This year was a big change in my life as I decided to take a break from full time ski mountaineering and focus my attention on going to school and learning a the Finnish language. With that said we had a week vacation in early March so the plans were put together between my friends Ilkka, Ben and I to heading out to the Khibiny Mountains of Russia and explore different zones compared to the previous 3 trips to the Kola Peninsula. On Thursday night my friend Ben’s plane landed in Rovaniemi, Finland where I live and after a full day of Finnish culture and packing we were off on the 6 hours drive to some of the most unique mountains I’ve ever experienced.

Preparing for the next week of ski touring

For the past 3 trips were were based out of the town of Kirovsk which is the skiing epicenter of the Khibiny mountains but this time we decided to rent a small apartment in Monchegorsk which is a mining town in the outskirts of the mountain range. This would give us unique options of places to go as we could follow weather patterns and while we would have to drive an hour or longer to find mountains to ski it would be much different then the previous trips.

Food in Russia is cheap so we didn’t bring anything with us and once in Monchegorsk after getting our apartment we ran to the local store and filled our carts with enough random things that could keep us going for our week of ski touring and camping.

One thing about Russian buildings (and people as well) is to never judge a book by its cover. You will be walking through a hallway built completely with concrete wondering what you are getting yourself into.

But once at the houses they are very nice and cozy. Once we had our food stocked up it was time to bring out the gear and get it dialed for our first ski tour of the trip.

Heading to Revda for ski touring

Our plan was to go check out an area called Revda where Ilkka had attempted to ski 3 times previously but had always had horrific conditions. It was his hope that this time we would find much better conditions in this remote area of an already remote area. If all worked out well we would have some nice chutes to ski and to see something different then the standard Kirovsk tour.

After about an hour of driving through dense and flat arctic shrubs we finally started getting close to our destination. From the car it was hard to say if the skiing would be on good snow but it was obvious we had a healthy snowpack.

Ski touring in Revda

We started our tour from an old Soviet Mine which we would later come to find that it was a prisoner hard labor camp of almost legendary status but other then the guards who we bribed with chocolate we didn’t see a single person as we made our way to the hills behind the mine.

Once making our way past the dilapidated building we were finally making our way to the zone that had peaked our interest and while the terrain looked good it was obvious that the wind had its way with the snow.

We had one last hurdle before making our way into the high country with an electrified cable the powered the mining rails. The line was live so we were super careful not to touch it as we made our way slowly under and switched over to skinning, joking that if this was America then there would be no way the mining companies would allow us to walk though.

Attempting our first line in the Khibiny Mountains

Once at the base of the mountains we spotted what looked to be a nice chute to test conditions and see how the snow felt considering avalanche conditions. It would be a good indicator of what to expect as well as if it did slide we wouldn’t be dragged over a cliff or through a bunch of nasty rocks. While this seems a pessimistic approach it’s an important thing to think of when heading into a zone where you have very little data of what to expect.

Once the angle steepened we switched over to cramponing as the snow was firm down low but we hoped that would change with it being a bit more wind protected up higher.

Once we were a bit higher in the couloir we find the snow to be a bit more soft but we ran across an issue, 30cms underneath was a firm ice layer and above was one big solid mass to it had the potential of being a massive hard slab avalanche. We decided the safe move was to stop at a safe point and turn back as it was not worth taking a chance and having a big avalanche go off either while climbing or while riding.

While we were hoping the snow would be decent to ride down it was quite firm but we went down one by one making sure not to expose each other to potential slab avalanches.

With the knowledge that the aspect we were riding was suspect to avalanches we set our sights on a mellower line on the opposite side of the valley so we rode down to the valley floor before making our way up to the second line of the day.

Round 2

Once in the valley we could tell the snow was a bit firm but were hoping that the sun had softened the snow. After a quick break to eat and re hydrate we were off bootpacking up the next line.

Conditions on this aspect felt much safer as we bootpacked up enjoying the warmth of the sun and the views into the vast arctic tundra toward Murmansk.

As we climbed occcasionally we would look back at the zone we had just come from. It was pretty obvious that if conditions were ever good that it would be a great place to ski tour. But since it is the first mountains in the range and to the North with predominate winds coming from the north that most times with area we be ravaged by winds.

Once on top we tried to get a good view of the surrounding area but the tops our pretty flat so instead of walking 3kms in hope of finding a good view we decided it was time to ride down.

Ben dropping in first end enjoying good corn snow in the sunlight

Then Ilkka made his way down

I was able to find a small bit of proto pow as I rode down towards the valley.

The exit

Once in the valley we still had a few more hours of daylight so we decided to slowly make our way back to the car as that night temperatures were going to drop to negative 20. But before heading to the car we would see if the main chute in the picture below would hold better snow as the aspect was a bit different then our first line.

As we started making our way up it quickly became obvious that even if the snow up high was good most of the line would be firm ice. Knowing that it there was a descent chance up high would either be firm or a slab we decided to turn around and finish our day.

As we made our way down we had noticed a group of locals had gathered around a rock down lower so we went down to check in on what they were doing. We were fortunate that Ilkka could speak some Russian so we found out they were at a sacred Sami location giving offerings so we hung out with them for a bit and took in a unique experience with kind hearted people with a small fire and some food they brought for offerings.

As we walked down we took in the sunset and although the conditions weren’t nearly as good as we hoped the day was a huge success. Trips like these aren’t really about the skiing they are more about the culture and the day had a great mixture of both.

Once back at the mines we checked in with the guards and said thank you in the form of chocolate before heading to the car and making our way back to Monchegorsk.

After enjoying a clear night while driving we made it back to Monchegorsk which was think in smog as it is a big mining town and we couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of us.

It was a great day seeing a new place but it was time to plan for our next adventure. So we made our way into town and stocked up on some food and try to find a place to buy a bit of alcohol as we would go on a 3 day camping trip with temps going down to -30.

While Revda has the potential to be a fun place for ski touring you would have to watch how the weather and more important the wind is. If the winds are coming from the West the lines could be much better (but also potential wind loading avalanche conditions). That being said I don’t know if I would personally go back but I am very happy I got to experience the zone.

Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours within the Khibiny Mountains check out this link