Day 3, Vuorhasalmi - Hammastunturi

During the night the wind was quite strong and it was snowing as well. The weather is also warm and wet which is not nice. Everything gets wet and it's easy to start feeling cold. Must say that I preferred really cold temperatures over this. Cold is much more manageable than a bit cold and wet.

We headed towards Hammastunturi around 10 am. The fell stands at 531 meters.

The wind was blowing strongly throughout the day and temperature was well above plus degrees. We crossed a few lakes before the climb to Hammastunturi started.

The 531 meters doesn't sound much, but it was a though climb with skis! Somewhere during the climb I also started to worry something that I hadn't considered in advance. How am I going to get down?

The rather steep icy hard slope of the fell didn't seem that inviting to come down with my heavy and clumsy forest skis that are 2,5 meters long and not really made for coming down fells.

A short distance before the peak I gave up. I let the others head towards the peak and decided to wait for them and gather my strength. I wanted to reserve my strength also for the eventual coming down and sking back to camp.

As soon as I turned my back to the rest of the group to take a warmer jacket from my backpack a total whiteout hit. The snowstorm had gathered force behind the fell peak unseen to us. Rest of the group was nowhere to be seen anymore, but my visibility down was decent so I aimed towards one tree and started to climb down with skis on my shoulder. The wind was strong and it was snowing heavily which reduced my visibility and even when I looked back I couldn't see the rest of the group.

Finally as I got lower elevation I could also see the rest of the group emerging from the snowstorm. Some were carrying skis like me and some sking down.

I was so tired after we got down. Really tired. Even when the slope was icy hard it sometimes gave up under your feet and you sank waist deep into the snow. The forest skis are also really heavy and cumbersome to carry. Finally I was forced to put skis back on to make it down from the fell. Alone during winter I would never ever venture to a fell which stands above the treeline.

Must say that these winter ski tours have been the hardest thing I've ever done physically. The difficulty and extra physical demand also comes from the fact that I'm with a group. Alone my pace is very different. I might stop often, admire a view, a tree, listen to a bird sing or just stop and listen to nothing, the total silence. But here we ski 45 minutes, stop for a short brake to drink and eat snacks and off we go again. Lunch break of course is longer. My own pace is different when I'm on my own. Totally different.

It has been really nice to be with these groups and the guide is great, but I think I prefer much better alone. These two group ski tours however have been really valuable and needed to test my winter equipment.Read more