I was born in 1994 and I'm from Lempäälä, Finland. And now I'm starting to write about my trekking trips here to the wonderful world of internet, that how my trekking trips are going or not going smoothly. I'm now in the summer of 2020 a recent graduate of nature and wilderness guide, and in the fall after school I moved to Rovaniemi. I have trekked approx 4 years. In 2016 I started on day trips and in 2017 I went to Lapland for a longer trek in the autumn. And in early march 2019, I made my first winter trek to Urho Kekkonen National Park. I have always travelled alone in treks and all information/skills related to trekking is self acquired. So when I was younger I didn't do any trekking, but now a litter later I woke up to this beauty of hiking/trekking, and it has taken the man with him. Another important hobby at the moment is a trail running, which I have been interested in approx. 3 years. Currently, the longest distance I have ran is 83 km in the event called nuts karhunkierros which folded in 13 h. My goal is to prolong running distances all the time and see how far I can actually go. In the summer of 2021, it is planned to run at least two approx. 160 km long trail running races. If you want to know more about me then of course continue with the text below.
When I was less than 20 years old, I played football for about 10 years and race skied for about 7 years. After junior high school, I applied for to study at Varala Sports Institute as physical education instructor, but it ended in entrance examination. My another option was Valkeakoski vocational school in basic examination of construction, and I got there, and then I decided to go there to study. For some reason, it didn't bother me at all that I didn't get to Varala. Well, I spent three years in vocational school and I liked it, and I managed there well. After school I was called by the army where I was for about a year. I graduated from the non-commissioned officer school in the army, which was a very neat experience. After the army, working life called, and I went as a scaffolding installer, where I spent 5 years. The last year in the scaffolding installer's job was quite a bit, as the interest in that job had almost completely ceased. But since at that point trekking had already become such an important hobby, I got the idea that it would be cool to do this for work as well. So I started browsing the web and the training's of the wilderness and nature guide, and then I found the training offered by Eerikkilä Sports Institute. There I then decided to apply, and maybe a week after I had send the application my phone rang that welcomed me for an interview. Well then I went there and the day after the interview I got the information that I could study at Eerikkilä Sports Institute as a wilderness and nature guide. That is, the training started in August 2019, and I graduated in June 2020. And it was the best school year ever. I'm not working as an wilderness guide as a profession yet, but I'm trying to go a little by little towards it.
Photo: @onevisionfi #nutsyllaspallas2018
Then a bit of trail running as well. So, I have been interested in trail running approx 3,5 years. The main reason why at the moment I cycle trail running events, is that I want to put myself to the limit and see how I am able to work and to proceed even when I'm wearing out. That is, I want to find my own mental and physical boundaries and see where they are. If I didn't have any particular trail running race in sight then I wouldn't go so often to do trail running. So, I myself should always have some target in sight what towards I am going . My first trail running race was in 2017 Sipoonkorpi trail, which was 33 km long, and since then I have gradually raised the trips all the way up. In 2019, I ran my longest trip so far, 83 km in event called nuts karhunkierros. And because 2020 now became a full year off of running events. And since that 83 km trip went surprisingly well then and I was still in pretty good shape at the finish, the challenge for 2021 will now be even more challenging. So then is at least two about 166 km long trail running races. And hopefully in those races I will get everything out from myself . And it's not going to be easy to complete them, because so many things have to go well on such a long journey. But that's why I'm doing it. To challenge myself.
And then to that trekking. When I had been in the job of a scaffolding installer for about 2 years, I got excited about buying a day pack, and went on day trips to national parks. In the first summer I visited Kurjenrahka, Liesjärvi, Nuuksio, Seitseminen and Teijo national parks. During the day I always did a 30 - 40 km round, which means that I was able to walk through always almost all the marked routes from the national park where I was.
The following summer I bought my first backpack and tent. That summer I took 1 - 2 night trips to the Evo trekking area, Repovesi and Salamajärvi National Parks. Then in the autumn I went to my first trekking trip to Lapland. At that time I toured the Karhunkierros hiking trail back and forth, the Hetta - Pallas - Ylläs route, and for another week I was on the Kevo and Kuivi route in Utsjoki. Since then, day trips have been almost entirely missed, and have been replaced almost exclusively by 1 - 3 night treks. In the spring of 2018, I made my first over night trip in the winter to Seitseminen National Park. It was at its coldest -18ºc at night and I slept under my tarp under the starry sky which was pretty great. Then, before my trip to Lapland in the autumn, I went trekking in Isojärvi, Patvinsuo, Päijänne, Salamajärvi and Teijo national parks. In the autumn, it was time to go to Kilpisjärvi, and there I trekked Kilpisjärvi - Reisa National Park (imofossen) - Kilpisjärvi stretch in 11 days. During that trek, I visited of course, to the top of Halti too. After that , I went yet to the Three-Country Cairn, and there I did a nice round trip on the Norwegian and Swedish side too, deviating to the top of Barras. Then Kilpisjärvi was left behind and I drove to Abisko, Sweden, from where I trekked to Nikkaluokta, deviating to Kebnekaise. At the turn of January and February 2019, I went to do an overnight trek to Helvetinjärvi National Park with my new forest skis and sledge in the cold of -25ºc for my upcoming Lapland winter trek on March. All the gear had to be tested, always from the petrol cooker to the winter anchoring of the tent, and well everything worked good so now I could go to Lapland with good mind. Then we jump into Urho Kekkonen National Park. The trek was a week long and all my gear ride in the sledge and I was moving with my forest skis. The trip went great, and was a really great experience. I slept four nights in my tent, one night in a snow comb, and one in unlocked hut. I also went to the top of Sokosti fell on that trip. The first couple of nights I slept in my tent, and it was -25ºc outside during at both nights. The comfort value for the men in my sleeping bag was -19ºc, but it turned out to be enough when I put on enough clothes. And in winter, when sleeping in a tent, it is especially important to properly protect your head, neck, toes and fingers because they evaporate the most heat away from a person. In the summer of 2019, my trekking trip was for the first time outside the marked routes to the Vätsäri wilderness area, and to the Varangerhalvøya National Park in Norway, which the first trekking trip stories are on my website. In the coming years, I will focus on circling Lapland in Sweden, Norway and Finland on my trekking trips. It would also be cool to go trekking in Iceland and the Svalbard, and maybe also in Greenland. Time will tell where I find myself yet it. But by following my pages, you can see what kind of trips I make and where.