March 7

Last night we actually had our first good night of sleep since we left the states. Don even started feeling much better this morning so hope his health is headed in the right direction. We have heeded the receptionist advice about the bus and had researched the arrival of the plane at the airport. Our plan is to be obviously waiting outside ready to load when we see the bus. We are ready with our packs and skis!

We are able to move all our gear in one load. It is a bit awkward but doable.

It doesn’t appear that any one else is getting the bus today. The bus sees us, stops, we load and are off. Glad that we were ready. At the airport we unload our gear and take it into the terminal assuming that after the plane arrives another bus will show up to take us to our destination. As we wait, we soon realize that the bus we are on was the one that would take us to Olvanki. Back to the bus we go, reload our gear and return to our seats. The driver nods and doesn’t charge us for this leg of the trip. While we are waiting for more passengers, we notice that the bus waiting next to us has smoke coming out of a stove pipe in the back. The driver of that bus exits in a white bath robe. He heads into the airport and returns with a group of passengers.

We learn that this is a sauna bus and before leaving the airport, the passengers that the driver has picked up will all be taking a sauna! Finns are serious about Saunas.

We pull out of the airport and head towards Olvanki. Our ski across Finland is about to begin!

At the reception desk, we are given keys to our room, told about the waxing room and of course the sauna. Our room has two bunk beds, but we are the only occupants. In our building there is a lounge and kitchen facilities. Our room has a large bathroom and is sparkling clean. We read this note about the facility.

What a great facility for people all over the world.

We do a little organization and then head out do to to a tour. We could have gone skiing as the groomed trails look excellent, but we will be skiing close to 50km tomorrow so opt out. We head down to the lake and check out the area in the lake for a dip after the sauna.

There is a pump running that keeps the hole from freezing over.

It is getting close to supper time so we head into the cafeteria. This is our first glance at the participants. It has quite the International feel. Numerous unfamiliar languages are heard in clusters thru out the room. We are told later that there are 19 different countries participating in this event this year. There will be around 77 skiers in our group. This wave has the most skiers, most likely because that it goes over two weekends, giving an easier time frame for those working. For the majority of skiers ,this will be the first time. We meet Stephen from Canada who has skied this event 14 times and Klaus from Germany is on his 11 trip. At our table we meet two first timers, Franz from Belgium and Tereje from Norway. One could feel the excitement and a bit of nerviness in the air. After a quite filling dinner which had been preceded by the announcement ,eat well and then after the meeting there will be a second dinner. No one is going to go hungry on this trip.

The doors to a conference room opened at 7 and we head in to find our name tags and border to border ski hat. The name tags is our meal ticket, don’t want to lose that!

There are 6 communities that we ski thru and they volunteer to provide services on the trail for the participants

It was a brief meeting. We met the man who is the overall organizer, Minna who will be traveling with us and is our main person for information. and Usa who is the ski guide. Another person that was introduced was Klaus. He is a participant on the trip, but also forecasts the weather. He will be giving his thoughts on the upcoming weather each night. According to Klaus we should have a good day of skiing tomorrow with a sunny afternoon. The meeting adjourns with the advice to go eat, take a sauna and sleep well. We ate a little, opted out of the sauna and are hoping for a good nights sleep. The beds are comfortable, the room quiet except for Don who has now developed a cough.

March 8

Let the skiing begin! Breakfast is at 7 and we have a hearty meal of oatmeal. It is not too bad with lots of fruit and yogurt. There are also sandwich fixings. It seems that this is a good option for a lot of skiers. We are advised to pack some food for our ski today as well. Don and I make a sandwich and add a couple of candy bars. We have also brought some power bars to eat. As we are waiting to depart we notice some new birds at a bird feeder. There is a bird poster on a display outside, looks like we will be learning some new birds.

We can identify several of the birds at the feeder.

The bus is to be loaded by 8:30 and departs at 9. It seems like some of the talk is around the kick wax that one chose. Don and I are happy that with our skin skis that is one choice we don’t have to make. The bus pulls out and heads toward Russia. We are told that the course had to be changed some this year. Usually one can see the Russian Border towers, but there has been some conflicts this year and we are starting further away from the border with Russia. The days ski will be around 45 km. All of the distances are somewhat arbitrary as each morning a snow machine sets off with a classic track groomer. The route may change according to the conditions.

