Ruokolahden Safari

Safari in Ruokolahti. Sadly, I did not see a lion. But I managed to ski snow on second half of May, that's something. Well, ice. But still, quite nice views over the lake, not too bad! I also checked a cave, the Lassilan Linnavuoren luola (Lassila's Castle Mountain Cave). This was a total surprise, an excellent cave by Finnish standards. A through cave from one hole up on a cliff face to another hole on the same face. Wonderful!

There are steep (very) steps leading to the entrance to the cave. There are no exit stairs from the other end (exit pictured above), so come back the same way, and don't fall.

There were also side caves that in any other place would have been nice caves, but here were just listed as "fire pits" or not noted at all. Well done, Ruokolahti.

The skiing was done at Ruokolahti Freeski, a great community ski hill. I've skied there before, though there's no article about it... it was on my day trip to the east.

But back to the cave. It has been reported in the book Finnish Caves (Suomen Luolat), Wikipedia, as well as on the Ruokolahti page, Lomavinkint page, and Retkipaikka.

The coordinates of the cave are N 61.21908 E 29.02517. I measured it as being 14.5 meters from one entrance to another. I also scanned it and made a 3D model and a map. Here's a link to the model, map, and a rotate-on-your-browser version of the model. Here's a snapshot of vertical cuts in the map, showing how tight and high the cave is:

Other pictures from the main cave:

The other notable caves are under boulders in front of the cliff. There's actually a few, plus a few holes in the cliff itself. But the maybe I'll just list the two biggest ones:

The fire pit is cave at N 61.218986 E 29.024933. This must be at least 10 meters (a total estimate, I could be wrong). Here is what it looks like:

The big boulder is cave at N 61.218739 E 29.025239. I think it is at least 5 meters, maybe even 10. Again, a complete estimate. Here is what it looks like:

Pictures from the skiing:

This article has also been published at Planetcaver.net here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Chamber mountain cave (Kammiovuoren Luola)

On the same ski trip to Himos (article, alt. link), I also stopped near Kuhmoinen to look at the Kammiovuori caves (Kammiovuori is Chamber Mountain). I was unable to find anything from the Internet about this, but the book about Finnish caves lists it, so I went to see it. It was a bit sketchy road to drive, but I managed to get to a close-by location. And found the cave, worth a visit!

I parked the car roughly at these coordinates: N 61.6382 E 25.3557, there's a small extension to turn the car around and put it by the road. But the road is just a forestry road, no one drives it, there's plenty of rocks, can be fallen trees on the road, etc. From this spot there's a very thick forest to go through but once you get to the cleared/logged area you can walk much easier. 

The cave is at the bottom of the small canyon, or maybe it is a valley between two hills. Looks like this:

There's also a small lake to the left of the canyon:

There's the main cave but also a few small other holes:

• Kammiovuoren pikkukolo (small hole, a bit over a meter maybe). Coordinates N 61.638504 E 25.359516.
• Kammiovuoren pikkuhalkema (small crack, maybe 5 meters). Coordinates N 61.638477 E 25.359720.
• Kammiovuoren luola. This is the actual cave, length according to my 3D model is 17 meters, as also noted in the book of Finnish caves. The coordinates are N 61.638320 E 25.359638. The 3D model can be downloaded here, the map here, and the model can be rotated on your browser screen here. A couple of excerpts from the map are below.

Main cave photos (also the one at the top of the article):

Small crack:

Small hole:

This article has also been published at Planetcaver.net here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Searching for the Mullikkarotti cave (Mullikkarotin luola)

Mullikkarotti ("bull rat"?) is an interesting canyon near Jämsä. I was here to ski (article, alt. link), but stopped on the way to look at caves. However, I was unable to find the actual cave. Later reading the book of Finnish caves ("Suomen Luolat") I realize that the cave was a 7m vertical crack on the cliff face. But I didn't actually see such a crack. And moving around was a bit challenging in the still ice-filled water pools at the bottom and falling snow. Maybe next time I'll find it. But I did find several other smaller holes.

The one hole that I found that I could perhaps classify as cave was this under-the-boulder path at N 61.809008 E 25.040267. A photo:

But there were several others, for instance:

• Another (but smaller) through hole under a boulder at coordinates N 61.808997 E 25.040267. Just next to the above one. Photo:

• A third through hole, but small at coordinates N 61.808853 E 25.040153. Photo:

• A small hole at N 61.808872 E 25.039958. Photo:

• A deep hole closer to the bottom of the canyon, might lead somewhere at N 61.809392 E 25.040233.

• A long crack that forms a (shallow, maybe 1 m x 10 m) shelter cave: N 61.809139 E 25.039964. Photo:

Also at these coordinates there were smaller holes: N 61.809417 E 25.040278 (possibly some paths leading under boulders), N 61.808994 E 25.040225 (boulder on top of another provides some space underneath, maybe 1.5 x 1.5 m), and N 61.808631 E 25.040072 (tiny space between two boulders).

More pictures of the canyon and the weather:

This article has also been published at Planetcaver.net here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Saunas and Airbus 350s

It is always fun to fly Finnair to non-Schengen destinations. The lounge food on the non-Schengen side is way, way better than on the Schengen side. And the sauna. I had upgraded my flights to business class, one way on an Airbus A321, and on the other way on the A350.

But I almost didn't make it. Turns out that something was wrong in a change to my reservation, and the Finnair checkin desk in Helsinki simply could not check me in ... really? And the plane was about to leave, I was already late. But then I called the Platinum phone number and they fixed it :-) This caused me to miss dinner at the lounge, but I had a quick 5 minute session at the sauna. Phew.

On the way back I stopped at the -- my recommendation -- Cathay lounge in Heathrow. They are excellent food. This time I sat in the dining area, and ordered salmon for appetizer and dim sum for main course. Really, really good. Well done Cathay.

Outbound:

Inbound:

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com, sauna articles at saunablogger.cool, and flying articles at planetflier.com. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko.