Winter break

In Finland (as well as several other countries in Northern Europe) schools have a week off in the middle of February. The traditional name of this week is ski break or sports break, which implies that the kids should do some physical activities during this week. In Finland this week generally corresponds quite well with real winter conditions, but the weather looked quite bad before it. However, in the beginning of the week the temperature dropped to below freezing again and on Wednesday we got 10 cm of snow. It snowed more during the rest of the week and everything currently looks quite wintry.


I did my own things with a fairly good amount of fatbiking and skating, but during the weekend it was time to take the kids out for an overnighter on skis. The weather was excellent and we got started around sunset, which now is at 17:45, which also means that the winter darkness is behind us.

We started in the forest...

... and soon arrived at a mire with trees on...

... and finally came upon open mire, on the other side of which I had planned to camp.

While I erected the tent the younger boy started to prepare for the fire. I'm not allowed to light the fire myself anymore, after the boys have learned to use a fire steel.

Success.

The Gränsfors Bruk Outdoor Axe is in my opinion a good compromise between weight and functionality.

The fire is good for warming hands...

... and sausages.

We also grilled marshmallows and I had brought ingredients for pancakes, but we couldn't eat more.

The night was silent, but at one point I started to hear snow hitting the tent. The next morning revealed 3-4 cm of new fallen snow.

It still snowed, so we didn't bother with making a fire, instead opting to have breakfast in the tent.

We got going again around nine in the morning. I sent the boys first, while I took down the tent and packed everything.

I much prefer a pulk in the winter, unless the terrain is too difficult. You can bring a lot of stuff, and the weight isn't felt anywhere.

Quite wintry on the mire.

Closing in on the forest.

Quite wintry in the forest as well.

That's it. The actual skiing wasn't the main part of the trip, but it was a nice wintry overnighter.