Some random ramblings and clips put together.
06.40 flight to Ivalo and a quick bus to Kiilopää. On the way I saw the remains of the burnt down shopping centre Kuukkeli. Huge loss for the region.
After packing the rental sled and a chat with the great people at Roll Outdoors I was on the trail towards Suomunruoktu hut about 14 km away. I have been on this trail a couple of times before, so there was no need to look at the map for the entire 5 day trip. The route starts with a long little climb to Niilanpää day hut 4 km from Kiilopää and then you continue straight over the fjell before a nice descent to the Suomunlatva lean to shelter. From there it is about 5 km of flat before arriving to the cabin.
Gusty winds and some fresh snow during the first night. No one was going my way, so I had to clear the track for over half of the way. But it meant nothing since the weather was absolutely perfect. -10°c with very little wind.
The leg from Suomunruoktu to Tuiskuru is about 14km and the first part is a long climb to Vintilätunturi with some really steep sections that can be pretty difficult with the sled in soft snow. The going was slow, but rewarding and I took time to enjoy the views. In some parts the track was completely blown over and you had to be really careful to stay on it. Otherwise you would sink into the soft snow up to your thighs.
After about 4 hours of pushing I met a couple coming from the other direction and we both thanked each other for the effort of plowing the track open. Enjoyed a quick lunch from the Thermos and continued on. Now the going was a bit faster with the open track and easier terrain.
It took over 7 hours to get to the hut, which meant that my original plan of going all the way to Luirojärvi in one day was not feasible, since the last 8 km of the track would be completely covered in soft snow. So I set camp and enjoyed the crispy night. It was -18°c when I got there and dropped to -23°c during the night.
The next morning it was only -5°c and rising. I really wanted to go to Luirojärvi and have a sauna. But since I only had five days to spend, I would have to come back to Tuiskukuru on the same day, which meant 16 km on the soft snow-covered track. I downloaded a weather report to the Garmin GPSMAP 66i satellite emergency / navigation device I currently use in remote areas. There was a risk of the temps going above zero which can potentially mean a horrible time skiing if you start falling through the snow making progress extremely slow and arduous. So I ended up doing a day trip and opened up the track for some 4 km towards Luirojärvi. One person came from Luirojärvi, so now the track was open again. Had a nice chat with a French guy at the cabin.
Monday morning was nice and sunny, but the temperature was hovering around zero. Luckily the track held up nicely and it was a relatively easy leg back. Due to the warm weather most of the snow had fallen from the trees and the scenes at Vintilätunturi were not so surreal anymore.
Started out grey and eventually turned into a complete whiteout on top the last fjell before descending back towards Niilanpää. At some point the visibility was only about 20 meters with zero landmarks to be seen. Good thing that they have marked this section with orange markers about 50 m a part. Sometimes you couldn't see the next marker but there was nothing to worry about since the route was familiar and I had the track saved on my GPS unit as a backup in addition to the map and compass I always carry anyway. Despite the visibility issues the glide was very good and I made it back to Kiilopää in exactly 3 h 30 mins, which was a bit quicker than anticipated. So I had good time to take shower and stuff all my gear for the flight before having lunch and the bus to the airport. Nice little trip with beautiful scenes!
© 2026 Erik Plankton
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