Seasons at Kauniainen

Kauniainen today

My local hill may soon be opening, as they predicted over a foot of snow today. It has not yet arrived, but lets hope it will. Anyone want to join for a pre-season ski run this evening? Bring your old skis... could be grassy or even rocky.

But I thought this might also be a good opportunity to review skiing in different seasons in Kauniainen. Or Grani, as it is affectionately called.

Autumn

The official ski season opens usually pretty late, like early January. But the actual ski season can start much earlier. In fact, frost is enough to ski in Kauniainen.

Early season skiing. Very early season.

Winter

There's the world-famous off-piste skiing, of course. The forest to the skier's right offers interesting routes between trees. Here I'm dropping by to do a steep but short descent before rejoining a Christmas dinner:

Christmas skiing, in a suit

And then there's the dark season. You know, up here in north there is a time when we do not see the sun at all. It is called the night: skiing at 3am.

3am skiing

Check out the video:

First of May

First of May, or Vappu. That is a special occasion for everyone in Finland. Many people do crazy things in Vappu. I chose to do the sensible thing, to ski the hill in my swimsuit. I had to, it was a very warm day: Grani summer ski.

First of May skiing

Summer

Grani just keeps on giving, even as late as May 20th: Grani still going strong.

Late season skiing

Even later, the glacier is shrinking, but you can still see it: Glacier du Kauniainen.

Glacier du Kauniainen

Equipment for very late season skiing

And it is not just me, I have raised a kid who wants to do equally crazy things: Planetskier, the Next Generation. And if the kids get bored with skiing, they can always collect golf balls. Here's our catch from a few minutes of searching:

Golf balls in the ski slope. WTF?

After-ski

There's a restaurant, of course! A great one, they serve Eko-makaronilaatikko! Read the full review from Seasons Pass.

Menu. I recommend the Eko-makaronilaatikko.

Photos and videos (c) Jari Arkko, Janne Arkko, and Jarmo Ruuth