Last Descent

Artificial ice climbing tower a.k.a. construction crane with a pump

Something terrible happened last week. On Friday we learned that a friend lost his life skiing down from Mt. McKinley. I do not want to talk about the accident, writing this text alone is hard enough. But I thought I'd return to a few happy memories with Ilkka.

He was always friendly, down-to-earth, and ready to help others. Just a few weeks ago he was helping me find skiing locations in Oulu. (Incidentally, that was on e-mail. I missed meeting him in person by a day as when I got to Oulu, as he had just left for the expedition. Now I wish I had been there a day earlier...)

You could also climb inside the construction crane

And he was a great skier and climber. One of the best in Finland; he was the first Finn to ski down from a 7000 meter peak, for instance. He was always in control, always knew what he was doing, always seemed to have more strength left than others.

And he was a constant source of climbing ideas and opportunities. When I visited him in Oulu in the early 2000s, we once went ice climbing on a dam wall in the city center of Oulu. The next winter he took me to an old construction crane they had acquired from somewhere, put up next to a river, and added a pump. It was wonderful for ice climbing. Who comes up with such brilliant ideas?

Not to mention other activities. This year he and his friends participated in the Ylläs 24 hour ski marathon. The idea was to ski as much vertical as you can within 24 hours. Ilkka's photography has also been wonderful to look at. And he loved the outdoors. I remember some business trip that he took when we were colleagues, where he stayed in a tent in a city park. Even got interviewed by some radio station. At the time I was grateful that he didn't mention our company name :-)

I am going to miss him.

Photo credits (c) by Jari Arkko

Glacier du Kauniainen

The glacier

Global warming is real. I can tell it by the speed that Glacier du Kauniainen is melting. Luckily the glacier always grows back in December for some reason. Maybe some temporary ice age that always hits us at that time.

  

Melting in progress

Air

Last week I wrote about our supposedly last ski run in Kauniainen. Well, it turned out that there is still snow left this weekend. Not much, only about a meter and half. It is probably gone by the end of the day, so this will the real end of the season.

Skiing

With such as small patch of snow, the skiing was not that great. So I went to the top of the hill and tried grass skiing as well. I figured that with the 9.90€ miniskis, it wouldn't matter so much if there'd be damage to the skis. To my surprise it was possible to ski the grass all the way down. Though it would have been better had the slope been much steeper. The ski hill in Kauniainen is already pretty steep, so this just goes to show that friction on grass is far higher than on snow. Interestingly, dead grass is also more slippery than growing grass.

Grass skiing

Photo and video credits (c) 2012 by Jari and Janne Arkko

Grani Still Going Strong

Equipment

May 20, and we are still skiing in Kauniainen. Or Grani, as it is affectionately called. My local ski hill is a treasure that just keeps on giving. I have lost count how many times I have written about the last ski run of the season on this hill, just this year. And there is still snow!

Racing in Kauniainen, May 20

Miniskis

There is only a small patch of snow left, however, so we've appropriately chosen to use small skis. Or miniskis as they are called. On my recent trip to Bolivia I had these skis for backup, but never needed them. But I've been itching to try them out.



However, I had never used them when I was a kid, so the experience was entirely new. I must say that they are far harder to use than I imagined. It would have been dangerous to put them on for the first time at 17,000 feet on that icy 40 degree slope in Bolivia last weekend. The binding mechanism is not secure and keeps coming off. The skis are so short that there is no balance. Even my son Janne who normally wants to ski without poles wanted poles for additional stability today. The sides are all plastic, so edging on ice would have been difficult. After a couple of runs we started to understand how to ski on the miniskis, but it was still not easy. I'm probably fixated to my normal skiing style, unable to adapt to anything new.

Fall 1

Fall 2

Fall 3

My friend Jarmo found out that it is easier to ski on the miniskis if he uses regular ski boots on them. Seemed to work well for him. In general, getting the right boot fit so that the skis fit well into them is an issue. For most men's hiking boots, for instance, the skis tend to be too narrow. Given the lack of stability, a helmet is recommended. Due to being so short, the miniskis are also remarkably easy to climb up with, as long as there is soft snow, grass, or other material underneath that is not too slippery.

