Visiting the Reindeer Country

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Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
I'm currently testing equipment and clothing, but also spending a week or so in a fairly remote cottage in Northern Finland / Lapland. The cottage was built in the 1960s. The closest town with a grocery store is situated 50 km away. There is around 40 cm of snow in the forest surrounding the cottage, but the temperature thus far has been only around -10 C. Since we are at winter solstice, the length of the day is less than 3 hours.

1. A stream near the cottage has not frozen yet.

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2. Most tracks I have been able to found belong to hare, but I have found a few made by a moose.

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3. Free, almost broken off, birch bark is available in most birches.

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4. This is your best vehicle outside forest, a kicksled. On ice or road I can travel with these up to 20 km/h for a few kilometers.

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5. A traditional woodshed of the cottage.

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Goatboy

Full Member
Jan 31, 2005
14,956
17
Scotland
Ah that just looks too nice to believe. Hope you're having fun in those beautiful surroundings. Cheers for taking the time to make us all jealous here in rainswept UK!:eek:
 
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Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
out of interest what gear are you testing ?

I'm compiling a traditional Finnish kit based on the literature, but I'm still missing a few details I hope this trip can clarify. Hopefully I can release a full report of the kit and my experiences of it later on.
 

Dannytsg

Native
Oct 18, 2008
1,825
6
England
Great pictures. I'm hoping to get over to Ivalo next Christmas and have a proper white wilderness Christmas. It's been 3 years since I was last in Finland but I consider it my heart home.
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
6. Some of the traditional kit I'm testing.

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7. Details of the door in one of the woodsheds in the premises of the cottage.

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8. Another woodshed.

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9. The cottage itself.

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10. The heart of the cottage is the oven.

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Limaed

Full Member
Apr 11, 2006
1,288
67
48
Perth
How does the kicksled work Marrti? Do you push off & have the other foot on the rails, do you wear special boots for grip. Is the bench for carrying children? Thanks
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
Do you push off & have the other foot on the rails, do you wear special boots for grip. Is the bench for carrying children?

You give it a speed using the other leg while the other leg stands on the runner. Normal shoes are fine with it. The bench can be used to house a passenger or goods. The other day I saw dozens of them filled with shopping bags when I visited a local grocery store.
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
Imagine if this would be your daily trip to work...

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...this would be your parking lot...

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...this would be your local hardware store's selection of tools....

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...this would be a view from your window...

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...and these would be your next door neighbours.

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Dannytsg

Native
Oct 18, 2008
1,825
6
England
Martti. Some more lovely pictures. May I ask which part of Lapland you are in? We intend to visit some friends in Tampere sometime in February and then maybe venture on up to Ivalo for a while and hope to see some northern lights.

I just love Finland.
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
I visited Ranua Wildife Park, which is one of the centres of winter activity in Southern Lapland. The lowest temperature thus far has been -26 C with wind speed of 2 m/s (corresponds to wind chill of -33 C).

Who said there are no polar bears in Finland?

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This was one of the smaller boars they had.

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Just to show the average size of a pen which, to my mind, is larger than average when compared to most zoos.

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What would be a Finnish activity centre without a kota?

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Imagedude

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 24, 2011
2,004
45
Gwynedd
I was going to have a year off from travelling to Scandinavia but I think I may not be able to resist...
 

verney

Member
Aug 6, 2014
30
0
Finland
Looks good, Ranua has finally gotten decent amount of snow. Me and my family are going to a remote cottage in Ranua on Sunday and last 8 km needs to be traveled on skies.
 

Martti

Full Member
Mar 12, 2011
919
18
Finland
I took these during my last day at the cottage (-28 C or -35 C with windchill). Not much bushcrafting to be found here, but I took the photographs more to show how the life is over there for many people during the wintertime.

This is the beginning of the road to the next door neighbour from the cottage. The actual cottage is over a kilometer away. The access road is not usually ploughed during the winter, but can be driven during early winter (as you can perhaps see from the photograph).

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More woodsheds near the cottage, now sadly abandoned along with many other farming equipment.

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Heard these hares (and reindeers) circling the cottage for many nights, they all seemed to prefer to go around in a few trails. Here is pictured one of the trails.

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mbiraman

Tenderfoot
Oct 17, 2011
94
0
West Kootenays,BC
Good stuff Martti. I especially like the push sled altho it wouldn't work around my area, snowmobiles work well of course. We get allot of snow but this year its been very warm. Finally yesterday we got a bunch of snow and now it looks more like winter.

bill
 

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