Cross Country Ski Touring in Finland

8 day Ski Tour in Finland, 27/3 - 5/4

After completing the Kungsleden in 2012; a cross country ski tour, hut to hut in the mountains of Arctic Sweden; Andy & I chose Finland for our next ski touring adventure. We started off at Martinselkonen where we had a  warm up day, to remember how to use the long, narrow and hard to control, cross country skis. We had also chosen to take a pulk, (a sled for towing behind the skier), with us and we wanted a day to practise with this before embarking on our 7 day expedition. We got off to a good start and managed to remain upright for the majority of the excursion. We found the Finnish maps easy to use and were able to pinpoint our location amongst the seemingly bland landscape of trees and snow by using the contour lines. The landscape is so flat in Finland that they mark contour lines on the map at 5 metre intervals, (rather than the more usual 10 in the UK), to highlight the different landforms, however slight they are.





Struggling up one of the hills

 

After superb hospitality from Marco and his family at Martinselkonen we set off to follow the Finnish/Russian border-zone north all the way to Hossa. We had a short first day, skiing on differing terrain from undulating woodland to frozen swamps and lakes; all of which were just different variations of trees & snow, with thankfully, very few hills of any description. At lunchtime we had reached our destination, Teerilampi Wilderness Hut; a picturesque, traditional log cabin, on the shores of a frozen lake, which would be our water supply overnight. Teerilampi had an incredibly well stocked wood store and a composting toilet.

 

Having a quick rest beside a frozen lake

After a quick lunch, we left the pulk behind and went off on our skis, to explore the surrounding area. It is no wonder the locals talk about 'listening to the silence'; there was not a sound to be heard. The area is really remote and we were accompanied only by footprints in the snow and small birds, occasionally seen in the trees. The footprints belonged to brown bears, wolves, lynx, wolverine, arctic fox, reindeer, elk & squirrels. With the amount of tracks that we saw, there must have been plenty of animals about but due to most of them still being hunted, they obviously have a healthy respect of humans and stay well hidden at all times.





Frozen swamp with animal tracks
 

This winter has been uncharacteristically warm in Finland and as a result the snow was not deep and in places there was barely enough for us to continue without scraping our skis on the rocks below. Nevertheless it caused us no problems and thankfully the lakes were still frozen to quite a depth. Returning to Teerilampi we set about chopping wood and getting the wood-burning stove going. It would take a couple of hours for it to produce enough heat to warm the hut sufficiently and boil the water from the lake, for us to be able to cook our dinner. However once it was going nicely we were able to walk about the hut in t-shirts and shorts whilst the temperature dropped below -10 Celsius outside! Our camping dinners consist of rice and smoked sausage followed by custard, occasionally with melted Snickers. Unfortunately for this trip Andy had forgotten his hip flask and so we had to make do without a night-cap.

 

No doubt here - stay away from the boarder!

And so our expedition continued. We would take it in turns to pull the pulk; although it is not difficult or particularly tiring it is taxing on the slightest of hills, up or down. When going uphill it acts as an anchor and we would be pulling uphill but with our skis not moving, the momentum of our bodies would cause us to fall forward onto our knees. On the way downhill the pulk would snatch, jerking the skier both forwards and backwards, again often resulting in a fall. When skiing without the pulk we would delight in the freedom, skating ahead, skiing out of the tracks and relishing the speed.

 

Going uphill successfully...

 



...and not so successfully



The terrain we covered was more woodland, swamps and lakes, following the border-zone north. The border-zone is occasionally patrolled by troops on ski-doos and so there were clear tracks to follow alongside the regular, yellow topped border-zone posts. We varied our accommodation, having a mix of wilderness huts and catered accommodation. The huts were lovely, simple and rustic, in the most romantic of settings. Although the huts were all beside lakes we had to melt snow for water as we couldn't break through the frozen ice.

 

Teerilampi Hut, woodstore & fire-pit

 

Inside Teerilampi Hut

 

Collecting water

The catered accommodation was in farm houses or old border posts. (Arola) The rooms were always warm and comfortable, the welcomes were so friendly and there was always enough food for us to have 3 or 4 helpings each! The Finnish certainly know how to do hospitality. We embraced the sauna tradition whilst we were there and gained a real understanding of why they are so popular in these colder climes. It was certainly a nice treat to stay at these accommodations between the nights at the wilderness huts, not only contributing to the tourist industry but getting a real insight into the uncomfortable history of the area and an understanding of the populations living in these remote outposts today.

 

Arola accommodation

Accommodation at Kovavaara

Approaching Hossa we finally came away from the border-zone and entered a slightly busier area. The routes we followed were now tracked by skis and not ski-doos and were much more pleasant to follow. The animal tracks became fewer and the noise of ski-doos became evident. For the first time in days we spotted someone else out skiing on the tracks; although Hossa is a tiny settlement it is a hub for outdoor activities. We had the penultimate night in the most romantic of all the wilderness huts that we stayed in and finished off the trip staying in an apartment close to the visitor centre at Hossa.







Pukkojarvi Wilderness Hut

Every night of the trip we would get up intermittently, looking for the northern lights. Although it was predicted to be a good year to see the lights there had probably been less sightings than usual. We were unlucky this year, although the nights were generally clear and dark. Due to the trees it is difficult to get an all round view of the sky and sometimes the lights may only appear for a few minutes. We weren't too disappointed though as each night we were treated to an amazing sunset. At first the tree tops would glow a fiery red and as the sun dipped further below the horizon the sky would catch light in a blaze of colour. Due to the high latitude, these sunsets would last well over 3 hours.





Sunset at Hossa

All in all, an excellent trip. 8 days of cross country skiing, varying in length from 8 to 22 kilometres; 3 nights at wilderness huts, 6 nights at catered accommodation. The weather was predominantly clear blue skies with temperatures remaining below freezing and the winds were light. The route was clear to follow but a map was a necessity and god forbid if you were to venture into the border exclusion zone!

I must thank Urpo from Upitrek for the hire of skis, poles and pulk for the duration of our trip. He is extremely friendly and helpful; a good place to start if looking to complete a similar expedition in this area.