Ski tour in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park – day three Mar 8 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-03: Ski tours”.

4 March 2026

Today is the third and last day of the ski tour Annika and I are doing in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. We slept in the hut Hannukuru. We expect to ski about 15 km and parts of it will be on groomed cross‑country ski trails. Day one of our tour was snowy and windy, day two was foggy, but today the sun is shining.

After our morning routines – breakfast, packing, cleaning – we set off at 09:45 local time. (Finland is one hour ahead of Central European Time.) We follow the trail back a hundred metres, cross the small lake and to our surprise we already meet the cross-country ski trail.

I expected to ski at least half the distance without any groomed trail, now it feels like “civilisation”. At the same time the calm weather and the blue sky give a completely different impression than the days before. First we have wide views of the snowy landscape and the mountains in the distance and many trees are covered in hoarfrost and snow.

We slowly descend into a large conifer forest and the terrain gets a bit hilly. A sign says “Vaarallinen lasku” which means dangerous slope. I walk a small section of this stretch but most of the trail is easy to ski.

We take a short break in the Varkaanjärven kota, not because we need to rest but because it’s there. Two young skiers arrive, looking for matches. They want to ski up to Hannukuru. As most skiers here they have cross-country skis, not the broader backcountry skis that we are using. Probably they are four times faster uphill then we are downhill.

Now we can see the first huts, houses, a snowmobile trail and then we arrive in the village Vuontispirtti. At the hotel Tunturihotelli we take a cold coke and I eat a sandwich. Our ski tour has come to an end. Not the planned one but a good one.

The distances: 17 km + 11½ km + 13½ km, summing up to 42 km.

Our speed: 2.8 km/h in average including all shorter and longer breaks.

Will I – or we – do another ski tour in Finland? A few days ago I definitely had denied this idea. Now, while blogging I see the tour and the landscape much more positively. So my answer: I don’t know. Ask me again a bit later.

Ski tour in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park – day two Mar 7 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-03: Ski tours”.

When I wake up in the hut Sioskuru in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park the scenery has changed since yesterday. Thick fog makes the world small and the few visible trees are all covered with frost.

Time to light the stove in our small room.

Yesterday we started our ski tour in Hetta, today we want to continue on to Hannukuru, the next cabin. The distance is shorter than that of the previous day and although it is foggy the weather is calm. At 9:45 we set off. We pass the wooden bridge and ski into the fog.

It is like skiing through a contemporary art exhibition with us being the only visitors. There is fog and there are some frosted trees, some of them are real beauties. And there is silence.

Slowly we gain elevation. Fewer and fewer trees grow here. I’m glad about the wooden waymarks, it would be an effort to navigate through the fog in this featureless landscape.

After crossing this plateau, we descend a bit and are below the timberline again. The fog has started lifting, but it is still grey.

I am still a bit exhausted from the day before but I cannot explain why it is so hard to ski today. It is as if the landscape is bewitched and sucks all my energy, motivation and happiness from my body, my mind and my soul. More and more I have to stop, lean forward on my ski poles and ask myself why I should ski another metre. We are getting slower and slower and it feels like Dementors from Harry Potter’s magical had gathered here in this bleak nothingness. I stop and shout my frustration into the void with words not suitable for publication. Then another nine and a half metres of skiing. A stop. Some more steps. And so on.

After two hours something happens. The clouds have started breaking up and all of a sudden the sun is coming out. It is maybe only half a minute but it helps me to look ahead again. I’m still exhausted but I can see the beauty of the landscape again and of course I know that we will reach the next cabin.

There are more and more trees and in another small hollow we even spot something we yet didn’t see: rocks!

After 11.7 km (and more than 5 hours) we reach the hut Hannukuru, or rather the wilderness village of Hannukuru. There are several huts, woodsheds, outhouses and a sauna. We search our pre-booked shared rental hut, unlock “Hannukuru Hanna” – the room on the right – and inside I spot the most beautiful collection of kindling I’ve ever seen in my life.

While Sioskuru was pretty small and more a mattress room, this spacious room provides bunk beds for twelve people and a giant wood-burning stove.

