Ness' bit of everything

2 weeks ago, on Sunday the 6th February, I set off on one of my biggest adventures to date. I was going on Sidetracked Adventures Backcountry Hut to Hut Ski Tour in Arctic Finland. This was a gal only trip and I was travelling solo. I knew there would be like minded women on the trip and I was so excited to meet them.

Saturday, the day before, I made the my way to Gatwick airport as the flight was eye watering early on the Sunday. I bumped into two women from the trip on the transfer bus to the hotel who had the same idea.

Sunday

We flew to Rovienemmi, the capital of Lapland and had a 3 hour transfer North to Saariselkä. The other ladies had many different travel plans and we all met in the gorgeous lodge we were calling home for 2 nights for a 4pm briefing. The trip briefing was held by Sophie, our wilderness guide for the week and the Founder of Sidetracked Adventures. Introductions zipped around the room, Sophie then outlined the trip and the adventure that lay ahead. We were also introduced to Daria, a guide on the trip who was undergoing her training. There was 10 of us in total. We walked for dinner at a restaurant around the corner from the lodge, before surrendering to an early night.

Monday

Dan, from Sidetracked cooked us all breakfast and we headed out to the ski and boot hire shop. We booted up and before we knew it we were out for a 8km ski around Saariselkä to test out the skis. We enjoyed lunch on trail with brownies for one of the ladies birthday.

Sophie had booked us all in for a traditional Finnish sauna for the evening. This was incredible. There was an ice hole, with ladders to lower yourself into and a stunning sauna. The traditional way to sauna in Finland is to go nude. With a little encouragement from another brave lady, we both took the plunge. It was so liberating, total freedom and I am so proud I did it. ‘When in Finland’.

We headed back to the lodge for a veggie curry. Sophie ran through what kit to pack and we spent the rest of the evening kit faffing. But mostly trying to decide if we had enough snacks.

Tuesday

We started our hut to hut adventure in Kiilopää, Urho Kekkonen National Park. We loaded our kit into the 5 sleds that would be shared between the 10 of us. We decided who was pulling for the first half of the day, I strapped one on and we were off.

I must say, the first section was a baptism of fire. Looking back, it was just testing us, seeing how we would reacted to the first incline pulling heavy sleds. But at the time, I thought, my goodness this is going to be tough.

This was soon suppressed by the sight of several reindeer on our route.

We had a slow and steady incline to the Niilanpää day hut where there was a lovely fire, a welcome rest bite from the building headwind.

Onwards after lunch, and what felt like all we did was climb, we hit a downhill. This was so much fun. Learning that the backcountry skies weren’t made for the downhill, showing those in the group (myself included) that it didn’t matter if you had skied before. Forgetting carving and ski edges, we zipped down the hill embracing the unknown.

We landed at Suomunlatva lean to shelter where we consumed a silly amount of jelly worms as fuel and pushed on along a gorgeous stretch of flat tree lined terrain following the Suomujoki River. We arrived at our first overnight hut – Suomunruoktu.

At the overnight huts there is one room to sleep/cook and dry kit in, an out building storing firewood and a dry toilet. We were staying in reservable huts, that Sophie had secured for the trip. On arrival, water is sourced from the nearby stream, wood is collected, sleds are unloaded and before we know it we can smell Sophie has dinner on.

Hut life was basic, and at first it did feel a little cramped. But in reality there wasn’t anything else we needed. We soon got used to doing a cabin dance, weaving around one another, to get things done.

Hut life was simple.

Sleeping spots were decided, 5 on the top bunk and 5 on the bottom, sleeping bags rolled out and I’m not kidding we were in bed by 8.30pm.

• On the menu – Creamy mushroom salmon pasta
• Ski distance – 14km

Wednesday

We left Suomunruoktu hut, continuing downstream, we crossed a small bridge and started to head uphill to our lunch spot at Vintilätunturi. We had lunch on trail as there was no shelters on this route. Lunch was always hot soup and plenty of crackers and cheese to dunk.

I had started to get a sharp pain in my toes on the morning ski and I knew I had to do something about it before we pushed on. I had a toe nail stabbing the neighbouring toe. I preformed quick and chilly first aid. 100% worth it to get some protection on my weeping toe. Always take care of your feet on long hikes or ski trips!

We then skied over a bog terrain which was a lot more open than the tree lined tracks, then we descended to Tuiskukuru, our hut for the next 2 nights.

With no electricity in the huts, we gathered around the table and Sophie demonstrated how to whittle a spoon. She made this look incredibly easy! So after a hard day slogging sledges around, we suddenly got a burst of energy. We were buzzing around the hut, carving and slicing pieces of wood.

