Skiing the Planet

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Broken Ribs

I had an accident on a horse, skiing an ancient volcano in Africa. As people do. Broken ribs and a horseshoe-shaped bruise on my side. But I did manage to ski the remaining ski areas in Morocco. And ski down with the broken ribs.

But back to the beginning. I was in Morocco for a meeting (incidentally, we managed to change how the Internet is administered). After six days of difficult meetings, I was about to leave for the next meeting but had a day or two free first. I wanted to ski the other places than Oukaïmeden that I had skied my previous visit to Morocco. There are a few other ski areas listed in Morocco, but only two appear to actually exist today: Michlifen and Jbel Habri, both near the town of Ifrane in northern Morocco. This area is often called the Switzerland of Morocco.

After a gruelling day-long taxi drive to the Middle Atlas mountain range, I settled in the Michlifen Ifrane Suites and Spa, a hotel that indeed does bring Swiss luxury to mind. The two ski areas are just outside the town.

The first ski area I visited was Michlifen. The entire area is covered by Moroccan tourists and kids who play in snow. The kids love it, I cannot imagine that they see snow too often! The highest mountain forms the actual ski area. There's one lift, and it is no longer operating this season, although I would have thought there was enough snow. I climb up and ski down in mostly untouched hard snow. At the bottom there are again tons of people photographing themselves in the snow, playing with sledges, etc. This is a nice, sunny area. I wonder what it feels like in the coldest part of the year. And if the lift really is ever running.

Next up was Jbel Habri, some 10 kilometres further. This volcanic cone sits on otherwise fairly flat land, and I cannot see any signs of a ski lift. My plan was to walk up the 100 or so meters, but as I start my way up, a guy appears in front of me with a horse, suggesting that he can take me up. Plenty of people ride the horse, so I figure it would be fun.

On the way up the horse stops a couple of times, with the owner trying to pull it forward with a rope. I didn't think much of it, but the next time it doesn't just stop, it objects wildly, rears, starts jumping and runs away. I tried to hold on, but couldn't. It might have been better to be just thrown out, but I ended up having one of my boots stuck, dragged along by the horse. Once I got free, I slid down the slope.

Everything happened too fast for me to remember the details. Fortunately I didn't hit my head. But I was clearly hurt in chest and back. And breathless for some time. Did I fall on top of my camera? Or did the horse kick me? Don't know, but my ribs are broken where there's a horseshoe-shaped big and painful bruise.

After collecting myself and picking up various pieces, like my camera buried in mud, I skied down. It didn't feel right, but was probably the easiest way to get down. And allowed me to collect the skiing of this hill!

My driver took me to the local hospital, where I got X-rays done which showed that I was generally OK but had some broken ribs. The next day I flew to London, as I was supposed to continue my trip with a workshop in California. London also offered a convenient place for me to show the damage to western doctors. Curiously, you have to wait much longer for admission in a London clinic than in Africa. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was asked to stay put and not fly in this condition, so I didn't get to go to my interesting workshop.

Now, couple of days later it felt like the right decision. Just recovering from the damage takes a lot of energy. Couple of days later I flew home, feeling better. But I won't be skiing for a while, maybe a month. Or riding...

Lessons from this? I'm very unhappy that I didn't get to go my super-interesting workshop. And I suppose it wasn't such a great idea to ride a horse without really knowing anything about it. And attempting to have an adventure every weekend... just based on the pure odds, I have to be more careful to not hurt myself.

But mostly, I should learn to keep my GoPro on, for once again I have an accident that didn't get on the video. Darn.

Here were by the way my accommodations in Medina, the old town of Marrakesh during my meetings. The old town looks scary, and the traversing the dark corridors at night is unnerving. But inside the Riads it can still be luxurious.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Taking the Nysse to the Slopes

Tampere. A great destination for the winter vacation. But can you take the city bus to the slopes? Yes you can.

There are two ski areas, but also skating on the Näsijärvi lake, and even some caves along the road back home to south. But back to the skiing. Nysse, local slang for the bus, takes you to Mustavuori (black mountain) ski areas on routes 17 or 29, and to Hervanta on routes 13, 23, or 30. "Nysse" stands for "Nys se tulee" and has become to mean the bus, instead of the act of coming ("now it is coming") that it literally stands for.

Both ski areas are local small hills, but clearly with good vibes with many kids playing around, big air jumps, and small cafeterias. And even a grill in both places, with sausages available for sale from the cafeteria! Very nice.