We have a map for each day that shows the route and the food, drink stations

Upon arriving the bus is unloaded and the skis put on. This is a photo op of which many skiers take advantage. We are excited!

We are off! We have a snow machine in front and a snow machine in back. We are to make sure that periodically we see this sign.

Always good to see this sign along the trail!

In the booklet that we were given the first night, there is an outline of where the service stops are and where a more substantial lunch will be served. On average they are 10 km apart. At the service station one will usually be given a hot fruit drink, chocolate, oranges and often salty pickles. Lunch will often be a meat or fish soup, or grilled sausages.

As we head down the trail, skiers quickly become spread out. There are the fast skiers that almost seem like they are doing a race, there are the slow skiers which are just out to enjoy the experience. Don and I are somewhat in the middle as we pass quite a few skiers. Today we are told that we are quite fortunate with the weather. Our ski will find us heading up some hills that will pass thru forests that are heavily laden with snow.

At one of the service stations we are served hot drinks by women dressed in Laplander attire.

When we come to the lunch spot we are directed to a teepee. Inside a fire is going and we are served reindeer stew in wooden bowls.

Quite a few skiers fit inside this shelter.

Outside were a couple of reindeer, hopefully unaware of what we just had for lunch.

Reindeer sled rides are a tourist attraction here.

The bus meets us here at the lunch spot.. One can change clothing or if you want the bus will take you to another point on the trail or the final destination. There is a cut off each day so if you don’t make it there in time you will have to ride the bus for the last section. The organization of this event is impressive! We are skiing on and off with a couple ladies from Sweden. They have both spent time in the US and are fluent in English. At another service stop we are greeted by Santa Claus and a cute snowman waving the Finnish Flag.

After the last service point there is 10 km to go. Some of which Don and I skied on the day before yesterday. We will be skiing past the apartment that we stayed in and going to the hotel at the Holiday resort. Don has slowed down, still not feeling real healthy. I ski ahead with Anna and Hanna then wait for Don so we can finish this first day together. We take off our skis and walk a short distance to the hotel where we are given the keys to a very nice room. Our luggage has been take to a storage area. We retrieve it and take it to our room. The bus drivers have moved all this luggage up a flight of stairs, quite impressive!

Included with our accommodations tonight is the hotel spa and sauna.

Don take the sauna option, I take the hot shower option.

Dinner is a buffet with so many delicious choices. We are not going to go hungry if food like this continues. In fact we may have to ski harder with all the calories we are eating. We sit with our friends that we met the first night. We also get to meet some of the Americans, they are a group mostly from Minnesota. After dinner we have a brief meeting to go over logistics. The weather is going to change tomorrow, the sun of today will be replaced with rain, snow and wind. More food is eaten for the second dinner and we head off to our room. Don has not gotten rid of his cough. We decide to not ski together tomorrow, so we can ski are own pace.

March 9

The weather is acting as predicted. It starts out as wet snow then develops into rain and lots of wind. My camera will not be coming out today. We start out as a tight group. I soon see the advantage of being ready to get on the trail towards the front. The pace is dictated by the slower skiers.. There is only one track and it is hard to pass. As you double pole around skiers, it makes you wonder if the exertion is really worth it. It is good though to ski at your own pace so Don and I pass some of the slower skiers. There is a somber mood as we start out. We have been told that we are skiing on an old railroad bed that was used in a war between Russia and Finland. The story goes that we are skiing over many bones buried here.

In the beginning Don and I try to keep sight of each other, but are soon separated. I end up skiing with two men from Germany and we leap frog Brian from the states. Brian may not have a lot of technique, but he is consistent and a strong skier. Lunch is in a teepee and the soup today is a Finnish staple, salmon soup. Not being a fish eater I can’t say that I look forward to this meal. I am handed a full bowl with some bread. I am happy to say, it was quite delicious or perhaps the fact that on a day like today a warm liquid was needed. Michael and Stephen, my new friends from Germany are getting ready to leave. Michael is large and i’ve discovered makes a good wind block. I hurry outside to ski with them. Meanwhile Don has just arrived, he is in for a treat. As I head out to get my skis, I grab a pair that I thought was mine. After a couple of strides I realize that I had grabbed Don’s, no wonder the poles didn’t seem right. Back to the teepee and get my skis. By this time my friends from Germany are in the distance. I pick up my pace and finally gain on them. The weather is deteriorating with the wind and rain becoming stronger. It is not as fun skiing as yesterday. The terrain is quite varied. When we are in the woods, we get a break from the wind, but then the open areas are quite exposed to the elements. We had been told that when we get close to where the bus is parked we will encounter some hills. For most skiers the hills don’t prove to be too difficult. The steepest one that we encounter poses no problem for the four of us. The next one is just a gentle slope and I am surprised that Micheal falls. I slow down and try to work my way around him. Just at that moment, he tries to stand up and flings his ski pole into my leg. The force of it knocks me over. I am hoping that the hit will just be a hard bruise.. I don’t see or feell any blood so rather than look, I just ski to the bus. Glad it was close as my leg was painful. At the bus, I take a look and once I pull my ski pants down, there is an obvious wound. a wound that will need stitches. Bummer!

