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Ski across Finland: Rajalta Rajalle Hiihto
Published: Mon Mar 29, 2004 12:00 AM MST
First Impressions I really anticipated that the 440km trek was a tour, but that thought was proven wrong at the end of day 1. The day started with a long bus ride to the Russian border at Saunavaara, where our group piled out of buses and took off on a narrow single-track trail through a beautiful forest. I was in no hurry to get going and waited for my friends Kelly and Phil. We started about the middle of the pack, which we found out was a big mistake because there was a huge herring bone hill that backed skiers up for a ways. But, I was in no hurry, after all, I was here to enjoy the scenery and the people along the way. This is the point where my ski basket came off and I ended up skiing the next 20km with one pole (hint: don’t put your ski poles next to the bus heater). After a repair with some tape at the first service station, I was on my way through the Finnish countryside, stopping for some food and drink at the service stations along the way. Most of the stations had warm blueberry soup, raisins, and pickles (quite the combination). The next 40 km was rolling terrain and mostly well groomed trails that connect the little towns around Kuusamo. When I got to the end of the day 1 ski, I found myself alone in the building where we would pick up our clothes and keys to the cabins where we would stay that night. About 10 minutes later, another skier came in and asked if I was the first skier to arrive. I told him that I thought that I was first and then he asked me if I had started from the beginning. (Was he accusing me of cheating?). I told him that I had and then he asked me where I had passed him on the trail. I really did not remember passing him, so I told him that it must have been at the last service station, which I did not stop at. It became obvious that the tour was his race and that he wanted to be first. I sensed that he was a bit upset, but also intrigued at the fact that I had beat him to the finish. He said that perhaps it was the first time that a woman had finished first in the “tour”. There was a lot of talk the first night, Finn guy sent Finn wife to ask the other American skiers about me. Who was this woman who beat her husband? Oh, I was a racer, which explained it, after all they were not racers. The German skiers were also quite interested in me being first, but we never did figure out what they were saying (at least half of the time). Strategy and unwritten racing rules I had no tour (race) strategy the next day, I was just going to go out and enjoy the72 km ski from Kuusamo to Taival-Koski. That was until Finn guy asked me how many service stations I planned to skip that day. I told him that I would stop when I needed to and that I had enough food and water with me to not stop at all. This was when he informed that it was perhaps like cheating not to stop at all the stations. Now this was getting interesting and he was accusing me of cheating. So I replied that I did not think that there were any rules for the “tour”. Then he told me that it was an unwritten rule. I said, ooooooh, perhaps that unwritten rules are the worst ones to break (Finn guy was starting to get to me). We got off the bus, and Finn guy was off to the races-frantically double poling down the trail. So, I thought, what the heck, I would go after him, ski by him and have a little blueberry soup with him at the first few stations. So that’s how the first part of day 2 went as we skied along a beautifully groomed (and fast) railroad grade that was built by Jewish prisoners of war. They were serving reindeer soup and fish stew at the lunch stop, but I was not really hungry. But I stopped and had some coffee and chocolate and then Finn guy told me that it was necessary for me to wait for him. I think that the pecking order had been established and that at this point he had accepted the fact that I was just a better skier than he was. After the second day Finn guy had pretty much conceded the “tour”. We skied together some during the next 5 days, but I found that he could not stride at all. He could double pole like a fiend, but when it came to hills, he shuffled and skated most of the hills. Yes, I was going to tell him that skating was perhaps like cheating, but I didn’t really want to go there. Most of the European skiers did not think that it was “wrong” to skate during the classic event. The Germans were especially prone to skating whenever they got the chance. They would ask me every night how much I had skated that day. Beautiful trails Over 7 days we skied through remote and beautiful Finnish countryside and saw no other people. The trail conditions ranged from beautifully piston-bullied tracks to single tracks that were bushwacked just to get us from one point to the next. A snowmobile would go ahead every day to set track and there were 5 different regional ski organizations that hosted the service stations (all volunteers). We had excellent hard track skiing conditions each day, TOKO blue most days. I skied the first three days on the TOKO green binder that I applied at home before I left and just three layers of blue (that was 190km). The days went by exceedingly fast and I never felt tired (except for the one day that ended in a big climb to the ski hill). I mostly felt very privileged to be able to ski from point a to point b and have my stuff hauled around and ready for me at the end of each day. 
The tour organization was great. Our ski tour guide Jaako was making his 12th trip from border to border and Erja was our host. Because we did not have the opportunity to shop (we only stayed in one town during the 7 nights), you could arrange for her to buy you anything that you needed during the tour (beer was especially popular). The bus drivers were great, loading and unloading all of our stuff every day. They got to know which bag was mine and would have it in a special place for me when I finished every day. Finish Food and Sisu I found that I had a lot of energy and looked forward to the ski each day. They provided a lot of food, but I found that I just needed a normal amount of food including breakfast of yogurt and muesli, meat, cheese, bread and coffee. At the end of each ski, I would rehydrate and eat an energy bar. After that, the saunas were always hot and it was nice to take a short nap every afternoon. The first evening meal was mostly white and spiceless food (fish and potatoes) and a salad, followed by fruit soup. Now fruit soup is not really very good, picture watered down red jello with lignonberries, blueberries, raspberries, but without sugar. We had no sweets and got to craving cookies and diet coke after the first few days. The final meal of the day was served during our informational meeting that was held each night to give us the logistics for the next day. This was more meat, cheese, bread and some fruit. I don’t think that you need any special conditioning to complete the tour, but you would have more fun if you were in shape. Heidi, a Finnish girl living in London had not skied at all during the winter. She finished the tour with some major blisters, but I sensed that she was not really having fun. The Finns had a lot of sisu, but probably not as much as the two Slovenian teenagers that skied with their father. One person in our group thought that it was akin to child abuse to make these kids ski that far every day, but they both seemed to be enjoying themselves, or at least they were still smiling at the end of each day. Our group also included the Finnish couple that had skied all 21 tours-they were quite the couple, she skiing in front of him all the way. All in all, it was an interesting and fun week of skiing. If you are looking for an adventure including wonderful skiing along some remote country side, meeting interesting people from all over the world, and perhaps enjoying a bit of competition (Finn guy has done the tour 7 times now), I would highly recommend the RR. It was a wonderful way to end the ski season.
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