Kaarina swimming hall

The closest swimming hall that I have NOT been to is now almost two hours drive away, and this evening I went there. Kaarina swimming hall is a small community hall, 25 meters long pool with just four lanes. But two younger/older children pools and one therapy pool, so that was a surprise. Overall a nice visit.

The official web page for the hall at the Kaarina city web pages is here. Tickets are 7€ for adult visits, full price list is here.

There was a surprise at the end, though. Fortunately this happened when all of us were already out of the pool and dressing up as the facility was closing. An electrical break occurred, darkening the entire Kaarina area. (Reported by Yle here.) There was some emergency lighting in the swimming hall so it was easy to exit. But, the environment looked very spooky with no lights:

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. The pool picture is by Kaarinan kunta, taken from their website.

Grottes de Choranche

This was one of my early cave visits (besides the one at age 8 in Mallorca's Cuevas del Drach). Just a commercial show cave visit, but of course wonderful.

Choranche caves are in the famous Vercors cave area in France. The currently known length of the cave is 29,489 meters or more than 29 kilometers! 

More information can be found from the show cave website and Wikipedia.

Scenery in the area:

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. The brochure photo is of course about the official brochure.

Sitting is believing

I couldn't believe it at first. But, having gotten here in Talma and riding their new chair lift, sitting is believing: it really exists. Finland's most southernmost chair lift is real. And gives access to Talma's 6000 (cm) vertical.

This opens a new area for skiing at the hill. Well done!

There also seems to be room for expansion. The newly created mountain is much larger than the narrow slope they have set up so far. I assumed there will be another slope or two, perhaps additional jumps.

It was *very* cold day. Around the 4000 cm level, wind started hitting our faces on the new lift. Brr! I had to eventually head to the restaurant. To get back from the main lifts area, in Talma you have to take a button lift or carpet lift back to the lodge and parking area. I chose the carpet lift as it didn't have a long line:

The old mountain and slopes are on the left, the new lift and slope is on the right:

As an aprés ski activity, I also went to the Kärkölä swimming hall (separate article, alt. link).

This article has also been published here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth.

Kärkölä swimming hall

Another day, another swimming hall :-) This time I went to Kärkölä's swimming hall -- mostly because I had not been there, and it was close-ish to my previous stop at Talma Ski (article, alt. link).

A nice hall. Originally built in 1972, but in my opinion well renovated, latest in 2015. There's quite comfortable changing rooms, only one sauna per side but the sauna is quite nice, big, easy to step into, hot just the right amount, etc.

There's a 25 meter pool with four lanes, only one of which is in practice separated from the exercise and play part of the pool. But there also aren't that many people. There's also a children's pool and a cold plunge pool.

The hall is in the village of Järvelä, Kärkölä community's biggest village and administrative center. 

The swimming hall's coordinates are N 60.867780 E 25.268761, and the official web page is here. Adult admission is 7€.

Photos:

Järvelä's train station:

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2026 by Jari Arkko. The pool picture is by Kärkölän kunta, taken from their website.

Ski trip to Belarus

On my quest to visit different countries to ski, I also visited Belarus. It is not an obvious destination, certainly not recommend for a visit in recent times. And there aren't that many skiing options, but there was an easy ski resort, Silichy near Minsk, easily accessible and easy for foreign tourists to book and visit. And it was not a standard western resort experience either, I got clearly Belarusian and Russian culture vibes from my visits to the sauna, for instance. And the skiing was nice.

In particular, I liked to smooth curves of the slopes, and the fact that at the top they were steep enough for fun turns. Weather was wintery, with snow everywhere, trees covered in snow, etc.

There are five lifts and 2.8 kilometers of pistes (see skiresort.info). The reports about vertical differ, skiresort.info said only 55 meters, other sources indicated initially 76 meters but later extended with added dirt at the top to 116 meters. I didn't measure the vertical but to me it felt more like the two latter numbers than the first ones. The resort also isn't at a high altitude, it sits just above 200 meters of altitude, so you'll have to watch snow situation if you plan to visit here.

The resort only opened in 2005.

Silichy is at N 54.15709 E 27.83746, about half an hour's drive from Minsk. More information about Silichy can be found in Wikipedia or in their own home page. There's also a Belarus Holiday report. 

The resort has their own hotel, where I stayed. It was ok; the villas next door would have been nicer. But staying at the hotel was nice.

More information about the situation in Belarus can be found here; it country ranks lowest on the democracy index in Europe. My visit was before the their worst behavior -- today I would not travel to Belarus or recommend anyone else travels either. 

See also the separate articles I wrote about the Minsk Airport (alt. link) and saunas in Silichy (alt. link).

Hotel and villas:

This article has also been published here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2019-2026 by Jari Arkko.

Minsk airport

Minsk airport (MSQ) in the winter. Soviet style, clearly. Beautiful in its own way.

I was here on a ski trip (separate article, alt. link).

The official airport web page is here, and the wikipedia article here.

This was from a trip before Belaurus politics turned bad. Today I would not travel there. Sadly, the country is ruled by authoritarians, with no free speech or possibility of politics, jailing of the opposition, etc. And siding with Russian aggressions. But I believe in brighter future for Belarus someday. It is a wonderful country.

Departure from Helsinki:

This article has also been published in Planetflier.com here. For more flying stories, check out the Planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot! Photos, videos and text (c) 2019 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Santa Barbara biking

Biked in Santa Barbara, in the city, and went to the Shoreline Beach for a walk on the beach and in the waves.

Nice. I love Santa Barbara!

Bikes can be rented from hotels, in this case Hotel Milo. 

This article has also been published here. Read all biking stories at planetbiker.net, swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2014 by Jari Arkko.

Velaatta swim

Had a summer swim in Velaatan uimaranta, in Velaatta -- north of Tampere and still within the borders of the city. This is also north of our summer cottage and easily accessible. A simple beach, with a small pier, sand, some rocks and grass growing on the water on the side. Nice swim for a nice day.

There's a basic toilet, changing room, and an area for beach volleyball. The beach is on the Velaatanjärvi, the Velaatta lake.

Official information from the Tampere pages about this beach is available here. Scroll to the last page within the list... Tampere has *many* swimming beaches :-)

This article has also appeared here. Read all swimming stories at planetswimmer.com and sauna articles at saunablogger.cool. Or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos and text (c) 2022 by Jari Arkko.

Ruskotunturi

Yay for the local ski hills. This is yet another stop on my and Tero's drive back from the north, this time stopping at Ruskotunturi, a ski hill in Oulu. Our previous stop was an hour and half ago in another northwest coast ski hill, Kallin Hiihtokeskus (reported here).

This was during the pandemic, so we were just alone, touring Finland by car. 

I also managed an off piste at this late April time, by going to the skier's left from the top. There was untouched snow! And Tero picked me up from the roadside on our way home. Thank you!

There were jumps on the slope, though again at this late time they were not really made of snow, but from dirt and ... hay or sawdust? Interesting...

The Ruskotunturi's home page is here. Coordinates are N 65.064243 E 25.539699. A day ticket is 27 euros. 

The hill:

Infrastructure:

Off-piste tour:

This article has also been published here. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2021 by Jari Arkko.