Couple of our last posts were all about world class, high risk freeskiing – something that is very interesting to follow and exiting to watch but actually have quite a little to do with most people’s everyday skiing, after all. So, this time we offer something really different from the adrenalin filled world of top notch ski athletes: mellow (but not boring at all) skiing in our home country.
We’ve complained a few times how the skiing in Finland is mostly pretty boring and at best only mediocre. At the same time we’ve also noticed that many times it can depend on one’s attitude - even small hills offer enough challenge for e.g. learning new things or throwing freestyle tricks. At least we (usually) have snow in winter, one could say.
However, the most northern part of Finland, Lapland, sometimes offers almost world class skiing. Or maybe not if you think only about skiing itself. But as an experience and holiday, Lapland often just rules.
Happiness in Finland
I had a week long holiday with my family in Pallastunturi, Lapland. Seemed like we had it just perfect: it dumped some 30 cm of new snow as we arrived (to a very good base), temperatures stayed steadily on the freezing levels, we had the grandparents of the kids with us so I could ski together with the wife a few times (a very rare occasion these days, be that good or bad..), and the best: we were lucky and scored some real, nice, light powder snow.
Rare situation in Finland, real fluffy snow!
Pallas isn’t actually a ski resort at all. Most people concentrate on cross-country skiing here. And why would’nt they: I’d even state that the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park has some of the best possibilities for cross-country skiing in the whole world! You have to experience the cross-country skiing in Lapland’s spring to believe this. I did a few laps on xc skis and I dare to say it felt damn good. My parents skied alot of xc too and I introduced my four year old daughter to the sport. I believe knowing xc gives you a good basic background for alpine skiing, a fact that you realize when you check out Scandinavian skiers in the slopes of the world.
Ok, no more on cross country skiing (this is a down hill oriented site after all)….but you get the point: cross country skiing here is very good and very recommended.
The Pallas Ski Resort only has two lifts yet it boasts the second greatest vertical drop in Finland with a maximum 340m descent, which only Ylläs of the other circa 120 centres can beat. (Ylläs, on the other hand, is a modern tourist resort with very efficient lift system, big hotels, all the possible services, world class park skiing etc. A very nice and also recommend place but Pallas just offers so much more if you’re looking for authentic, unique experiences based on nature).
The nearby hills also offer almost indefinete possibilities for different kind of back county / off piste skiing. Best vertical drop is about 400 meters (over 1300 feet) which is very nice from our perspective. There are several huts for overnight trips, if that is your thing. Traditionally the light nordic type gear is used mostly but you see more and more AT (Alpine Touring) gear and (burly) tele skis in the backcountry too. The descents are quite mellow generally but still offer enough lenght, gradient and fun feature variations for high speed, modern off-piste skiing.
I popped into a guide leading a group to overnight trip to a hut and he was wearing Dynafit boots and had older Fritschi Diamir bindings and K2 Axis skis, while most of the client had nordic touring or light telemark gear. I ask the guy about his gear choice and the answer was simple: “I got bored with the telemark gear on the cruddy, wind affected snow”(as a novice telemarker that was not the answer I wanted to hear by the way…)
Talking about cruddy snow leads us into a talk about weather. Generally, spring is the time to ski here – from mid March to early May, for backcounty skiing often until the mid June. Early winter doesn’t have enough snow covering the rocks in the fells and it is totally dark. Which can, on the other hand, be very mellow, relaxing experince – believe it or not. The dark time, Kaamos, is very different in Lapland. Often you also get to see the mighty Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis.
Mid winter then is traditionally very cold (up to -40 C degrees). Believe me, the snow is usually not that delicious on those temperatures and the ever-blowing wind makes the situation even worse.
But when the spring comes, the amount of light increases, the snowpack has buried all the rocks and it still often snows some more. Sunny days and freezing nights give you that enjoyable corn-freeze-corn cycle…hike up on the hard cover, wait and eat & drink some at the top and ski down on the perfect corn (or firn as the Euros tend to say) snow.
During our stay the weather was even untypically winter-like. Night temperatures were over -10 C and even the days stayed well below freezing level. The steady north-east wind also blowed for the first four days, making the barren upper hills not so enjoyable (=your typical Lapland wind crust snow outside the slopes). However, the lower hill has some trees too and also the lee-side slope had saved us some goods. So, we really scored some very good snow for Finland (See the video below – wife cruising some nice, slightly wind packed snow in the trees).
By the end of the week the snow started to get more packed in the nearby (small scale)off-pistes and we cruised quite alot just on the slopes. Having kids with us on the trip we didn’t quite have the time to make some longer (3 hours to whole day) tours. Too bad, maybe next time…
Despite having only two lifts the slopes of Pallas are pretty good and well prepared too. The fact that there is no huge crowds keeps the slopes quite smooth for a long time – as a starting telemark skier this was a huge pleasure for me…cruising soft, relatively long, well prepared groomers on tele skis was really a blast…(see the video, not the best clip but you can see the quality of the slopes and some scenery)
Before the storm faded, we also had one day with raging wind of 18 meters/second on Pallas. Lifts were closed and we visited the nearby Olos fell instead. The hill offered some ok left-over pow, a park that look decent (didn’t try on teles!) but otherwise quite mediocre feeling…nothing unique. The hotel complex seemed might and fine though, probably a very classy and quality place?
All in all, I’d say I had some of the best skiing/snow I’ve had in my home country and a very relaxing holiday with the family in an amazing environment. If you ever visit Finland, this is the place to visit, both in winter or summer time.
Pallas cold facts
- Altitude of the down station: circa 400 m
- Altitude of the highest lift station: circa 750m (highest top nearby, Taivaskero, 807m)
- Slopes: 9 (one illuminated)
- Lifts: 2 t-bars
- Cross Country Skiing: over 250 (!) trails
- Freestyle Park: found in nearby Olos (15min drive)
- HalfPipe: no
- Lifts open 10 – 17.00
-Number of slope restaurants: 1
-Restaurants: 1
-Bars: 1, Nightclubs: 1
- See also other activities here
- How to get there information
PS. Go before it is too late; there is a plan of building a new hotel and increasing bed places from current 120 to 500. Some say this might ruin the “authentic” feel of the place. I’m a bit worried about this too. Time will tell but I hope the development doesn’t take away the peaceful, unique feel of the resort!
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