Il Cuore d'Inverno, walking in Espoo

February 2011

Did a speedy walk, about 19km, on the waterfront walkway of Espoo (Rantaraitti) and partly on a frozen sea.  It was the heart of the winter at its best, above 50cm of snow, temperature -18C, sunny and the clear blue sky.

Here's the route (Westend - Soukka - Westend):

Haukilahti

From Haukilahti towards Miessaari

A brave one swimming on a Haukilahti beach

A temple of Poseidon on Iso Vasikkasaari

Sorry, gate's closed

The Waterfront Walkway

Un Pescatore

Che bella pista !

Kaitamäki

A shortcut at Kaitalahti

A shortcut at Nuottalahti

The temple of Poseidon on return

A path to Varsasaari

Beautiful trees in Koukkuniemi

Varsasaari on left, Miessaari on background

Guarda la luna !

Tour Skating on Helsinki

February 2011

Did some 20km of Tour Skating (Matkaluistelu) on a Puotila track. The City of Helsinki publishes maintenance information of the tracks here (which they maintain). Looks like this winter they cannot open Laajalahti track, a real pity.

Puotila track starts near Puotila harbour and circles a small Härkäsaari island, making the circuit about 4 km. There was some water on the track but allowed skating in the middle of the cleaned route. Only few people, mostly some parents with their children. Cloudy, still no sun. Used Lundhags Tour Skating skates (although they call them "Nordic Skates") with ski boots (for skating) with no poles (would have been nice on head wind though).

Here's the route:

Puotila Tour Skating Track 

The track circled Härkäsaari island

Cross Country Skiing, Central Park of Helsinki

January 2011

Spent some four hours on skis at Central Park of Helsinki, in distance about 37km. Used classic style Fischer Zero skis, which did not need any wax preparation for climbing. Although this type of skis are basically made for zero degrees snow and even warmer, they worked quite well on these conditions.

Ski tracks were in excellent condition and absolutely crowded by people. Temperature was about 6 degrees below zero and it stayed cloudy the whole day. There's been no sun on several days, perhaps the mechanism introduced in this TV ad would eventually bring the sun to the southern Finland, too?

Here's the route:

A small stream near Maunula

The 'main highway' of the Central Park

Maintained paths, from left to right;
for skiing, for horse riding and for walking

A pair of Police patrolling in the forest

Blue dimm sky behind Paloheinä fields

Ski tracks through Niskala Arboretum

Snowshoeing in Nuuksio National Park, Finland

January 2011

Did a 13km snowshoeing hiking trip in Nuuksio (Noux) National Park. The weather was miserable, light rain and temperature above zero degrees (Centigrades), making snow soft and sticky. There was a lot of snow in the forest, although becoming days will pack snow a lot. Perhaps due to the weather conditions, there was no sign of any animals at all (a day off?).

This trip was also to test a down fill jacket's capability to keep a body warm during longer breaks in cold and windy conditions. Tested down jacket was Halti's new model, Whiff 550. During the hiking, the jacket was packed into one of its pockets, thus it did not reserve much space in the backpack.  Have to say that Halti's down jacket fulfilled its requirements (created by the undersigned), keeping a sweat body warm enough.

Here's the hiking route:

Some streams were not fully frozen

A snowshoe path near Holma-Saarijarvi lake

Wet snow can do some damage to trees

A nature can make an emoticon

Snowshoeing in Central Park of Helsinki

January 2011

Did the 2nd snowshoeing walk into the forest this year (today's Epiphany). Here's the route: link to Google Maps (about 11.5 km in 3h 40min).

Strong wind with a relatively mild minus degrees brought an interesting hiking weather, as the wind dropped huge glimpses of snow from the big trees. Like bombing but not life dangerous.

In Helsinki, there's more snow now than in Lapland. Last time the temperature was above zero was in the mid of Nov-10. Now the weather forecast promises above zero degrees (in Celcius), so most probably this was the last snowshoeing day in the powder type of light snow in the south of Finland.

Summing Up Year 2010

December 2010

Did various activities altogether about 3500 km, from where some

• 1000 km of paddling with a sea kayak, mostly on the sea in Helsinki&Espoo archipelago
• 850 km of running, including orienteering
• 500 km of bicycling, mostly between home and work
• 650 km of cross country skiing, mostly on a classic style
• 300 km of hiking, including nordic walking and snowshoeing

All exercises were measured using a Garmin device which had a GPS with HRM.

Some trips to abroad were nice, especially first Rocky Mountains visit. Staggering Rockies indeed. Also a hiking trip to Lemmenjoki national park was very nice. Finding suitable places to do running on Tokyo downtown was quite difficult, whereas London offered several places for it.

The best photo taken by the undersigned during 2010? For sure the one from the Gulf of Bothnia, i.e. on the sea in the west coast of Finland, on eve of Midsummer. the sea was extremely calm, practically no wind at all. Here's the photo:

My best photo of the year 2010

Prospects for the year 2011?  Less travelling abroad and more outdoor recreation activities at homeland.

Snowshoeing in Central Park of Helsinki

December 2010 (the last day of the year)

Did a 11 km snowshoeing walk around the forest in northern part of the central park in Helsinki. Here's the route (link to Google Maps). It took about four hours with some breaks.  Had some sandwiches and hot coffee in backpack and enjoyed a short lunch break at Niskala Arboretum. The sun appeared some couple of hours for the first time after some weeks.

The sun appeared after some weeks 

Hundreds of skiiers around the park

A nature seems to know a printed side

Cannot stop watching the sun in the snowy forest

A perfect spot for a break

A new information screen in the middle of the forest

Simply a beautiful nature

Snowshoeing in Oittaa, Espoo Finland

December 2010

Exercised a 3 hours snowshoe walking with a friend of mine in Oittaa recreation area, in Espoo Finland. There was a marked 4 km track for snowshoeing made into a middle of the woods, having lots of ups and downs of local hills. Depth of the snow was about 50cm, all of it still like powder.

A wood log cabin

The track was well marked

Felt like it was uphill all the time ...

A step outside of the track and
you had snow up to your knees

Snow had built some artistic views

Cross Country Skiing on a Christmas Day

December 2010

Went skiing on a frozen lake in western Finland on a Christmas Day. Did two rounds around the lake, altogether 24 km. A blue dim day with about -15C temperature. The lake was frozen about a feet thickness, carrying the weight of a car. The ski track was made by a snow mobile previous day. Saw only a couple of other skiiers and a snow mobile on a fast track.

A birch tree bent over the frozen lake

A deer recently killed by a wolf

A frozen scenery

Small tracks on the snow between the rushes and the ground, mice perhaps?

The track went through every small bay on a lake

Half Distance Marathons

December 2010

Ran a half distance marathon on a very heavy snow storm.
Here's the route (link).

After yesterday's snow fall, today there was officially 68cm (about 2ft 4in) of deep snow !
On the following day done another half marathon distance, by skiing (cross country skiing on classic style).
Here's the route (link).