Skiing, Caves, and Swimming on one trip

 

I managed a Mother's Day trip with a visit to see my mom, but also to ski a closed ski hill, hike to see a cave, and swim at a new swimming hall.

The skiing was at Porvoo's Kokonniemi ski resort, or "Porvoo Ski" as they now call it. It was closed for the summer, since a long time ago but there was quite a bit of snow left. Not all the way from the top, but several big patches. The one I skied was maybe 20 meters long.

It was funny that there was a sign "self-service" next to the slopes. Self-service indeed, walk up by myself, etc.

A few turns at least.

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Then I drove towards Kouvola, stopping at the Kolisevan Pirunpesä in Iitti. It is supposed to be two 10x long cracks, and I'm honestly not sure if I found the right place; I was running out of time so I could circle around the whole area, there was a cliff with the bottom, middle and top level. Coordinates were to the top, but there was around 20 meters of crack at the bottom of the cliff (near the houses by the road). Definitely under the rock, but didn't feel like a cave except at the end where one could go through an L shaped tunnel of maybe five meters. That part was nice!

Coordinates, as listed in the Suomen Luolat (caves of Finland) book:  N 60.76953 E 26.36751. Coordinates as I experienced them at the bottom of the cliff: N 60.769653 E 26.366905. I don't know, maybe I should go again to check the top of the cliff, even that's not where the caves usually are at.

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Finally, I ended up in one of the swimming halls of Kouvola, the one in Kuusankoski. It was quite ok, a 25 meter pool, a jacuzzi, and a kid's training pool. And a decommissioned outside pool. I guess that has happened in many places. Two saunas on both sides, or at least on the men's side. 

Not the fanciest building, kind of Kouvola style a bit. My son commented that it looks more rugged and grey than the cave :-) 

But overall a nice experience. Enjoyed the sauna and the swim!

More information about the swimming hall here.

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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, sauna and swimming stories from planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. The pool photo in this article is from the Kouvola home page; all rights reserved by the city.