• On the menu – Bean chilli, rice and nachos
• Ski distance – 13km

Thursday

This was our more chilled out day, after having a decent ski day the day before and also knowing that the day after would be a 22km day. We went out and back to the same cabin (Tuiskukuru). It was so much fun, we didn’t have the sleds and there was no pressure to be anywhere. We climbed up to Ampupäät, having break and hot drinks on trail. We then descended back down the same way. The main track was super icy so we all opted for off piste. This was incredible, creating our own fresh ski tracks and weaving around the trees.

On return, we gathered around the fire pit cooking sausages, toasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate.

We carried on attempting to whittle our spoons that evening and making sure we were ready for the next day.

• On the menu – Teriyaki tofu noodle stir fry
• Ski distance – 6km

Friday

I felt like there was a lot of anticipation about this day, the longest distance we had done. I didn’t sleep overly well, tossing and turning on the already hot top bunk.

We left at dawn, just enough light not to need head torches and we started our climb. The sky appeared to be a lot clearer that morning and as we kept climbing, the sun rose. There was a gorgeous sunrise. All the anticipation seemingly washed away, it was going to be an epic day!

There were stunning views for the entire morning as we retraced our ski tracks back to the cabin we had spent our first night in. It felt weird retracing our steps. However most of the time I didn’t recognise it as it gave me a different perspective in reverse. It was also a lot quicker getting back to Suomunruoktu hut. We made it there by lunch time, whereas on the first day in the National Park it took us the majority of the day. We’d clearly nearly finished all the food, making the sleds lighter or/and had improved our ski legs!

The blue skies turned to cloud and a snow began to fell. We trucked on, along the Suomujoki River towards the Suomunlatva lean to shelter we had been previous. Before we got there, we turned off the tracks and headed off piste through deep snow up a pretty steep incline.

I was pulling a sled at this point, and I looked up at the hill and thought, I have to do this. After realising through most of this trip, I run at an incredibly warm body temperature. I stripped off to my layer below and began follow Sophie who was breaking the trail in for all of us following behind her.

When pulling a sled, we tried to make sure each sled puller had a buddy. When the terrain became steep or trickier, it helped having someone pushing the sled from behind with their ski pole. Both difficult jobs none the less.

I was so grateful for my sled helper on this section, not just physically but mentally. Once in a rhythm we managed to make good progress. But whilst Sophie was filming our serious efforts, fits of laughter rippled through the group, becoming our motivational language. I dug deep here, the gradient meant it was difficult to stand with the dragging sled and was hard to build up momentum. A lot of strength was needed I tell you.

The sun started to set and under dusk we ploughed on. Head torches started to come on as the sun slowly disappeared.

There was a steep downhill section and I still had the sled on, which made for a fun and interesting decent. There was a mixture of excitement and fear on this section. I think it was the unknown. Not being able to see 20/30 ft ahead, in a place we’d never been, in the dark. But when I stopped on the hillside, watching everyone zigzagging down in the total silence, there was something very beautiful about it all.

Mixed with emotions, mostly adrenaline by this point, we finally reached the new Rautulampi hut.

This hut was rebuilt after the previous hut was destroyed in a fire. It had a modern Scandinavian feel, rather than the more traditional huts we had been in previously. The ceilings were a lot higher but the cabin was not as cosy.

There was a high chance to see the Northern lights that evening and every time someone went out to the loo, they were our lookout.

And as if by magic, after our longest day, at around 9.30pm, they came out to play!

• On the menu – Lentil dahl and flat breads
• Ski distance – 23km

Saturday

We left Rautulampi for Kiilopää, there was spectacular views the entire day. There was a cross marked trail taking us through the wide-open fells. We had Lunch at Niilanpää, where we also had our first lunch. Dan met us there with his drone, to capture us on our final decent.

With the ever changing landscape, even with retracing your steps, it still left like a completely new route. The views were forever changing or the scenery revealed itself depending on the cloud cover.

We skied into Kiilopää from the Niilanpää hut, straight into a taxi and headed to a hotel. A shower was in sight for my hat matted hair!

A few of us immediately booked into the sauna/spa and I shampooed my hair a solid 3 times.

We had our final group meal in the hotel restaurant, sharing memories and digesting the epic week we had just completed. We shared an enormous thank you with the lovely wilderness guides after what will be an unforgettable trip.

We all said our goodbyes as we knew we had a mixture of travel plans for the next day. An emotional goodbye filled with well wishes and an acknowledgement of our new bonds.

• On the menu – Pulled reindeer burger and fries
• Ski distance – 10km

Sunday

Myself and a few other women, who where also on the same flight back to Gatwick, had a transfer from Saariselkä to Rovienemmi airport.

And just like that…we all had gone our separate ways.

It’s hard to sum up this trip, but as you can get from reading this it was; challenging, humbling, epic and shared with incredible women. I can only hope that our paths cross again soon!

A massive thanks to Sidetracked Adventures – for your professionalism, leadership, inspiration and cooking skills. This is a week, that I will never forget.

Ness x

A fantastic map to help visualise the national park and the wilderness huts is linked here.