One Good Reason to Ski in Nordic Countries

They call Finland the “the land of ice and snow”, but I just can’t agree. Right now skiers and snowboarders are riding knee deep powder in several North American resorts, but how is it here in Finland? Well, it has been raining cats and dogs except above Polar Circle. Few resorts are already open, but if you check their webcams you can see just a little bit of snow. Ski season over here begins later due to our climate.

Now what’s the point?

Even though the climate here in nordic countries is not perfect for skiing, I still recommend skiing and traveling in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. Winter nights above the Polar Circle can be prettty awesome as the northern lights light up the skies.

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.

In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights). Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction.

I lived my first 20 years above the Polar Circle, and I’ve seen pretty amazing northern lights. I believe this is one good reason to travel and ski in nordic coutries. Check the videos below and get yourself over here!

Northern lights in Finland.

Northern lights in Norway.

Northern lights in Iceland.

One more. Pretty awesome, right?

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About the Author

Marko Pyhajarvi

I am an old-school alpine skier, snowboarder and telemarker, and I love writing. Therefore I founded Homeboy. I (too) enjoy powder, mountaineering and backcountry skiing as well as photographing. Nowadays, as an old fart, I mostly ski with my kids and focus on financing their hobbies.

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