PALLAS

Ski touring adventure

By Erik Plankton

March 22^nd, 2016

the plan

Pack: Ski touring and winter camping gear

Go: Up north to Pallas fjell area

Find: Northern lights and breathtaking views

After a few planning sessions during the early winter it was actually time to pack all the gear into sleds, put the sleds in the car, and the car onto the train that took us to Kolari. Next morning we were there and did some grocery shopping in Sweden, which is just across the river. From there it was a 1,5 hour drive to Pallastunturi.

ready set go

The staff of the visitor center at Pallastunturi were really nice. They pointed a room where we could change clothes and boil water for out thermos bottles. After that we were ready to go! The weather was clear with a temperature of -6°C. Quite strong winds coming from the north made it feel crispy. A few days prior our arrival there had been a record heat wave with temperatures around +11°C. This meant that the snow was now really hard, which was pretty good for skiing in the fjell, but the machine groomed tracks were super icy and slippery. Going up with skins on the skis was ok, but downhills became totally out of control fight for survival epics. It was safer and actually faster to take the skis off and walk down the tracks.

Sarvijärvi shelter

After some slippery skiing and walking in the woods it got dark and we decided to spend the night at Sarvijärvi lean to shelter. Our original plan was to sleep in the tent, but the shelter had a huge pile of snow in front of it which blocked the wind nicely.

aurora borealis

The skies were clear and we got a pretty good show of the northern lights.

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warming up

We all slept quite warm and comfy until about 8.30. Then it was time to make breakfast and get ready for the day. The triangle shaped salami was optimised for our bread.

up we go

After a couple of hours skiing in the forest we took a break and changed full length skins to the skis. The climb to Nammalakuru hut was nice because the snow was soft enough to give good traction.

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wide open

Once we got out of the forest above the tree line the views started getting better and better. The wind picked up considerably but overall the weather was fantastic.

this is what we came for

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nammalakuru hut

We reached the hut around 4pm. After eating and boiling water it was time to decide to continue further or stay for the night. We decided to stay for the night and enjoy the warmth. The cabin has been rebuilt a couple of years ago and is really nice. Plenty of room for up to 20-24 people and it has a separate room for drying your gear. 16 persons stayed for the night and there was good space for everyone.

on top

We left the sleds at the hut and packed day packs. We climbed on top of a couple of hills to enjoy the views. Bluebird skies and great skiing. The wind was about 15 - 20 m/s so it motivated us to keep moving.

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lunch time in rihmakuru

We headed down to Rihmakuru hut for lunch. After a welcoming speech from reverend Plankton we proceeded to make tortillas and some tea.

back to Nammalakuru

On the way back we stayed lower to avoid the worst head wind. Skiing in the forest was really pleasant.

moving camp

We packed our sleds and moved camp to the Montel wilderness hut, which is only 1,2km from Nammalakuru.

After a short climb and a long downhill we were at the hut. The sun was about to set behind the hill so we did a little more sightseeing just before it got dark. You could really feel the temperature drop at the same time.

sunset

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hotel montel

The hut is tiny with room for only 4 persons. Luckily there was only one guy there. He had been doing some snowboarding in the area for a couple of days. He was running a bit low on food so we shared some of ours and everyone was happy.

chilly night

The skies were totally clear, but this time the northern lights did not really spark up that well.

early bird

After a good nights rest we got up at 6.30 to prepare for the last day.

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going down

After breakfast we packed up and started going down towards lake Vuontisjärvi. Once we got down to the forest the wind died down and it was really warm.

from top to bottom

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heading home

We arrived at Hotel Vuontispirtti earlier than expected so we had time to take a shower before the pickup and transfer back to Pallas. There we packed the car and headed towards Kolari where we bought some oil for the car and beer for us. Played with the gas station boss dog too. After consuming the correct amount of beer from plastic cups in the train restaurant it was time to hit the sack and wake up back in Helsinki. We all agreed that the trip was way too short to explore enough of the area and left a great hunger to come back for more. Which we will surely do in the future.