On Näsijärvi you can skate along a snow-plowed path and rent the skates from the Bikini Bar on the lake shore. Although bikinis are furthest away from your mind when visiting their snow covered hut. The route is very nice, along shore next to the Näsinneula observation tower, and then onwards to the small lighthouse in a rocky outcrop, Siilinkari, in the middle of the lake. I always wanted to visit Siilinkari, and now it was possible!

And then to the caving: I visited the Hirvi-Simuna cave in Lempäälä. This is a set of broken-up large boulders, with some space left under the stones. Hirvi-Simuna was a local hunter in the 1800s and lived in the cave. The main rooms in the cave are relatively big for being under a boulder. But the most interesting part was a crack between two rocks, a very tight squeeze to go see. You can turn around in the middle, and going all the way in didn't feel right, not head first at least. I also wanted to come back from the cave. Anyway, a good cave to visit, and will certainly will give a day's worth of claustrophobia!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Torhola

Caves in Finland may be small, but fortunately also claustrophobia-inducing. Caves are also not well known, but this one has an actual road sign and a parking lot!

On the last Sunday of January, we collected our regular team of experienced cave researchers, ranging from 11 year olds to adults, and headed to Lohja. The Torhola cave is easily reached, and the longest karst cave in Finland. It has been measured to be 32 meters in length, and the difference between its highest and lowest parts is 12 meters.

The winter makes caves and entrances to them icy, but it also makes rock even prettier than usual. Ice stalactites grow from the roof and floor. And beautiful frost covers surfaces!

The main entrance to the cave is big enough to walk in. Or as it may be, slide in on your bottom. The main chamber begins right from the entrance. A large, open space chamber by Finnish standards, blocky rock forms covered by that frost.

There are cracks and even some side entrances to choose from, and exploring the cave, despite its size, can take a long time. We didn't explore everything, and even we stayed for three hours in the cave.

The main attraction of the cave is at the furthermost point of the main chamber. If we had not read about it, we would not have found it. A narrow hole lets you drop into a lower level a meter and half below. You'll not see what you are dropping into, so it is a bit of a leap of faith. And the hole is very small, it is easy to get stuck or claustrophobic.

When you get to the lower level, there is a small chamber where two paths split to the left and right. I thought I had read the right one continues further, so I tried to take that path. With a small stream of water at the bottom, and ice forms constricting the already narrow path, I started to get very claustrophobic. I took myself half way through the tightest point, but then decided to crawl back - backwards. My friends from the Finnish Caving Society didn't feel so scared, however, apparently you can go through even in these conditions and turn around in the very small chamber right after the tight squeeze. In a pool of water. I don't know, way too extreme for me. What if you get stuck?

Fortunately, we decided to look down the left path as well, and realised that I had remembered the instructions wrong. The left path continues a few meters further down through relatively narrow passages, but ends in a bigger space called the Torhola Basement. From there on, the tunnel continues just a meter or two until it is blocked by a rock. The rumour is that if you reach your hand around the rock, and someone reaches their hand from another entrance to the cave, your hands can touch. We tried the other entrance later, and it was way too small for me to enter. My head does not fit through the hole, let alone my fat ass! Although the hole might be easier to go through in the summer, if the leaves at the bottom of the hole could be pushed aside. We'll have to return.

Aside from the other entrance, there are also a couple of other smaller caves around the area, away from the lake towards the forest.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Cave Skiing

I like caves and skiing, of course, but it is rare that the two mix. But in Cervinia there's small cave that you can ski through. If you dare.

The cave can be found right next to the Rocce Nere 1 ski run, among a set of towering rock columns. You can get to this run via the Pancheron chair lift, and the exact location of the cave can be found this Google Maps link.

The cave is small, something that would be classified as cave only in cave-poor Finland. It is formed from a large rock that has cracked and created a opening 70-90 cm wide, with another big rock forming a roof. What makes this cave interesting is that you can ski through it. Depending on snow conditions it can be quite easy to enter, but the exit is more demanding. The exit is much lower than the entrance, and while the crack is straight and wide enough to be skied in, you'll begin your exit by dropping an almost vertical slope for about two meters. From there on the, the slope curves nicely, but as long as you are within the crack, there is a chance of colliding with the side walls. The left wall, in particular, curves slightly toward you before the final exit. And after exit there are rocks in the ground that need to be well covered by snow before you dare ski over them.

