We booked a trip to go freeriding
My friend has a cabin by the lake Jerisjärvi (heard that is also good fishing place) in Muonio, and as the season in Svanstein was supposed to be over, we booked a trip there to go freeriding! We have been spending time at my friend’s cabin during autumn time before, so the chance to visit at spring blew my mind.
Pallas is a fell that is located in Finnish Lapland in Muonio and is part of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. It is considered one of the best freeriding places in Finland and I do not wonder why, since it has seven different summits and most of the summits are almost fully above the tree line.
Me and Laura took snow shoes for hiking and fixed our boards to our backpacks, Saara had skis with climbing skins. We are no pros at this kind of stuff and to be totally honest, this was the first time for all of us to go hiking up and snowboarding/skiing down, so this trip was a lot about training.
It was around plus ten degrees on Tuesday when we headed out. Our plan was to start slowly and steadily, just to try how it feels and not to use all of the energy on the first day. So we picked to hike up to Palkaskero (summit 705 metres). I swear it looked a lot smaller from where we started, and about five times we thought we’d reached the top, and then we saw that the uphill just keeps on going. After all, we did reach the top and it felt amazing.
The feeling on top of the fell is like falling in love for the first time
The feeling on top of the fell is like falling in love for the first time. You are so tired of the chase and you have finally reached it, you are so happy that no words can describe it.
Some amateur tips for trying hiking and freeriding:
- Start hiking feeling little bit cold (cover your neck), have warmer clothes in the backpack for pauses. It is also always colder up on the top and as you sweat quite a lot when hiking up, it is vital to change for dry clothes after the hike.
- Bring food even on a small hike, this makes your pauses more fun plus you have energy for also coming down, not just for the hike.
- Have proper backpack, it is easier to pack and better on your back. We did not have proper backpacks so my neck and back were hurting since the board is pretty heavy plus all the extra clothes, water, food and camera made it heavy.
- Take a shovel. This is also something we did not have. It has many different purposes, but I started missing this once my board scooped under the snow and I had to try to shovel the snow with my hands. Also we would have loved the shovel also hiking up, making little stools from the snow (also kickers).
- Have a good board/skis for the trip. In Levi they rent out skis & climbing skins and split boards and they are quite cheap to rent out for a few days just to before buying your own.
- Wear sunscreen! Do I need to say anything about this? But yes, the second day I thought I wouldn’t need sunscreen and I was totally wrong and totally red the next day.
Cheers,
Saara
