All new Finnish made outdoor products are rare. Especially interesting and well working ones. This post is about one of the gems: OAC Kar 147 backcountry skis, or fastshoes, i.e. something between a snowshoe and a ski. In the post there is some background information, some numbers, my initial impressions and comparison to the Altai […]
All new Finnish made outdoor products are rare. Especially interesting and well working ones. This post is about one of the gems: OAC Kar 147 backcountry skis, or fastshoes, i.e. something between a snowshoe and a ski. In the post there is some background information, some numbers, my initial impressions and comparison to the Altai […]
The title of the post emerged from conversation in Mark’s post about Testing the Waters with borrowed Alpacka Denali Llama packraft and it’s very appropriate title for the post as this is about getting my new packraft wet and flipped around. That’s what I did the last weekend. Friday evening in a pond Tuomas loading […]
Last night it finally came: below zero temperatures! After days of sleet and rain the frost turned our skis faster than ever. In addition all of our gear went to deep froze. We got our stiff Gore-Tex harness on and had to dig our tent for quite some time to detach it from the steel […]
In July I spent (again) a week on Kebnekaise area, this time combining two trips into a one-week tour. Both were traverses of a sort, the first including a traverse of the Kebnekaise summits and the second traversing the whole massif. This post is about the first one involving crampons but no packrafts. The go-to […]
Why are you leaving so early again, dear winter? It seems that it’s time to say farewell to the winter who is leaving the Southern Finland too early again. Way too early. The winter here was short but not as bad as the previous one either: We had a decent amount of snow and the […]
Part 1 – Up, down and under the ice This is the first part of my trip report from a summer packrafting tour in Svalbard. You can read about the plan, route and crew in the introduction post. After a quite sleepless flight, short night at the camping ground and quick shopping and repacking in […]
This is a slightly delayd story of my first bikepacking overnighter… The story form the second trip with auroras and everything can be found from here. I’ve been interested in bikepacking for quite some time and I’ve been planning to buy a decent bike for over a year now. At the end of the summer […]
What drives a sane person to shiver non-stop for four days and four nights, while not eating or sleeping and call it a holiday? Editors note: I’m privilege to have extra-ordinary friends who do amazing things. One of them is Huck, a fellow wilderness guide and founder of NordicByNature. He has earlier written quest posts […]
This is the second time I’m recommending you to read these two online magazines (sorry for that) but they are really good and there have been also some updates/changes so it’s worth reminding you of them. The summer solstice sun setting at lake Saimaa. Sidetracked Sidetracked is arguably the most inspiring online travel and expedition […]
Chill out day at Grimsvötn. Weather forecast predicted 30 m/s winds so skiing didn’t sound like fun. We started the day with Dooley’s hot chocolate and crêpes flambéed in cognac. After the bloat had faded away we took our crampons for a little spin close to our quarters. The wind was strong, for a moment […]
SPOT is probably the most widely used satellite messaging device in recreational outdoor sports. It was the first of its kind and something the market needed. It has helped a lot of people during the years but one should know that it also has limitations and in my opinion, is unreliable. Warning! The SPOT is […]
22.04.2011 – 15th day on skis Once again the time and solar power available for personal blog hasn’t met in the best possible way… On Monday 18th we woke up seeing the summit of Perriertoppen thru a veil of clouds. We postponed the start towards the summit for two hours to let the clouds break […]
The last weekend N and I had a rare overlapping weekend without other projects and an overnighter was soon planned… I wanted to do some more packrafting and found the Ruokolahden melontareitti, a 110km paddling route with some shelters and fireplaces along the way. As is the case in South-East Finland the route is mostly […]