Walk-up stance

Grani

In any case, the skis were fun for this slope. It was very warm, over 20 degrees, and the kids kept finding interesting things from the slope. Thirty golf balls, for instance. There were also enough parts of broken race gates so that we could construct our own short race track.

Treasure

This time it may really be the last ski run of the season. I'd love to ski here in June, but ten days seems too far away. The patches of snow are too small to survive that far.

Verdict

The miniskis are fun to try, good for skiing down from a pile of snow in the yard. But not so good for other types of skiing. (For starters, they are not for adults, these are children's skis.) And I'm unable to adapt my skiing style to anything else than regular skis. This was also quite evident when I tried snowboarding a couple of years ago.

Poles and miniskis

Bolivia

By the way: I will write something about my Bolivian experiences as soon as I have sorted all my pictures. All I can say now is wow, just wow. It was an incredible adventure. And I'm so glad everyone is safely back from that mountain.

If the slope ends before slowing down, run!

Photo credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth

Bolivia Is Kind of Close

Bolivia is kind of close

I have finished my meeting in Washington DC and more work awaits me next week in California. But first things first. There's a weekend in between, and what better way to spend the weekend than to fly 16,000 kilometers to Bolivia?

I'm expecting action packed two days. Wish me luck. I don't even know if I'll be able to breathe at the airport at La Paz as it sits at 13,300 feet (4061 meters). And the going gets just tougher from there. When I start my return journey, the aircraft flies just 500 kilometers before it needs to make a refueling stop. The airport is so high that the aircraft cannot get up with any meaningful fuel load.

And I also don't know if I'll manage to find the necessary help to take me to the real mountains. Or if I'll find snow or be able to climb at all in the extreme altitudes. Or if my gear makes it with me to La Paz; losing the luggage is very likely, in fact. Or if they let me the country, as the information about the vaccination requirements is conflicting.

Trip length

As a way to deal with one of these uncertainties, I have acquired backup skis that fit into my carry-on luggage. If my real skis fail to make it to Bolivia, I can carry these miniskis to the mountain. These children's skis might be strong enough to allow me to do at least a bit of skiing down the mountain.

Miniskis

Anyway, the most likely outcome is that I'll spend my weekend with a headache in my hotel bed. The altitudes are just so high. Getting as far as the snow would be a real win, but I'm not counting on this happening. Hopefully it will be an interesting experience anyway.

Photo credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko and the Great Circle Mapper

Snowless in Oulu

Amazing views from the high mountain tops of Heinäpää

I am amazed how bad the snow situation is. I am in Oulu, 600 kilometers north from home, but there is much less snow here than on my local hill. But I have to try to find skiing, given that I dragged my skis along for this trip. (In the last couple of years, there's only been a handful business trips that I have not taken my skis with me. And I travel almost every week.)

Ready for some off-piste fun at Köykkyri

But back to Oulu. I have gotten some local help. My friend Ilkka has given me a list of places where I might still find some snow. The ones that I have time to try are all in Oulu or within a few kilometers of driving distance. I decide to try Heinäpää in Oulu and Köykkyri in Kempele.

Unfortunately, Ilkka was unable to join me for these adventures, as he had already left for his own skiing expedition. Ilkka: when you finally get to the top of Denali, let us know how the skiing was compared to Heinäpää! Denali or Mt. McKinley is North-America's highest mountain at 6,194 meters. But due to its northern location and cold weather, it often appears on lists of world's most difficult mountains to climb. On the day that I was in Oulu, the weather in Denali was -40 and 60 km/h wind. But hey, it was sunny! Good luck with your climb, Ilkka! The expedition's progress can be followed from their blog.

Köykkyri

An inviting ski area sign if I've ever seen one
"Köykkyrin hiihtomaa", the ski land of Köykkyri

There is some snow left!

