It is a Tuesday early morning or a very late night in April. Dark, cold and for a change a lot of snow around us now. I was still enjoying the last bit of warming indoor heat inside the van, while I was crawled up on my seat with earplugs to shut off the noises of the engine and the other six people who were trying to catch some sleep. My brown shawl which follows me to every adventure was covering my body for extra cosiness. Well, cosy is a bit exaggerated at this point. We drove around 900km to get here. 16 hours have passed since we left Kuru the morning before.

It is around 3am, pitch black and the tiredness noticeable in all of us. I can barely remember if I slept at all, I guess rather not. And then slowly one after another started to move while the sun was tossing her orange glowing rays into our blinking eyes: 6am, time to face our big adventure: Bear Ski – A 9 Day Solo Self-Sufficient Ski Expedition in Northern Lapland.

The Start

The vans were parked in Kuttura, a tiny village with 21 inhabitants and the gateway to Hammastunturi National Park – the thrilling wilderness for our trip. The ski expedition consisted of individual planned routes and camping places in a specific and marked area in the park for each of us. Risk Assessment and a profound safety plan were created. As this was part of our Wilderness Guide course and sort of a training, we also had two basecamps by our teachers inside the area with two compulsory check up dates and times while we were out there to make sure everything is going well.

It was only at this day that I packed my sled, also called “pulk” for the first time

I was lucky enough to use a brand new one. A Fjellpulken XCountry 144. With the measurements I figured out a little packing system beforehand. I was convinced packing goes faster from trip to trip, but really every tour is different and so I took my time to make sure I don’t overload my pulk, but be prepared for all conditions. Even though it was already April the winter was still in its full bloom in northern Lapland. Temperatures dropping down to minus 20 degrees at night to getting sunburned during the day. All possible incidents…

Watch the video of my self-sufficient ski expedition in the Finnish wilderness