Year: 2012

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During the Polar Night to Hannukuru: Skiing, Sauna, Full Moon, and Northern Lights in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park

Northern Lights in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Northern Lights and Full Moon at Hannukuru

After a very busy December the idea came up, to find some relaxing days in the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park – or more precisely – to visit the Hannukuru area for a decent sauna turn in the middle of the wonderful nature, and in the middle of the polar night. The plan was to take our (borrowed) forest skiers to go to Hannukuru for a relaxing sauna evening, and to return back home the same way. Fortunately (I have to say), a heavy snowfall made us stuck in the beautiful Hannukuru valley, where we experienced a most wonderful night under the clear full moon sky – topped with some northern lights, just after the snowfall ended. Continue reading “During the Polar Night to Hannukuru: Skiing, Sauna, Full Moon, and Northern Lights in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park”

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Moonlight Skiing to Pahtajärvi

Pahtajärvi
On the summer hiking trail with forest skiers to Pahakuru

The clear ski on Friday revealed the strong brightness of the moon just a few days after it was full. With such an amount of light available, I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to go to the Pahtajärvi laavu for some late night dinner. Since the sun is almost gone anyway, the moon will be the only light-ball shining from the sky in the next few weeks. Of course the clear sky came along with cold temperatures (down to -30°C), but that shouldn’t keep me off from a short skiing trip. Continue reading “Moonlight Skiing to Pahtajärvi”

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Sunrise today at 10:12. Sunset today at 14:10. Length of day is 3 h 58 min.

JyppyrävaaraThe days are getting shorter quickly and the Arctic night seems to become tangible. Currently the day length decreases by ten to eleven minutes every day (The headline, by the way, I stole from todays weather forecast site of the Finnish meteorological institute).

The other information I found on that site, which however also was obvious by looking out of the window, was that today was a clear sky. Continue reading “Sunrise today at 10:12. Sunset today at 14:10. Length of day is 3 h 58 min.”

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Last Bike Trip in First Lasting Snow – Lunch at the Frozen Pahtajärvi Shore

Laavu at Pahtajärvi
Laavu at Pahtajärvi

Last weekend – and thus mid of October, apparently this years winter started. There has been already a few centimeters of snow in late September, however, now that the temperatures are persistent below freezing, conserving the snow and keeping it from melting away again. And so, the few centimeters of snow from early last week are still remaining. Since there is more snowfall predicted for the upcoming days, we decided to once again take out our bikes, and ride them through the forest, where soon we will be only able to ski or walk with snowshoes.

It turned out to be easier than expected, even though the trails were quite slippery of course. Maybe it helped that we Continue reading “Last Bike Trip in First Lasting Snow – Lunch at the Frozen Pahtajärvi Shore”

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Between Arctic Sand Dunes and Colorful Autumn Vegetation – Ruska in Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area

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Kalmakaltio
Scenery in Kalmakaltio

When I joined some friends for the hike from Pallas to Hetta, ruska (the Finnish word for autumn) just started in Lapland, and the first trees changed their colors. I took note of that fact with lots of satisfaction, as in the first half of September a long planned hiking trip through the Pöyrisjärvi wilderness area was laying just ahead of me. Or actually of us, as we were a group of 4 people all together, who jointly wanted to walk from Kalmakaltio (via Pöyrisjärvi) to Hetta. Approximately 150 km on foot, Continue reading “Between Arctic Sand Dunes and Colorful Autumn Vegetation – Ruska in Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area”

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Breaking News at Pahtajärvi: A New Fire Place Grew Over Night!

PahtajärviGreat news from the makkara-extinguishing-front! A new laavu grew over night. Or over summer, or so .. I’ve been using the trail from Hetta to Närpistö laavu quite some times this summer, but something new appeared recently: A sign with the name of Pahtajärvi written on it and additionally containing the symbol of a fire place.

Continue reading “Breaking News at Pahtajärvi: A New Fire Place Grew Over Night!”

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