Köykkyri is Finland's smallest ski center at a whopping 25 meters of altitude difference. The length of the ski run is 135 meters. Fortunately, I do not have to ski the entire length this time - that would be a full-day expedition. Almost all snow has melted, there's only small patches left. I try to ski them anyway, taking off my skis for the parts between the patches.

It would be interesting to visit this place in the winter, though. The place seems like a nice community and club-run operation. I prefer these places over commercial ski operations.

Grass/snow skiing

Kempele Pyrintö sports club house at Köykkyri

Off-Piste in Köykkyri

The best part of Köykkyri is not really the official slope. Going from the top to the skier's right there's a short but steep face. Steep enough to be fun, and steep enough to hold a little bit of snow even now. Recommended!

The steeps at Köykkyri off-piste

Heinäpää

Preparing for the climb of the summit snow ridge in Heinäpää

I thought it would not be possible to have a smaller ski area than Köykkyri. But Heinäpää, a closed ski area is just laughable. The altitude difference is maybe ten meters, if that. Back in its glory days, it sported Europe's shortest ski lift. The area closed in 2000 due to lack of customers. Go figure.

Surprise visitor at Heinäpää. Groke or "Mörkö" from the Moomins

But Heinäpää is not without merits. For one, the view towards the paper mill in sunset is awesome. For two, this is an entire sports center with football fields, sports halls, and so on.

But the biggest kick that I got was meeting Groke at the top. This scary character from the Moomins gave the mountain an icy feeling, even in this spring weather.

Speaking of the spring weather, the entire hill was free from snow. Luckily at the top there was a two meter pile of snow, probably collected as the paths were being cleaned from snow during the winter. OK, OK, lets say 120 centimeters. The south face of the pile is all covered by sand and garbage, but the north face has just a little bit of rotting grass on top of the snow. Good enough for me! Put the boots on, climb to the top, ski down, making an almost entire turn.

Reaching the top of the Heinäpää ski center

Important Parameters

At this time of the year, lift tickets in Köykkyri are pretty cheap. In this millennium, lift tickets in Heinäpää are also very cheap. In both cases you'll have to walk up yourself. The good news is that it is not a very tiring climb.




Skiing down Köykkyri under the current conditions took 140 seconds, including all the running and carrying skis between patches of snow.

Be sure to watch the video from above as well. The video includes also episodes 1 and 2 of the Planetskier Ski Maintenance School, on washing your skis and boots after skiing in dirt.

Crossing grassy patches. No, crossing snowy patches on grass.

Photo and video credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko

Grani Summer Ski

Summer in Grani

I am at the summer ski center in Kauniainen. It is +15 degrees Celcius in hot sunshine and a gentle, warm wind. It is a perfect day to go skiing, in my swimsuit. Today is First of May, a national holiday in Finland. Most people party hard or gather in crowds in the city center to do silly things. I've chosen to do my silly things here on my local ski hill.




I try hard not to fall, however. Spring snow consists of large ice crystals that would not feel good on my skin at high speed. My 9-year old son is with me, and he keeps his clothes on. I'm glad that the next generation is wiser.

Skiing down, and trying very hard to not fall

Mirror

The day gets only better as I visit the ski area for the second time later in the evening with my friend Bengt. The darkness begins to fall, and the colors are interesting. We arrive by 9 PM and leave a bit after 10 PM, and the day turns from almost fully lit into darkness during that time, having the sky go through many colors in the process.

Moon

Night colors

It has been a month since the ski area closed. And there is still plenty of snow. But now the middle part is melting fast, just a couple of days and we can no longer ski down the whole slope without carrying our skis part of the way. I wonder if there's any snow left in June? I've never skied in Kauniainen in June, but I doubt the snow will last. Maybe if we dragged some white plastic over the snow field and let it reflect most of the sun away? I'm predicting at most two or three weeks of any snow left at this point.