I tell Minna and we are in luck as the town where we are staying tonight has a clinic. Don arrives just as the bus I am on is beginning to leave. We wait for him and the plan will be for the bus to drop Minna and I off at the clinic and Don will go to the hotel and deal with our gear. Glad that Minna is going with me, I am damp and cold so she lends me her jacket before we head in to see the doctor. I get my wound cleaned and the doctor gives me three stitches. I am also advised to get a tetanus shot which I concur. Whether I ski tomorrow will be up to me. My leg is now swollen and the bruising has begun. I will make my mind up later about skiing tomorrow. Back at the hotel, Don is in bed. This has not been a good ski day for him. He is not improving and continues to have a bad cough. We are the walking wounded! We get energized and head off to another good meal. Once again a sauna is offered, but sleep sounds better to us. According to the weather man the weather of tomorrow will be an improvement. The skiing starts right from the hotel tomorrow. I need to go back to the clinic with my passport. I am told that they will send a bill to Alaska. I have no idea what the cost will be other than I was told it shouldn’t be as expensive as the states.

March 10

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I was told to leave the bandage on for several days so just taking the photo of the bruising.

Swollen and somewhat painful, but I have decided to take the bus for about 20 km and then ski the remaining 35km.

Don and I load our gear on the bus. He will be skiing from the hotel so I won’t see him till tonight. A volunteer who lives in the village takes me to the clinic. He speaks excellent English. If there is a problem with any of the participants he is on call to help out. When we return back to the hotel most of the skiers have left. There are 5 skiers who will be taking the bus with me and starting at the 22km mark. When we arrive at the location the snow machine that sets the track hasn’t arrived. We need to wait so I put on my skis and do a trial run. My leg is swollen, but not too painful. I plan to ski the next 35 km. The weather is overcast but no rain or snow is predicted. When the snow machine arrives, I follow behind somewhat tentative, but soon get my skiing rhythm back. I am enjoying the solitude of not skiing in a large group. One of the skiers in our group has a bad cough. He sounds like Don. The older skier Stephen from Canada is also in our group. You can tell that he really enjoys being here. We have been on the trail fro about 20 minutes when we notice the lead snow mobile stuck. The snow is wet and heavy, there is no way we can help him. Perhaps we should wait, but if we stay much longer we are going to get quite cold. He doesn’t speak any English, but motions that we should go on.

The five of us head down a faint trail that had been set yesterday. Shortly afterwards we see a snow machine heading towards the stuck machine. In a distance we see that the groomer is back in business, he stops at a sign and points it in another direction. We had just crossed a snow bridge that would have been marginal for the snow machine so looks like we are going to be re routed. We head back towards the sign and the new route.

Often we are on snow machine trails that the groomers just set tracks in. We have been told that for the days the ski event is running, snow machines (other than the groomers) stay off the trails, which we appreciate. A service sign appears stating that in 2Km we will be having lunch!

We ate offered grilled sausages, oranges, chocolate and pickles. One of the guys in our group, who has done the ski before pulls out his phone and shows us photos of this same service point. The men that are serving us are the same ones in his photo… — We ate offered grilled sausages, oranges, chocolate and pickles. One of the guys in our group, who has done the ski before pulls out his phone and shows us photos of this same service point. The men that are serving us are the same ones in his photo that he took several years ago.

The shelter gives us an opportunity to get out of the wind. Before long our bodies start to cool down and we need to move on. The next section is rolling hills with some nice descents.

This women is from France and speaks some English.

The last service of the day is another teepee. A fire is going inside and it is nice and warm. We are served hot drinks and chocolate. There is only one woman at this station. Overhead we hear airplanes, she tells us that it is The Finns and other countries doing war games. She show her disapproval. She doesn’t like the noise in a place where it is usually quite quiet.

English, French, Finnish and German are spoken in this small group.

The bus was scheduled to be here, but the roads are solid ice. Most likely they have opted to stay on a better road.

I can understand why the bus wasn’t here.

Leaving the teepee we have to walk a road section to the next ski trail. It is quite difficult as the ice does not allow any traction. Once we are on the ski trails it is not long before we are on a nicely groomed double wide ski lane. This trail is eventually going to lead us to a down hill ski resort where we will be staying at the lodge. As we get closer to our destination, we encounter skiers out for the day. One couple stops to talk and wonder where I am from. When I say Alaska, they give a positive response. Most people that we pass don’t stop to talk or even say Hi. It is more a cultural difference than being unfriendly. The resort that we are staying in tonight is in a national Park called Syote. Our ski guide has made the comment that this section is one of the nicest. I have been skiing mostly by myself when two Americans from our group pass me. They are the leaders of the trail today. We are closing in to the end of the ski today and my leg did fine. That was a relief! There was a rumor or perhaps it was a fact that we would need to take a Tow bar up to our lodge. Sure enough the quiet of the trail is interrupted by the sound of a motor. When I come out of the woods there it is. I take a moment to survey the scene and to make sure that is the only way to the top. That is the only way that makes sense, Herringbone up the hill would probably take more time than I could imagine. I watch several young down hillers hop on the lift and make their way up the hill. No other cross country skiers have arrived so I ski up and grab on. I did not see any operators, but they were somewhere watching as I got in position the motor slowed down. Fortunately the trip up the hill was uneventful and I could watch the skiers in front of me fling the tow and jump off at the top.

This is a photo of the ski hill and the the tow rope we took to the resort.

it was a bit of a challenge to find the door to the hotel. The two American skiers that had passed me had walked around the building looking for the entrance. Together we figured it out and soon had the keys to our room. The lodge is built into a hill which makes for interesting floor plans. One had to take elevators and stairs to get to where you wanted to go. After several false attempts, I had figured it out. Don hadn’t arrived yet so it took me several trips to move our luggage to our room. I took a shower and even took a short nap before Don arrived. He had skied the whole 55 km, but it had taken a toll. He was the last skier in and most likely will not try to ski the longest day of the event tomorrow. His cough has worsened and he is ready to take a nap. He is able to get a short rest in before dinner. Dinner as usual is quite good. With all the skiing that we are doing having a second desert doesn’t seem problematic. At the evening meeting we are told, but everyone already knew, that tomorrow we would be skiing the longest day. The mileage was going to be 88km or just around 50 miles. The weather outlook is not too cold, not to windy and not to sunny, Should be a good day to put in the distance. Usa, the ski guide tells us that tomorrow is one of the nicest sections of the route. It is a well groomed trail going thru a National Park. He warns us that after the park we will connect to another set of trail, but before we do that we will be going down a very steep hill and recommends walking it. We also need to be ready to depart by 7:30am. Back to our room I contemplate sleeping in the shower as Don seems to be non stop coughing. He is going to ski a short section of the Trail. I take a look at my leg before going to bed.

Glad I got stitches, they seem to be doing the trick!

March 11

The bus is ready to be loaded by 7 and depart by 7:30

In some years skiers have skied down the down hill, but this year the hills are too icy so we will be bussed to the bottom of the hill. Since most skiers are opting to ski the first half of the day and then take the bus the rest of the way, there will be a crowd to start. My strategy is to load my skis near the last so I will be able to get them out first. Meanwhile Don has opted to catch the bus first and then ski a section in the middle. He won’t leave till 9 so catches a little TV. It seems the news is focused on the virus, we haven’t heard much about it till now. A couple of American skiers are considering leaving tomorrow in order to get back to the states.

This seems like major news and potential for a lot of impact!