I am eating part of the chocolate that I forgot we had with us. Annika is soaking dried potatoes and vegetables for the dinner: frittata. Delicious!

Before dinner we plan the next day’s route. We cannot change it – the skiing distance to Nammalakuru, the next hut is 21 km with a tedious ascent in the end. We are considering to change our plans and ski east instead. Reason one: the long distance, likely in untracked terrain. Reason two: the weather forecast that predicts warm temperatures with sleet and freezing rain.

A Finnish couple in the other room knows the area well and shows us the options. We decide to ski east to the small ski resort Vuontispirtti. This also means that we can sleep longer the next day. When three other skiers invite us to use the sauna after them we gladly accept. What a wonderful end of a quite strange and tiring day. And yes – Finnish saunas are hot!

Ski tour in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park – day one Mar 6 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-03: Ski tours”.

08:50 – everything is packed for starting our ski tour through the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. My wife Annika wears a backpack, I’m dragging a pulka. Today’s destination is the hut Sioskuru.

We ski down to the lake and turn left onto one of the cross-country ski trails. The weather is grey, it has started snowing.

Skiing on the trail is easy. We soon enter the national park and after two hours we reach the hut Pyhäkero.

The Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park has a whole network of open wilderness huts, where you can stay for free. There is a wood-burning stove or fireplace, a gas cooker and a platform to sleep on. No mattresses, no luxury, but everything you need on a tour without the need for a tent and a cooker.

Some of the huts have locked rooms that you can pre-book for a small fee.

Outside of the hut Pyhäkero there is a signpost with all the destinations you can reach on foot in summer and on ski in winter. And since we are in Finland the names are quite long, such as Onnasvaaranreitti, Sammalvaaranreitti, or Postituvaniärvet. We have only 8 km to ski to Sioskuru today, where we pre-booked two beds. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

A piste groomer is passing the hut. Will it groom our trail? No, it just turns back. At the same time the wind is increasing, and so is the snowfall. Unfortunately the weather forecast was correct.

First we traverse a gorge that leads slowly uphill.

Then we reach more open terrain. The wind is pretty strong, it is snowing and you cannot make out anything except the trees, that look like being placed randomly in the plateau. Luckily, the path is well marked with wooden crosses.

The snow gets deeper, the terrain steeper and each metre we ascend is extremely exhausting. Again and again we have to rest to catch our breath. It takes us two hours until we finally spot the hut Sioskuru. Two hours, in which didn’t take a single picture in these two hours.

It takes some effort to unlock the frozen lock, then we are inside. Now it is time for us to defrost our faces, change clothes and enjoy the shelter of the hut. While the wind and snowfall are slowly declining, we are settling in, making fire and cooking food. We skied 17 km, but I am very exhausted, my legs hurt and I am very glad to have arrived.

The next day we will continue to Hannukuru, which is, fortunately, a shorter distance.

Reindeer on the road Mar 5 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-03: Ski tours”.

On Monday my wife Annika and I took the car from our house in Obbola, Sweden to Hetta in Lappi, Finland’s northernmost region. It was almost given that we would see reindeer on our 676-km drive. And we saw a herd of at least one hundred reindeer from the car.

However, we didn’t spot them in Överkalix, Pajala, or Palojoensuu, we saw them right in the beginning, just 2 km from our house. That is not a common sight at all, but it can happen when the Baltic Sea is frozen.

In the afternoon, we arrived at Hetan Kota, our accommodation for the night. The next day, we would start our first ski tour in Finland, directly from the doorstep.

Three countries in sixteen snapshots Mar 5 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-02: Finnmark”.

While Annika and I have been travelling through Northern Norway, Finnish Lapland and Northern Sweden I take photos not only with my cameras, but also snapshots with my mobile phone. Here is a small non-landscape selection.

Norway

23 February – Solhov

Solhov, built in 1912–24 as a school provides accommodation today. The wooden building is huge and has a large hall with a piano that is surprisingly in tune.

24 February – Alta

As in Tromsø it is too warm in Alta. Temperatures round +7 °C lead to snowmelt and giant puddles in town.

25 February – Suolovuopmi Fjellstue

In the middle of nowhere there is a café by the road E45 from Alta to Kautokeino. To our delight it is open and we get reindeer burger and omelette with smoked rein for lunch. Delicious!

