Picture Galleries & Stories from my Hiking Trips and Journeys
After a number of stressful weeks, I decided to take it easier for a few days, and to finally get some fresh air away from my desktop and computer. With Heidi we went to Ounasjärvi for a nice evening, with some grilling action, fishing and swimming… Continue reading “Swimming and Fishing in Ounasjärvi – A Relaxing Evening at the End of Summer”
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”
Now that it gets warmer again during the days, not only skiing and playing ice hockey are possible outdoor activities, but also ice fishing becomes way more attractive than during the colder season. It is still though some work to drill through the ice: after shoveling away about 30 cm of snow, there still has been a layer of approximately 60 cm of frozen Ounasjärvi water. However, after succeeding with the warm up operations, the relaxing ice fishing can begin! Continue reading “Ice Fishing on Ounasjärvi”
Here are just a few images, showing Hetta and Ounasjärvi in the early afternoon, during the polar night.
Continue reading “Sunset 5.12.2012 12:23. Sunrise 6.1.2013 12:27. Winter in Hetta.”
The 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.”
