During the peak of the winter months it is a dark period in Northern Finland called “kaamos”. With only a few hours of light the sun barely makes its way over the horizon causing a constant sunset/sunrise. After a great day of snowboarding Aakenustunturi the forecast called for clear skies. This was a reason to celebrate as it had been cloudy everyday since November and finally we would see the sun again. We made a plan to go check out a swamp near Yllästunturi. You may ask “Why would you want to go to a swamp?” Well it is a wide open area that allows easy travel once it is covered in snow. During the summer it is like walking on a massive sponge but during the winter it is great and fun skiing with views as far as the eyes can see.
We left the house around 9 a.m. as the dark of night became a light blue wanting to be skiing while the sun actually came out. As we drove on the road it was a beautiful sight seeing the trees coated in a healthy amount of snow.
Going over a small pass the vast landscape of Lapland was coming into view. By now the sun was starting to rise and the one scenic parking spot was filled with people taking photos. Soon enough we were dropping back down to the flat lands and heading towards our starting point.
Soon enough we found a spot to park and were pulling out our 250cm Forest skis. Both my wife and I had just bought them during Christmas so we could explore the outdoors. The system is as basic as it gets with the skis being long and narrow causing you to float no matter how deep the snow is. The set up is simple….Fish scale under the feet so no skins are needed and rubber boots made by Nokia (yeah that Nokia) where the shape of the toes fit into the metal bindings with a metal cable connecting to the heel and provided pressure, basically it’s back to the roots of skiing culture.
The moment we got out of the car we were blasted with cold air as the temperatures were dipping below -30. Fortunately we had already packed our bags and had our gear on so we quickly put on our skis and within 2 minutes of following a snowmobile trail we were off onto the swamp. You would think that since we saw the sunrise 30 minutes early we would be in the sun…..but not in Lapland. We weren’t on the mountain anymore so being on the flat lands we were still far below the sun.
We designed our route to go check out different sides of the swamp in hopes of finding random shelters off the map. Being in Finland the culture is all about finding a spot to start a fire and grill some Makkara (basically hot dogs without the buns). Along the way we found a few different shelters but they were either too small or they were locked but it was great to find and explore new places.
We set our route to go from open swamp to open swamp navigating through as much open forest as possible. Trees can get quite dense and with 250cm skis it can be evil to navigate but fortunately most of the terrain was open as we made our way south hoping there would be a secret shelter along the way.
If we were walking in the snow it would have been a nightmare but with the skis we just glided along the surface laying in our own tracks. It is like ski touring without the descent and allows you to see the beauty on nature locked in a deep winter sleep.
Finally at solar noon we were greeted with a beautiful pink in the sky as we watched Yllästunturi now covered in Alpenglow. The Arctic Circle doesn’t receive sun in the lowlands and we were in the midst of it. This would be the highest the sun would get all day and still it was too low for the sun to reach the swamps.
While the coldness would be brutal to exposed skin it was fine with all of our layers and constantly moving. I was wearing an Everest Base Camp coat which I feared I would sweat in but once I got to warm I would just unzip it for a second and cool off almost instantly.
The transition from the lightest part of the day to the darkness is slow as being so far north dawn and dusk last for hours. Being a few kilometers from the car we started to make our way back surrounded by beautiful light.
By now the lights had turned on at Yllästunturi which is the biggest ski resort in Finland. At one time this was a massive volcano but the glaciers had beat it down to what it is today. Being wide open slopes winter powder is rare in the high country but during the spring it is a corn skiing paradise.
Before long we were back at the car 30 minutes before it got dark. Though forest skis wouldn’t work for traveling through high mountains they are perfect for flat land skiing allowing you to go pretty much anywhere you want. I was now hooked on how fun they are and what you could do with them. It opened up a whole new world of exploring and putting in skin tracks. No longer would I have to follow XX ski trails.
It was a great weekend hanging out with Ilkka and Tuija and fortunately we were able to find a spot to grill Makarra at the beginning of the season. I was able to get some snowboard turns in and explore some new areas. While it was still the dark season we able to see a bit of sunshine in the distance. I was now ready to go use the forest skis in the backyard as I still had two more weeks of Christmas Break.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to posting more about Northern Finland as the season progresses.