25 February – Karasjok

We stay two nights in Karasjok, where the Samí parliament is located. Our cabin is cozy. Min Ája, the camping site has a billiards room.

The design of some of the beer cans looks arctic. While most alcohol has to bought in the specialist shop “Vinmonopolet”, beer up to 4.7 % can be bought in supermarkets, too.

26 February – Karasjok

In the tourist shops you can buy a lot of genuine Sámi handicraft. And thick fabrics in wonderful colours. Many traditional Sámi garments use the same colours: blue, yellow, red, and green.

27 February – Finnish-Norwegian borderland

A small shop. A cupboard with lockers. On each locker attached photos, all of them with fishing motives.

Finland

28 February – Utsjoki

As many hotel rooms our room has a wardrobe with hangers. But it has something more: two umbrellas. Could be a useful device here in the warmer months.

28 February – Saariselkä

Saariselkä has many cross-country ski trails. No wonder, that the hotel has an own waxing hut, where you can prepare your skis.

1 March – Saariselkä

It’s not a rumour, there are definitely a lot of Ä-s in the Finnish language.

3 March – Sodankylä

No town without a pizzeria and/or a burger bar. Although the name “Riviera” may not completely match the actual winter weather in Sodankylä.

3 March – Vuostimo

If temperatures are hardly below zero and it is snowing the snow is sometimes like glue and covers your car everywhere.

4 March – Vuostimo

Snow, a birch, a fence, a road in the background. Leaning against the fence: a bicycle. Clearly unused for a while, since it is deeply stuck in the snow. A Northern winter short story.

Sweden

4 March – Tornio/Haparanda

Two countries, two time zones, two languages. At the border two towns: Tornio on the Finnish side, Haparanda on the Swedish. They share a lot of infrastructure such as the bus station. The border itself is not visible, but the two clocks showing Finnish and Swedish time or the cabinet with Finnish and Swedish food.

A border that connects people. A border I like.

Backcountry skiing in Finish Lapland Mar 3 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-02: Finnmark”.

After the gorgeous cross-country ski tour in Saariselkä yesterday Annika and I want to use our backcountry skis today. We take the car a bit south to a place called Kiilopää. Here there are not only cross-country ski trails but also “Nature skiing tracks” suitable for backcountry skiing (though you do not need any prepared track at all for this type of skis). We follow the cross-country ski trail a bit and then turn left, where a path marked with blue crosses leads through the forest.

Slowly we gain altitude and the forest becomes less dense.

You can see the almost barren, rounded mountain peaks of the Lappish tunturi. Twice I take a detour to take some pictures of the solitary snow covered trees.

We reach the mountain shelter Niilanpää and we are not alone. Small and larger groups of skiers, many of them with pulka sleds are on the track, around or in the hut.

Since the small shelter hut is occupied we continue our tour, that now slowly descends to the forest again.

This ski tour was a recommendation of our friends C. and M., who know this region well. As they supposed we use a shortcut through the forest. This old forest is beautiful. It is not very dense but has a lot of beautiful, large trees that make the forest a nature exhibition. After round 1.5 km we reach another cross-country skiing trail where we turn left to reach the shelter and grill place Sivakkaoja.

We could grill sausages, everything is there, but we decide to only take a short break and then finish our ski tour. One of the reasons: at the parking place there is also a hotel with a café that serves sweet pastries :-) .

We follow the prepared trail eastwards. The grooves made for cross-country skis are too small for our broader skis so we use the skating track (without skating) in the middle. After some kilometres through the forest we are back at our starting point again. Distance today 12.8 km. Time for a pastry and something to drink!

I’ve never been in the region of Saariselkä before and really like it. The nature is beautiful, it is not too crowded and there are many possibilities for different types of winter sports. Today – the day after this tour – we will leave Saariselkä, but I can imagine that it was not the last time being here.

Today we take the car to Kuuriuru, Finland. Tomorrow we plan to continue to Råneå in Sweden. From there it is “only” another 300 km to our home in Obbola in Sweden.

A gorgeous cross-country ski tour in Saariselkä Mar 1 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-02: Finnmark”.

