reporter: rasha el hassan likes being outdoors, but here, she doesn't leave the house with her kids much. and no wonder. in winter here, temperatures often fall to minus 20 degrees celsius or lower -- and the daylight is brief. the cold quickly numbs her to the bone, but she looks at the positive side. >> we didn't ever have cold like this in syria. it's kind of nice. back home, we sometimes wished that it would snow. reporter: rasha's son eisa, on the other hand, just can't seem to get enough winter. he's learned to love sledding. >> i don't think it's too cold. sometimes i go out sledding for hours. but at night it gets really cold! my hands freeze! reporter: a few months ago, around 600 refugees ended up here -- at the riksgrÄnsen ski resort in lappland, 200 kilometers north of the arctic circle. the icy northern reaches of scandinavia are arguably europe's last great wilderness. in the depths of winter, the sun doesn't rise at all here. it's a world of ice and snow. an environment that's breathtaking yet inhospitable. the settlement is made up of a huddle of vacation homes, a hotel a