Picture Galleries & Stories from my Hiking Trips and Journeys
For more than two months, the sun has not been setting and daylight dominated the region. However, after 64 days, the sun finally set again last week, and slowly the nights became a bit darker again. this was reason enough to go with a few people up on Jyppyrävaara, Continue reading “Polar Day is Over – Sun is Setting Again!”
Last night, on a short biking trip in the area, I almost stumbled over a fox infant. I was taking a break waiting for a friend, just having my phone in the hand as I noticed some movement next to my leg. Looking down I was discovering that I was standing right in front of a den where some fox kits where coming out. I quickly made a recording with the phone camera before moving on to leave the fox infants alone again .. Continue reading “Video: Three kit foxes coming out of their den”
As I already reported, this year the summer arrived pretty early. Since the mosquitoes on the other hand did not arrive yet, it is the perfect time to be outdoors and go for a relaxing swim in the evening. This time we went to Leppäjärvi, close to the Norwegian border. Continue reading “Polar Day, Early Summer, 28° C and Sunshine: Swimming in Leppäjärvi Area”
A sudden temperature change finally melted down the snow and ice, making the waters easily accessible for swimming – without the need for an ice driller or an ice saw. That is – not yet everywhere in Lapland: While this was true for Inari, at the higher elevated Abisko for example, the lake Torneträsk was still frozen last week. Nevertheless, this year the spring – or actually rather summer arrived pretty early. I experienced this surprisingly warm weather in several places in Lapland … Continue reading “Last Ice Disappearing – Swimming Season Opened! Some Impressions from Inari and Abisko”
On a nice early May evening with some friends we wanted to make a fire and grill some food at the lean-to shelter on the top of Jyppyrävaara, in Hetta. Since the melting of snow and ice continues fast, not every passage that has been maintained as a skiing tracks is snow covered any longer. Thus, I needed to take my bike for a short ride, with the skiers attached to my backpack, to reach a spot where the tracks were still in bearable conditions. After a short trip with the skiers I arrived on Jyppyrävaara, where we enjoyed some grilling action in a bright and almost cloudless night. Continue reading “May Triathlon: Biking, Skiing and Grilling. A Night on Jyppyrävaara.”
Since a bit more than a week, the plus degrees (Celsius, of course) have taken over, leading the snow and ice to melt quickly. While there is still enough snow to go skiing, the melting of the ice, especially on the rivers, makes skiing increasingly difficult because of certain barriers that the holes that are left behind: Crossing rivers by following the regular tracks became impossible. However, going through some kind of hurdle skiing, it is still possible to ski toward Pyhäkero, in the Pallas-Yllästunturi national park. After one colder night and a sunny day, we thus decided to make a short trip to the lean-to shelter at Rautujärvi, to enjoy our dinner while looking at the Pyhäkero fell. Continue reading “Hurdle Skiing: When the Ice Disappears and the Snow Quickly Melts”
The peak of Pyhäkero is the most visible part of the Pallas-Yllästunturi national park when looking from Hetta toward South – toward the national park. Several trails are leading to – or over the Pyhäkero fell. For our weekend trip, we chose to make ski around the Pyhäkero fell, including one overnight stay at the Sioskuru open wilderness hut, instead of just taking the shortest way up. Continue reading “The ’46 km for 360° of Pyhäkero in 48 Hours’ Round Trip”