After days of car driving through the Norwegian Finnmark we crossed borders to Finland two days ago. Yesterday we arrived in Saariselkä in the northernmost Finnish region “Lapland”. Saariselkä is a popular tourist destination, especially for cross-country skiers. So we decided to make a cross-country ski tour today despite of the grey and dull weather that the weather forecast showed us for the region.

After breakfast we took our skies, walked to the tent-like starting point and started skiing. Oh my – after using the broader “fjellski” a lot the thin cross-country skis felt like skiing on matches! I had some difficulties and blamed myself but then realised, that beside of my stiffness one of the skins – permanently glued to the ski – started to peel off. We abandoned the tour in hope to find someone that can fix this. So the first ski tour was just 1.17 km – yay!

We were extremely lucky. We soon found a ski rental and got the problem fixed within a minute. The employee even refused getting paid. Kiitos paljon! So – back to the starting point.

Meanwhile the weather that had been ignoring the forecast as usual started clearing up. Temperatures were around -8 to -9 °C and it was calm. Perfect skiing conditions, if you ask me. This time I felt a bit more comfortable.

We unmounted our skis at a short but uncomfortably steep passage, where the trail crossed a stream in a small valley. Last night’s fog had added rime to the snowy trees.

After this short obstacle the trail got easier and was extremely pleasant to ski on. Plus, the trail was perfectly prepared and the sky cleared up more and more. But let the photos speak for themselves:

Was it as empty as on the photos? Almost. There were a few other skiers, but not many.

After about 7 km we reached the first cabin – Rumakuru Päivätupa. We took just a short break and decided to continue to the next cabin – Luulampi, taking a break there. We passed Rumakuru Vanhatupa and after 4 km we arrived at the large cabin Luulampi.

My dreams of eating cake in the cabin were destroyed. The café was closed. So we skied to the small hut nearby were we took a lunch break. Annika grilled sausages in the fire, while I ate two Karelian pirogs. Then we shared some biscuits.

And then? Taking the more advanced ski trail that climbs at least 150 other metres, leading to the road and then hoping for a bus or a lift? Or just taking the same way back? We chose the latter.

As usual I took much less photos on the way back. One of the reasons: it had become cloudy and the sun had vanished. Now the landscape was more monochrome, but still very beautiful.

We passed the other cabins again, and again we unmounted our skis at the steep descend and ascend. And then, after some more descends we were back in town. Here there are a lot of people, that do not ski and you have to remind them, that ski tracks are – well – ski tracks and not open for pedestrians, cyclists or snowshoers. Mostly it helps …

“Skiers only, no matter what Google Map says”

I tracked today’s tour. The second and real tour was 21.95 km, which adds up to a total of a bit more than 23 km on cross-country skis. I guess, Annika and I will feel our muscles tomorrow. I feel them already now.

This was one of the finest cross-country ski tours I’ve made in the last years. Thank you, Annika for the tour!

Everything will be fine Jul 16 2023

This summer vacation with Annika had a clear photographical focus: showing the bathing areas we or I hopped in. It was ponds, lakes and rivers where we enjoyed bathing and swimming on our one week trip through northern Sweden and Finland.

The places and bodies of waters were:

Bygdeträsk (Göksjön) — Mårdseleforsen (Vindelälven) — Harads (Luleälven) — Tolkibadet — Harriniva (Etuväylä/Torne älv) — Kittilä (Ounasjoki) — Aarniluosto (Aarnilampi) — 2× Ylitornio (Etuväylä/Torne älv) — Hovlösjön.

Ylitornio (Etuväylä/Torne älv) – evening bath

Ylitornio (Etuväylä/Torne älv) – morning bath

And the motto? Allt kommer att bli bra. Everything will be fine.

Everything will be fine – allt kommer att bli bra

From Haparanda to Tromsø through the bus window May 2 2019

Four pairs of looking-through-the-window photos and a bonus proof photo

I’m sitting on my bed of room 223 in the Clarion Hotel “The Edge” in Tromsø. I’m here to join the Barents Press International Media Conference that will take place tomorrow and the day after. We from Skellefteå took a car to Haparanda at the Swedish-Finnish border already yesterday. Today we took the bus to Tromsø.