The ski lift has been abandoned for the summer

In any case, I did four runs here today. And got thirsty. During the season, the cafeteria is one of the best small ski area cafeterias. Just consider that they serve spinach pancakes and eco soft drinks! But now it was not open, which left Hölmölän burger grill (direct translation: stupid people's grill) and Grani McDonald's as my options. I chose to carry my own beverages, burying them in snow while I was doing another run. And finished the day by going to my own after-ski sauna.

Climbing up during the night

Night colors

Pepsi Max being chilled

My after-ski sauna

Photo credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko and Janne Arkko

Hero or Bonehead?

Heaven? No, but 3203 m closer than at sea level.

While the opinions were split among the spectators that came to talk to me afterwards ("are you the guy who skied that?"), I think the answer is definitely "bonehead". This was just too dangerous.

I need to go back to skiing safer slopes. And I will do that from now on.

My tracks on the top of the ridge, with two avalanches below

Don't get me wrong. I regularly ski places that demand mountaineering skills and ability to cope in a dangerous environment. I can deal with some dangers. But when I climbed Kitzsteinhorn (3203 meters) in Kaprun, there were just too many dangers. To begin with, I was alone. And skiing a steep 40-50 degree mountain face that ends in a 100 meter cliff adds an element of concern. And on top of all this, the newly arrived snow in the slope avalanched as I skied through, running for several hundred meters.

The train and Gletcherjet ski lift, a couple of kilometers outside Kaprun

But I made it back safely. I should note that while I was alone, I was still within a view of the ski area, and I have quite a bit of experience on skiing steeps. My climb to the top was aided by fixed cables ("via ferrata"), and when I skied back I skied on purpose on top of a rocky ridge, meaning that avalanches would be less likely and I would be less likely to be caught in an one if there was one. And the avalanches were surface avalanches of the new, light snow. They were not strong enough to carry a skier. Avalanche danger that day was predicted to be low. But the conditions might have been different under the snow, it could have been ice at some point even if I tried to climb the same route that I would ski. Or the avalanches could have been bigger.

Walking up

The Ascent

I started my ascent from the highest ski lift station at Kitzsteinhorn, 3029 meters. This is a multi-story station and observation platform. Complete with a movie theater at an altitude of three kilometers! In the beginning I was skinning under some avalanche protection nets. Some earlier work by the ski patrol had caused an avalanche here, and the snow was a little bit more packed than elsewhere.

Sun, wind, and snow

The going was otherwise easy, but my Dynafit bindings were releasing all the time, possibly due to me trying to use them on this quite steep face that required tricky switchbacks, and my inexperience in using this type of a binding before.

Avalanche protection nets

But the crux of the route was reaching a ridge and finding out what the conditions might be on the other side. Once I reached the ridge I realized that I was on an even steeper face, with a cliff underneath and potential for an icy slide down. The steel cables for the avalanche protection system provided some additional trouble, as crossing the slick cables with my skis on would have had even more danger of slipping. And the face just looked too nasty; I decided that the safest course of action is to retreat and try to see if I can re-enter from a different spot. The tricky part was turning around at this steep place the two times needed to make a switchback to a higher entrance. I finally managed to do this, while hanging from the avalanche protection cables.

When I got to the other side of the ridge, it seemed to be on the limit of skinning up. I decided to try, but the snow still seemed unreliable. I backtracked again and decided to take off my skins and attach my skis to my backback. By now I was close to the steel cable ("via ferrata") that I could use to climb the steeper sections more safely. If I would run into ice, I'd still be able to hold on to the cable.

Too steep. Ditching the skins and starting to climb on foot.

View from the climb. Note the steel cable I used to assist my climb.

The climbing became easier from there on. It was still physically challenging, having arrived from the sea level a couple of hours earlier and having to plow through 1+ meters of snow at over three kilometers of altitude. But I eventually made it to the top. The views were wonderful from this very steep ridge. I had approached the ridge from the less steep side, but the other side was basically a vertical drop. But now I had spent a lot of time, and I was in a hurry to get down.


The Descent

Unfortunately, by now my GoPro Hero 2 helmet camera had run out of battery, so there is no footage of my descent or the avalanches.