My strategy works and I am off in the front of the pack. The pace is fast and we fly down the hills. Glad that there is plenty of room for passing. The trail is well groomed and weaves thru evergreen trees in the forest covered with snow. It would have been nice to do a more leisurely pace, but there is lots of miles to cover so it is good to keep up a steady pace. Hanna and Anne catch up to me and we form a threesome. They both are fluent in English so I could to participate in the conversation. Eventually we come to the steep hill that we had heard about last night. I find that I can do a very controlled ski plow down the hill and do not have to take off my skis. Anne and Hanna decide to walk. They have also decided to not ski the whole day so looks like we won’t be a threesome any more today. Today there were services almost every 10 Km which helps to keep the energy going. I ended up leap frogging with a couple of the guys from the states. During a conversation with one of the guys we discovered that we had a mutual friend. Today we had Salmon soup again, I found it to be quite good. We did not spend much time at the stops, only time to drink and eat more chocolate. Today there was a lot of double poling . The conditions were relatively fast so poling and gliding was great. It was fun to take turns leading and setting the pace. At the last service the bus was waiting, I grabbed some chocolate and of course had a hot juice drink. Looks like I will have this 80 km done with no problem. There was a 5 Km sign and I felt that the end was near, however, I think that they rerouted the course around the lake so the distance had increased. Those remaining 5 km took for ever. By this time I was mainly skiing by myself and when I came out on on the lake I saw a sign saying 45 km. I was a little worried that I had missed the cut off. I didn’t see any skiers, so made good use of observation skills. The trail split and it appeared that the unmarked one was the one I wanted. Sure enough it wasn’t long before I saw another sign leading the way to the hotel. There were quite a few slushy spots on the lake so skiers had to make their own way. At the hotel I got keys to the room and found Don fast asleep. We decide that it is probably a good idea for him to see if he can see a doctor. I find Minna, our amazing women in charge, and relay the message to her about Don. She says that there will be a women here shortly that is the volunteer for this section. When she arrives and is told about the need to see a doctor, she makes a call to the clinic. They will be able to fit him in tomorrow morning. Don decides to stay in bed I head into to the dining hall to eat a very large meal! Several of the American skiers are quite concerned about getting back to the states as they have just discovered that our President may be shutting down the border for international flights. They are both doctors and have an urgency to get home. The talk of the Covid virus is making the topic of conversation around the tables. Most participants are wanting to finish the event and deal with the flights in a couple of days. Don and I don’t have a flight for another 6 weeks so we aren’t too worried yet. Tomorrow is a short day of skiing, It is a little more than half of what we did today. We are also told that the group will be split tomorrow and that half of us will be staying at the village school and half will be at the community village. There will be a group photo at 9 and then the skiing will begin. We will not have to board the bus for a ride to the trailhead. This will make it simple. Glad that Don will be going to the Doctor tomorrow.

March 12

We are told where the service spots will be each day, but I usually can’t remember the name so it is always fun to just see the sign that one is coming up.

We have a big breakfast, pack lunches and then make sure that our luggage gets on the right bus. Don stays in bed while I pack our gear on the bus. His ride isn’t coming till 10 so he takes advantage of trying to sleep longer. After the group photo we head across the lake and pick up the trail that I saw yesterday. The weather today is overcast and just a little wind. The terrain is mostly flat with a lot of lakes connected by forests.

We are in a more remote section of trail today. The bus is only able to meet the skiers at one point. At our first service there are two young people who had arrived by snow machine. They have set up a table and our handing out delicious chocolate and of course a hot juice drink. They speak a little English and ask where I am from, again when I say Alaska, they get excited. They want to know if we have polar bears there or any kind of bear. Polar bears must be a theme today for at one of the services there is someone dressed up as a polar bear.

I have a feeling that this bear has had his picture taken a lot this week.

At the lunch spot we are greeted by a string of flags of the countries that are represented at this event.

Lunch today is grilled sausages, pickles, oranges and chocolate.

I never tire of the chocolate! The young man from the village who is grilling sausages speaks with a British accent. When asked if he lived in England, he said no, but my English teacher was from England.

It is always fun to see signs and at the end of the day when the sign says 5 Km, we know dinner will be served soon.

Today we actually skied past the place that we were staying. Some skiers opted to stop at the buildings, but I continued on to where the bus would be parked.