It isn't much of an issue, but I didn't want to hit any of the rocks at high speed, so I spent a long time pondering whether I'd dare ski down. In the end I gave up, and we continued skiing elsewhere with Jarmo. But later I returned, determine to ski through, and did.

We also visited the touristy ice cave at the top of the ski station on Klein Matternhorn. You take a lift couple of floors down, walk through an ice tunnel to enter a bigger area with various halls, sculptures, and even an ice slide. Unfortunately, as we were about to take a slide, the personnel came to close the cave for the day. Interestingly, the cave is constantly being formed and re-formed, and there's even a small excavator within an area of the cave that is being built. I'm not sure how they got the excavator in to the cave, how they will get it back out, and how they get fresh air in the cave while it works.

We also skied in many places outside the official slopes in Cervinia. More on that in later blog posts, but be aware of hitting bathtubs while out there! We run into one on our excursions. I wanted to turn it around and sit in it, but I was scared that it might start sliding down, so we left it alone.

I've been to Cervinia before, but had not stayed in the village. The village is surprisingly small, but big enough to have one food market and many small restaurants. The restaurant that we most liked was "Ymeletrob", a place that mixes a bar to a grill and to a fine-dining establishment. I recommend the salmon hamburger, in particular. Followed by chocolate fondue. Naturally.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Shit! Helsinki Parks.

I am envious of Tero, because he managed to ski on horse shit. I still haven't managed that.

Helsinki city centre offers more than the usual things. When it has dumped snow, the city parks (or even the church steps) offer a good place for small ski runs.

We decided to tour the Helsinki city centre parks:

Sinebrychoff: One of the best, and most compact parks in Helsinki, on a sloping hill. However, full of people with their kids and pulkkas (sledges), so we decided to go elsewhere.

Kaivopuisto: The biggest, and next to the sea. The slopes on one side are mellow, and the other side is cliffs. Has anyone found a way to ski down the steeper side? Nevertheless, we try skiing on both sides a bit, and then decide to try the horse-drawn sledge that Jarmo had found. I sit on the sledge, but with his short blade skis Tero can hang on the back of the sledge, and ski. Also over the droppings that the horse decides to leave along the route. Very nice!

Observatory Hill: I'm not sure I've actually been here before, but this 30-meter high hill next to the harbour was actually the best for skiing. While there were some pulkka's, there was still plenty of powder left. The hill was steep enough to be skied, and compact enough to walked back up again. And again. And again... as Tero perfected his photoshoot. Good exercise!

Monday, January 25, 2016

Reminder about Påminne

Sun shines on Påminne, the southernmost ski area in Finland. The hill was in bright sunshine under a blue sky, even if the parking lot, the beginning of the lifts, and the rest of Finland was under cloudy skies.

Påminne is about 80 kilometres from Helsinki. Not next door, and I would not even have heard of this place if I hadn't driven past in the summer while visiting the nearby Bilnäsin and Fiskarsin historical industry villages. Those are very interesting tourist destinations, by the way. Very nice rapids and old buildings, although only Fiskars has a museums and restaurants.

In the summer, Påminne has a downhill car run and and in indoor sports arena. Even if the ski area is far away from Helsinki and far in the south, it was a big positive surprise for me. I was expecting something along the lines of my small home hill, but I found 85 meters of vertical difference and 6-7 different ski runs! Påminne should be kept in mind when considering a workday evening outing, instead of the Talma, Nuuksio or Vihti that people normally go to.

The skiing was interesting. The ski run next to the main lifts has a big jumps. The next couple of runs on both sides are relatively steep runs over varying paths down the hill. The newest ski run starts from the right, going almost backwards first. It continues from the right and turns towards the cafeteria in the end.

There are cliffs, rocks, and forest between the ski runs, leaving some space for freeskiing. I particularly liked the area to the right of the jump run, and the area to the left of the newest run. Both have some cliffs, so be careful in finding the right route. But there are some skiable steep parts, and no one else seemed to be skiing them so I found some fresh snow. Well, I got some hits on my skis from the rocky surface underneath. But the winter is progressing and there's more snow in the coming months, I hope!

There was also forest around the ski hill. On the left side there was an open, steep face before the forest begins, but I didn't dare to ski through, as the steep face would have required more snow. On the right side there is a thick forest, but it is not steep at all. I managed to ski down, however, without pushing myself too much. Although I once again fell down in the forest once, having both my skis get stuck under tree trunks.

Overall, Påminne should be kept in mind, as it is a worth small hill to ski in southern Finland!