More seriously, I knew that the descent would have some dangers. I had no idea about the real stability of the snow pack, even though as I climbed it seemed at least consistent and did not have distinct weak layers. But there was a lot of soft snow.

View from the top

I decided to ski where I climbed up, so that I would know what is underneath, as well as to be as close as possible to the rocky ridge that lead to the top. And if there would be an avalanche, it would likely fall under me, and not drag me with it. In addition, the rocks here and there would probably provide some additional stability. Avalanche would be less like to start from there, and if it did, it would probably be a surface avalanche and not a full cut of the deep snowpack. The downside was, of course, that this would not be the optimal ski route. Among other things, I was going to hit many of those rocks, and I'd have to hope to not fall because of that.

The avalanches went this way

The strategy proved correct. As soon as I had left the top, two separate avalanches started from my first turns. These were surface avalanches of the loose snow on top, not particularly aggressive, but they still went all the way almost to the cliff edge. It was easy to ski through the snow that was moving around me at the top, and it didn't seem to be much more snow further down either, but the avalanches widened as they went down.

Under the avalanche tracks

Once I reached the avalanche protection nets, it was much easier to ski through them than to climb up. I took the easiest line and skied down. Phew. I was safe.


Skiing Kaprun

I have no idea. The few hundred meters of the ski area that was in sunshine was great. The rest was in thick fog, and I only skied it down once to get to the lifts as fast as I could with my still shaking legs. Maybe I should visit the place some day. After the dust has settled and shaking is over.

Top of the Kitzsteinhorn ski lift at 3029 meters

As a historical note, 155 people died here in November 2000, when the train designed to take skiers up to the mountain caught fire. Only 12 people survived as a series of design problems, missing equipment, and bad decisions left the others in the in the smoke and heat. (The 12 survivors managed to escape from a break-resistant window and move downwards.) The train has never been used since then, and the newer Gletcherjet 1 ski lift has replaced it. The old train track and tunnel is still in place, however, as an eerie memory of the accident.

Unused ghost train track

Gletscherjet lift system replaced the train after the tragic accident

Important Parameters

Kaprun city views

I stayed in Hotel Antonius, the first randomly selected accommodation in Kaprun that had vacancy. It turned out to be a nice place, though, with all the essentials of life: breakfast, garage, and sauna. Seriously though, it seemed like a good place to stay near the city center, a big hotel, a room with a separate bedroom for 80 €, and so on. They also had an innovation in the breakfast room that I'd love to see elsewhere: today's weather report printed on a sheet of paper in every table. Too bad the English version on the backside skipped mountain weather, however :-)

Weather report

I had no time for after ski, as I was bound to Ljubljana to give a talk about a very interesting networking technology in 36 hours. This would normally be plenty of time, but I had not prepared my presentation. Or gotten my prototype to work. I would eventually succeed in doing so, but at the time I was stressed to get to work. But in general, you can never fail with after ski in Austria. On my way to work I spotted the below after ski place in Kaprun.

WTF? I'd love to stop here during the season.

However, in late April the main season is over and most after ski places seemed empty, even in Austria.


Transport

Road to Kaprun

When I left Kaprun, I relied entirely on my GPS for taking me to Ljubljana. I drove for an hour, kept passing ski areas and climbing higher. I was in the mountains and in increasingly narrower valleys. Then my GPS says that I have to take a ferry! Obviously, there is no water in sight. I'm almost desperate, as going back would mean an hour's drive and even longer work night that evening. But I decide to ask the people on the nearby railway station, and it turns out that I'm at the beginning of the Tauern Railway Tunnel, an eight-kilometer section that can only be crossed by train. No problem. Drive the car to the train, and cross the mountain! I did not plan to use this route, but it turned out to be a good one. Recommended. The system works well and probably saves quite a bit of travel time.

GPS thinks there are ferries in the mountains

Drive car to a train, drive train to a tunnel, and cross a mountain

Photo and video credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko