We stayed in the town of Äkäslompolo which is in northern Finland (around 67 degrees latitude). There are 330km of cross-country ski trails in the town and surrounding area. We bought ourselves cross-country skis last year and so we brought them with us on this trip and spent 4 of our 6 full days using them. As I mentioned in my Seita Hotel post, the tracks went right by the front of the hotel so we could easily hop on there. We did that most days but there are also set trips where a bus picks you up in the morning and drops you off 20km away on the xc trails and you can work your way back at your leisure. There are cafes and warming huts scattered around the trails and it makes it fairly easy to just ski from café to café until you drop.
Some pics from our first day. It was snowing this day, and my iPhone died almost immediately so we only got a few pictures.
The café we stopped at this day is called the "fairy tale café" and it's filled with pictures of creatures from fairy tales along with other interesting things and was super cozy. It also had amazing hot chocolate and cakes, which we enjoyed again a few days later.
We didn't take any pictures our second day of skiing. We did separate routes because I wanted something shorter due to some blisters. So, here's our third day when we were dropped off by an overpacked bus at Äkäsmylly where we then had to ski 20km back to our hotel.
After 6.2km we stopped at a café and it was PACKED. But it was nice and warm so we toughed it out for 10 minutes or so. It also had a big bearskin right by my head:
Then back on the trails again for another 5km of skiing. Lots of pictures of me because Martin was always way ahead of me and could easily stop, get out his phone, wait for me, and snap pictures when I was at my finest (lol).
The next hut we stopped at. Nothing too special here - thankfully much less crowded. We warmed ourselves by the fire for a bit then moved on.
We survived this "demanding slope" lol. It wasn't as steep as some other slopes on this ski trek which didn't have any signs ...
The Finnish people do love their umlauts and vowels. I don't know what this sign is saying but the word with all the u's is the name of the second hut we stopped at (pic above). Note: I do not condone the sexist nature of this sign.
Skis lined up outside the fairy tale café (called Navettagalleria in Finnish), which was our final stop on this trek and only 2km from our hotel.
Our last day of skiing we challenged ourselves with a "moderate" trail. It was hilly but nbd. The only issue is that for some reason the tracks end randomly in the middle of long downhill stretches, sometimes going around turns right after the tracks disappear, which leads to wipeouts for those of us who are not so good on our skis yet.
On this day we stopped at the "wizard's café" which was ... super dark. Also, it was a hut which means no heat which means not that warm inside. But neat only being lit by candles and the fire.
No comments:
Post a Comment