Ski touring

Spring break in Lapland

By Erik Plankton

April 2^nd, 2017

gettin there the fast way

Last year, Jakke, Tuomas and I took the train up north and continued with a car to Pallas. This time it was a 1h 20min flight from Helsinki to Ivalo. From there we took the bus to Saariselkä for lunch and groceries. Then it was a short move to Kiilopää where our rental sledges were waiting.

advice

Mauri gave us golden advice where to go, and more specifically where not to go. There was 40cm of new snow on the ground and the stuff beneath it had no support at all. You don't want to find yourself waist deep in the forest areas with a sledge behind you. Our plan was to head towards Sokosti and see how it goes.

fading light

We had a quick snack break in the day hut on the way towards Suomunlatva shelter.

suomunlatva

It got dark before we reached the shelter. It would have been impossible to find the place, since we didn't have a gps unit with us and you don't want to spend hours of wandering around in waist deep snow. Luckily only after one miss and a u-turn we found a set of old tracks that led to the shelter. Great place to stay the night.

morning routine

After a good 10 hour sleep we made some water and breakfast and packed up for the day.

a lot of snow

suomunruoktu cabin

After some loitering around in the warm cabin and lunch we started planning our next move. Three guys came in and told they had just spent the whole morning covering just a few kilometers in waist deep snow with absolutely now support for skis. This made us re-evaluate our plans and we decided it would be wise to open a couple of bottles of wine and call it a day. Me and Jakke did a short afternoon hike to check out Aitaoja.

AITAOJA

back on track

back to the shelter

After a lengthy discussion about the conditions of the snow and a knee, we decided to play it safe and not continue all the way to Sokosti, which was our original plan.

nightlife

I used and old igloo that had caved in for my night spot. Twenty minutes of digging made for a nice and quiet place to sleep. The sky was crystal clear, but at around 5 I woke up to the fact that it was snowing.

bright lights

bluebird

The next day greeted us with perfect weather.

going up

We followed the river towards Raututunturit and started the climb.

on top

Nice views

And the skiing was nice with firm snow. On one particular descent Jakke broke the speed record for man and sled. Later on we pondered what would happen if you faceplant at that speed with the sled attached to your harness.... We decided it is best not to know.

cabin life

rautulampi to Kiilopää

people of the sun

Another day with great weather and views.

Kiilopää

mission accomplished

We returned the sleds, had a sauna and beers. Then it was time to head of to Saariselkä for the night and some R & R and the flight back home the next day. Thanks tuo Jakke and Tuomas for the trip!