The bus returned us to the village school

It is not a school anymore, but seems to be more of a gathering place for different activities. When I return to the school, I find Don resting in a room in the back. Fortunately we are away from the other rooms. He took a taxi from the clinic to here. The doctor thought that it was a sinus infection and gave him a decongestion. He was able to get some sleep and seems to be on the mend. It is unlikely that he will be doing any more skiing. This accommodation has rooms with beds or bunkbeds. The other accommodation was a large room with mattresses on the floor. Tonight our meal is cooked by the ladies of the nearby village. It is a meatloaf filled with vegetables and boiled potatoes. For desert we had a fruit compote made from berries. There was also some homemade bread I had seconds from both. Don even felt like eating tonight, that is a good sign. We are told that the skiers passing thru this community is a big event for the villagers. Tonight the sauna is wood fired. Once you have gotten your body heated up, you head outside to a large wooden bucket filled with ice water that you can lower your body down into. There was a time for men and a different time for women. I missed the time for when the women were scheduled. I was probably asleep. Our weather report tonight was a warning. If the prediction was accurate we would be in for a very windy day with blizzard like conditions. There is even talk of skiing in a very large group tomorrow. I hope that is not the case, but if it is we will be in for a very long day. It sounds like a lot of skiers only plan to ski part of the day so that might not be too bad. Other skiers are coming down with colds. No one mentions the word Covid, at least out loud. Don will be taking the bus the whole way tomorrow.

March 13

In the morning, the ladies of the village cooked a big pot of porridge. It is a good thing that I am craving food! After this trip I don’t think I will be eating much oatmeal. I smothered my oatmeal with fruit and yogurt which improved the taste immensely. Don wasn’t hungry, but he got a good nights sleep. I took a photo of one of the ladies that had helped with the cooking.

She had on the traditional clothing of the area.

She motioned for me to follow her and then showed me a couple of the reindeer in a pen.

These boots were hanging in the hallway outside of our room.

We load the bus.

Don makes himself comfortable in the back

Klaus, our weather forecaster, gives us a stern weather warning. He comments that we should be okay for the morning, but after lunch the wind will pick up and blizzard conditions will prevail. There will be a decision made at the lunch stop of how the afternoon will be run. The participants that were staying at the community center arrive and Klaus gives them the same warning. Then it is off to the trailhead, I have taken my poles on the bus with me and my skis are loaded at the top of the pile. I want to take advantage of getting off quickly to perhaps beat some of the weather. So far it is just cloudy, but the wind is definitely building. I have taken extra layers and food with me today. I feel confident about the conditions we may encounter,. This morning I ski mostly with my friends from Sweden, Hanna and Anne. Hanna is in her early 40’s, Anne in her middle 50,s and I in my late 60’s. We keep up a steady pace. We stop for lunch and are served sausages. The next stop is where the bus will be waiting and we will be told if we need to wait for all the skiers before we continue on. The wind has picked up and snow is beginning to fall. When we arrive to the bus, we are given the decision about how we need to ski. Those in charge have decided that we only need to ski in groups of four. Hanna and Anne decide that they are done for the day. So I will need to find some new skiing buddies.

So here are the three of us, plus the two ladies in the backpack which have many stories to tell. Hanna has created them and writes stories about their adventures.

One of the American skiers from Seattle. It has been a cold windy day with more to come!

This was the start of today, at the bus stop after lunch a lot of the skiers had decided to ride the bus to the hotel.

I was glad to hear about the new decision, however since Hanna and Anne weren’t going to ski the rest of the way, I had to find new buddies. I see Michael and Stephen who I had skied with on the second day. I asked if I could join their group which was fine except Michael decided not to ski as well. Now we are a group of two. I find two others to make up our group, Tereje from Norway and Otto from Germany. We start out keeping a fairly close pack. The wind has indeed picked up and in the open areas the trail is blown over. It was a good decision to have us travel in a close group. We get relief from the wind in the forests, and then feel the brunt of the wind in the open areas. By the time we reach the last service and have only 10 Km to go, he storm has abated and the sun has returned. Terje decides to take a longer break so we pick up Tim who is from the states to join our group. The last 10 km is quite confusing. The snow machine driver that set the track used their creativity. The trail is anything but straight, as it winds around the trees in the forest. it is a combination of slow turns and lots of control. Finally we see the red building signifying we have made it to the end of today’s ski. There is a bus there that is warming up it’s engine. Yea, all I will need to do is take off the skis, load them and hop on the bus. Then we see Minna who tells us that the bus is full and it will probably be about two hours before it returns. The good news is that there is a building for us to wait in and fresh cinnamon rolls and hot drinks await us. Before we go into the building, there is a large bottle of hand sanitizer which has a sign telling us to use it! More talk of Covid 19 is in the air! At this point though it is hard to distinguish between fact and rumor. Some of the skiers have just learned that their flights have been canceled. After a two hour wait the bus returns and we head to the Hotel Pohjanran. At the hotel I grab a key and head up to our room where I find Don taking a nap. He wakes up when I unlock the door and we head down to get our skis and luggage. Usually I have gotten back a couple of hours before dinner, but since we had to wait for 2 hours for the bus to return, it is time to eat. I change out of my damp clothes and head to the dining room. Don decides not to eat, but I am more than ready! This is a neat old hotel that has recently been renovated.

