Finland Border to Border: Days 3-4
Saturday, March 7, 2015
122km down, 318 to go.
Today our skis took us from Kuusamo to Taivalkoski for a total of about 60km. The first few kilometers, I wasn’t sure our choice of skis was going to work (I hit some wet snow and took two nose dives, and whacked my knee pretty nicely). Fortunately, the weather and the track got a bit better after a few kilometers and the choice of the no-wax Optigrip skis was once again a positive one. We skied 50km without a slip or a stumble and even saw a few rays of sunshine before the weather changed dramatically.
It started with a wannabe snowflake (smooshed snowflake, also known as sleet) roughly 10km from the “finish line”. Said wannabe snowflake was joined by a few friends and we had what might be called a “light wintery mix” falling from the sky with roughly 8km to go. The skis slowed and so did the skiers. By 5km to go, we were skiing in a full-blown snow/sleet storm with wind gusts that would take your breath away… and our skis? No glide. We could walk up each hill of the rolling terrain and at the top there would be 2-4cm of snow on the bottoms of our skis. We’d scrape, ski over pine tree branches, ski a few meters, glide slowly down a hill, start the next one, and repeat. It was the most grueling 5km that Ahvo or I have ever skied (in the most beautiful scenery!). Others in our group had the same experience and some that were further behind opted to cut the ski short. The storm continued into the evening, so it certainly was not a bad choice. I’ll let Ahvo explain the last 5km in this video taken right before we boarded the bus to get to our hotel. The video does not do justice to Mother Nature’s strength and the wobbly footage is thanks to my tired hands.
Today, skiing consumed 3350 kilocalories and fulfilled 720% of my daily physical activity. In the speed and altitude graph, you can see exactly when the storm hit (those peaks in speed were the downhills).
Sunday, March 8, 2015
My GPS says 59km today, but I think the official number is 58km. That means we have 180km down and 260km to go. Ouch. The last 4km or so today was almost pure climbing. Up, up, and up. Fortunately, the instructions told us to take a chair lift for the final climb (thank goodness! My legs were shot).
The volume of classic skiing can be felt. Each of us feels it in a different way in our muscles and joints, and many have mentioned that sleeping has already been affected because the body is “still skiing” through the night. I am not at all surprised. I am betting that those dealing with jet-lag are feeling a special kind of tired.
Today we skied in absolutely beautiful scenery. The sun didn’t come out, but the skis worked really well. We got some anti-ice from a fellow skier from Alaska and were able to kick in all of the conditions we encountered today (rain, sleet, “dry”). Although I personally would not mind a little more speed on the downhills (and another model of Optigrips would no doubt provide that) having bomber kick in the middle of the forest and not having to worry about wax when you are skiing for roughly 7 hours a day through changing conditions is pretty cool.
Enough about skiing and skis for a bit. I have to tell you about the excellent feed/service stations set up along the course (see our pictures). Local volunteers have water, warm juice, raisins, pickles, and chocolate. Once a day we usually also get a bowl of soup to enjoy by a warm fire and this is followed by hot coffee. The volunteers are very friendly and hospitable; we have really enjoyed meeting them all! After skiing we always get a warm dinner and desert, and before bed a light snack is also available. The organizers are taking good care of us!
Today the “cost of skiing” was 3255 kilocalories (685% of my daily physical activity).
