I was planning a road trip to the north, but the weather said No!…

…as I was planning to sleep outside on my adventure to the north, the weather was just a little bit too frisk for my taste. 0:)

It still looks like it’s going to be cold till Wednesday, so till then I’m going to explore some local attractions, as it is about tolerable -20°C today, and was about -10°C yesterday. Forecast for the next days is around -20°C -> -15°C -> -12°C, so it is much more tolerable in here than in the north.

Sleeping outside:
…dug out my tent for the winter.

As we finally got some snow and sub-zero temperatures here in to the middle parts of Finland, I decided it was a proper time to dig out my tent for sleeping outside.

It has been above 0°C the whole December basically, and like only once it rained some snow here in the middle parts of the country and looked like a winter for couple days. Other than that it’s been like +5°C and raining water; dark and wet everywhere the whole November and December with a “black Christmas”*, as there were no snow on the ground during the holidays.

* “The black Christmas” happens like approx once per 10 years, so it’s not that common around these parts of the country.

Also a side note: I support hammocks FTW, but when the temperature goes below +0°C it starts to get too cold for hammocks, even with a proper under quilt, in my opinion.

But it was a cozy night with almost full Moon in the sky. Slept well and warm in my little Recom tent. Both the sleeping bag and the mattress are synthetic fiber filled. The bag is double layered and rated for -40°C extreme limit and comfort maybe around -10 – -20°C. It has also bivvy, but I didn’t use it this time. The mattress has a R-value of 9.6. So was more than enough for this night around -10 – -12°C temperatures. Threw in some frost mat under the mattress just to be sure. 0:)

Scouting locations

Also the weekend included some scouting for a nice camping place on a nice location.

There is this small river near by my place where I’ve been couple times.

The place is quite calm and beautiful, in both summer and winter.

Was thinking of setting a tent there later this winter and just sit there in the silence and enjoy my life alone.

The Riihivuori experience

So what else can one do in one weekend?

…as I got my new snowboard last Friday, it was about the time to take it outside. – So I headed out to the Riihivuori ski center.

Took a picture when approaching the ski center. The picture is quite horrible, but the best what a mid-range Sony cellphone can do in the darkness with huge contrast differences. – But it was just a mesmerizing sight to see all that snow from snow guns floating in the air, light up by the lights on the ski slopes against a clear dark sky with full Moon and what I believe is the Jupiter in the horizon. – And yes, it’s only about 17:15 (5:15 pm). The Sun went below the horizon here at 15:07 (3:07 pm), so it’s dark already after 16:30.

The weather was frisk -20°C when I arrived and I think it was -22°C when I left…

Blame the weather or anything you want, but there was not much traffic. I counted maybe ~15 – 20 or so other people on this slope, so no ques and plenty of space to practice.

I haven’t ridden a snowboard for some +10, maybe almost 15, years, so it took time to learn things again. After two hours or so I already managed to do proper turns on the right side, but still failed when going switch/fakie for a turn. – Also riding again after a long time I really felt the pressure on my legs and was sweating already after first run. Tho I dunno was it more about the fear of Death or for the effort? 😀

A tired but happy person; 7/5 would do it again!