I took photos through the bus window, all with my Nikon D750 and an old 70-210mm/ƒ4.0 lens.

Pair 1 – along the river Torneälven

The Torneälven is the border river between Sweden and Finland. We drive on the Finnish side of the river. Almost all snow has melted and the river is ice free now. Sometimes large walls of ice floes lie along the riverbank.

Pair 2 – moorlands

We already have crossed the Arctic Circle. The coniferous forests are behind us and large moorland frame the road. It’s windy and temperatures are hardly above zero. From time to time it snows.

Pair 3 – winterland

The more up north we travel the snowier and more wintry the landscape becomes. We pass Kilpisjärvi and are in Norway now.

Pair 4 – fjords and mountains

Fjords and mountains – both are typical for Norway. And both can be seen from the bus. A lot of other participants have never been here before and the Oh-s and Ah-s do not stop. And they are right, the landscape is both beautiful and impressive. (… and quite unphotographable from a driving bus.)

Bonus photo

At 7 o’clock we departed in Haparanda, at 17 o’clock we arrive in Tromsø. Later I make some pictures from the roof terrace of our hotel. A Hurtigruten ship with the ishavskatedralen in the background. Take it as a proof, that I’m really in Tromsø.

Travelling to Bjørnevatn Feb 9 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-02: Northern Norway”.

After visiting me home in Skelleftehamn Chris and I continued to Jokkmokk on Thursday. We visited the winter market and then drove to Solberget, where we stayed overnight.

The next day we started a long drive with her car. Chris lives in Bjørnevatn near Kirkenes and we planned to arrive there the very same day. At 7:10 we started our journey that would lead us through Sweden, Finland and Norway.

First the sky was cloudy but the visibility was good. Then it started to get a bit foggy.

Normally that’s no problem. This icy fog however started to cover the windscreen more and more and we had to stop often to scrape of the ice.

In Gällivare we stopped at the gas station and had some breakfast. We also bought a bottle with de-icer for the windscreen and continued our trip.

The de-icer didn’t help, we had to stop many times to scrape away the ice from the freezing fog. We were not the only ones. The headlights and the number plate were covered with several millimetres of ice, too. I never had experiences something like this before.

Only the bottom 15 cm of the windscreen were free of ice. While Chris crouched into the seat to be able to see I gave up taking pictures from the road and photographed sideways.

We approached the Swedish town Karesuando. This small town is located directly on the Muonio älv, which also forms a natural border with Finland. On the other side the town is named Karesuvanto where we took another break.

Strangely the ice problems stopped right after the Finnish border. We continued to Palojoensuu without any problems. There we turned left onto the road 93. An hour later we were at the Norwegian border.

After being stopped by the customs and assuring them that we have neither alcohol nor cigarettes with us, we continued driving through the snowy plains. Next stop: Kautokeino, where most inhabitants are Sámi. Here we ate a hamburger with chips, a typical meal if you travel through Northern Norway.

Until now, Chris had driven a car. Now it was my turn to drive to give her at least a short rest. The first time I drove a diesel.

Round two hours later we arrived in Karasjok. What I already had suspected, confirmed here: It was cold outside: -30 °C. Time for another break.

Back in the car, Chris was driving again. It was dark, it was cold, we were tired and still more than four hours to go.

I started to get bored and played around with my camera.

A pale green stripe appeared above the street. A northern light. The next hour we got quite nice northern lights, mostly directly in front of us. Though being tired we got at least entertainment. The photos are awful, northern lights are not made for being photographed free-handed from a car on a bumpy road.

Finally we came to Tana, where we crossed the river of the same name. A quarter hour later we arrived in the small town Varangerbotn, were we took the last stop of our long trip.

Now we drove along the fjord Varangerfjorden. Anyway, beside of some street lights and the weakened aurora it was pitch black and I couldn’t see the fjord. Beside of that I just longed for a bed.

But finally we arrived at Chris’ home in Berg near Bjørnevatn. Arrival time 23:40, 16½ hours after we started in Solberget.

Here I’ll spend the next days.

Link to the route on Google Maps

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