottle washer’ at the Aurora Sky Station in Abisko.
Chad shot our very first promotional video, which we still use today, and I guess we must have been his first client for the aurora tours he operates nightly in Abisko during the prime Northern Lights season.
The destination has needed the energy of people like Chad to drive its awareness and credentials as a leading Northern Lights location and we still today have most of our guests spend a night out with one of his guides when staying with Mina and Dick Johansson at Abisko Mountain Lodge.
One of my fondest memories of Chad was seeing him riding a camel to start proceedings in front of a packed audience at the Berber show in Marrakech during Aurora Night’s 10th anniversary celebrations!
Chad continues to develop the tourism potential of Swedish Lapland and we are proud to have helped him along this journey.
Every one of our trips to Abisko incorporates a night out with Chad or one of his team. We have introduced an evening photo tour that conveniently departs straight from Abisko Mountain Lodge to the base camp for the photo evening. This experience, combined with an evening at the Aurora Sky Station in Abisko, makes for a truly special combination for anybody visiting Abisko.
Chad and Linnea and a chance meeting with Chad at Kiruna airport and a photo evening in Abisko National Park