Tonight is our last group meeting. We have one more day of skiing and have been told that just about all of it will be on a wide groomed trail. Today we skied about 58KM and tomorrow will be about the same. The only difference is that the weather is to be sunny and calm! It will be quite the contrast!

March 14

Great to see the word Maali or Finish on this map!

Don decides to make it down to breakfast this morning. We eat with Steve and his two daughters Kristin and Amanda. They are from New York and had done this trip several years ago. None of them had done much skiing and usually would only ski part of each day. One could tell they were enjoying this family trip.

Steve and his daughters from an earlier day.

When the chaos of the virus erupted, they contemplated leaving and had another challenge when their flights back to the states were canceled. At the end of their decision making process they ultimately decided to stay for one more day and finish the event.

We load the bus for one last time and head over to a trailhead. Today is Saturday and we are told that we will encounter other skiers using the trail. There is also a race scheduled and we should make sure that we give them space. The trail is quite wide so shouldn’t be any problem in sharing the trail today. It is a blue sky day, with no wind and lots of sun. A perfect day to end the trip! Hanna and Anne approach me and ask if I would join them for the ski today and set the pace. Sounds good to me! We are off on a hilly course. Climbing up hills and then descending. The trail leads thru forests and out into open fields. One can see the remains of the drifts from yesterday. At lunch one of the servers comments that the weather was quite miserable yesterday with so much wind. We can relate to that. At lunch there is a selection of skis in the snow, showing the story of nordic skis.

It is colder today so having lots of hot drinks and sausages is good for energy. We are having fun almost doing a race pace. With the good tracks set in the snow we are making good time. Stephen who I have skied with several times joins our crew. He had been skiing with Michael but was going at a faster pace. We pass most of the skiers that are in front of us. Michael takes over the lead and sets a steady pace. At 10 km to go we stop and take s short food break before dashing to the finish. We laughed that wouldn’t it be nice to have mostly a down hill. To our grateful surprise, it was!

When we see the finish line approach, and hear cheering we all start skiing side by side and finish this day together!

Once again there are lots of flags at the finish line.

We are also greeted my Minna, our amazing leader and a group of students from a local college dressed up in costume.

We are so happy!

We wait for more skiers to arrive so that we can be taken back to our hotel for the night. The wait was pretty good as we got to eat celebration doughnuts. The hotel is in Torino which is located right next to Sweden. Once again the accommodation is of high standard. The dinner tonight is one of being served. The food was great, however we are used to being able to go back for seconds and our stomachs could have eaten more. During our ski today I found out that Stephen is a doctor and he will look at my leg and hopefully will take out my stitches after the closing ceremony.

It is not mandatory, but encouraged that each country will put on a skit for the evening program. Some countries are prepared for a presentation while others are more spontaneous. Several of the countries sang songs with group participation. Dave, who was from the states wrote a short skit for the Americans. It was about the challenges that the Americans faced getting back to their home. Everyone received a certificate and a gift from one of the communities that we had skied thru. Each year a different community prepares a gift for the skiers. This year Kuusamo gave each participant a ceramic cup and a bottle of sparkling juice. And with that it was over. It has been a busy week, but oh so enjoyable. The organization of this event was outstanding.

I had one more activity for the night. Stephen met me with his tools of trade and soon I was stitch free. I was glad for the stitches, I wouldn’t have been easily able to ski without them. it was time to say good-by to the folks that we had met. Some participants were leaving early hoping to get home before the borders closed. There was a feeling of some anxiety of the many unknowns about this virus. Later we were told that the Finnish govt. had given permission for our trip to be completed. Other events in the area had been forced to cancel. Don and I were going to take the bus to Kemi tomorrow and wait to make a decision for our future plans. Not having to be anywhere at anytime felt good. So did being able to participate in the Rajaita Rajalle Hiihto!