:Skis pointing down
My 9-year old son was the first to ski the local hill at Kauniainen this winter. And now he announced that he wants to be the last one as well. So we went to the closed ski slope on Sunday.
Enough clothing for +15 degrees?
Going up
Reaching the top
And what a day it was! The sun was shining, it was +15 degrees, and the snow was in wonderful condition. The entire slope was still covered in snow. It was soft enough for us to have fun skiing, but not soft enough to make us wade through deep slush. Even when walking up the snow held firm under our boots. I do not understand why the area was closed three weeks ago, it still seemed completely skiable. And compared to my last year's nightly visit to this slope a week later, it was still safe to ski. Back then the entire slope was no longer covered by snow, and I was afraid I'd collide with some of the garbage being uncovered from under the snow. Maybe the week makes a difference, or maybe this year has been a better snow year. I have to make a comparison in the first days of May!
Sunny day, feeling good!
Interestingly, we were not alone in the ski slope. There were no other skiers, but at the top some local youngsters were practicing throwing their cell phones down the slope. It is amazing how far a cell phone flies when you throw it downhill. Apparently, calls stayed online through all this throwing. Secondly, there's a green-even-in-the-winter heated football field next to the ski slope. Some of the players seemed to prefer the white ski field as a practice ground instead.
(Original source video is also available here.)
The proper football field
Extension of the football field
Phone throwing championships
Photo credits (c) by Jari Arkko and Janne Arkko
This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
"Mongolia is kind of close, right? Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel." The Planetskier blog focuses on skiing, caving, climbing, biking, flying, sauna, and swimming adventures around the world. See the other Planetskier blog articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.