Skiing the Planet

Saturday, February 3, 2024

Väsjöbacken: night skiing in northern Stockholm

The nice work trip turned even nicer with an evening visit to the Vasjöbacken, local ski hill somewhere between Kista and Arlanda. Not bad at all!

Väsjöbacken is a super active training place for kids wanting to be racers. Nice, reminds of my home town ski hill in this sense. But it is also not a bad ski hill in other ways, it is big enough to have slopes going in multiple directions, the slopes are long enough to get some rhythm in.

And the views! While I was there in the night, the lake next door was wonderful in the clear weather.

On site there's a nice cafeteria. Bathrooms are in a separate building at the bottom of the slopes.

To get to the slopes one has to park quite far (0.5 - 1km away) and walk. Next to the slope there is only official vehicles and a turning place where you can drop people but not park.

The official home page of the slopes is here.

See also my other article about the hotel I stayed in, to get to Väsjöbacken I needed a car, and ... well read the article :-) And there's also yet another article on how I managed with my skis in the Bromma airport...

Video:

Photos:

Lake:

Cafeteria:

The Studio Sauna Again

I've been here before, but again... The Studio Hotel is a modern but nice hotel in Kista, where I often have to visit for work. The rooms are pretty small, but it is very affordable (61€ per night), has a good breakfast, is walkable but not too near to the offices, has parking, and most importantly, has a good sauna that is open late night.

This time I was particularly happy as I was allowed to use their sauna even in the evening after checking out. It took only few minutes to warm up, and had me warmed up after some walks in the cold and windy streets. And fresh and clean for traveling home :-)

Parking was important for me, see my other article on skiing in the neighborhood. For going to the skiing I needed a car.

Walks in Kista:

Returning the car to the Bromma airport (see another article):

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never photograph pools, beaches or saunas unless the facility is closed or empty.

Siltamäki suburb swimming hall

I realized there's more swimming pools in the Helsinki area that I have not visited. Today I visited the Siltamäki swimming pool. a small sports facility in the suburb of Siltamäki in Helsinki. My expectations were not high, and the pool being four lanes, 17m long, and only 80cm deep for half it... it wasn't a super good place for laps in the pool. But, it was a nice visit to a new place! And the sauna was just perfect temperature and design.

All in all, a good place to do a quick visit to the saunas and showers, and some dip in the water. Difficult for longer swimming attempts.

The place is altogether small, but you will also not find crowds.

The Siltamäki facilities are run by Urheiluhallit, a commercial provider that serves the city. The official page for the facilities is here. There's also a wikipedia article, a newspaper article from their 50th anniversary in 2023, and a blog article on how the pool can be booked for children's birthday parties or maybe even a bachelor party :-)

And in 2020 there was a chemical accident in the facility (no on hurt, fortunately, no word on whether this was a regular accident or due to a bachelor party...)

Surrounded by services (pubs etc):

Bromma lounge

I travel less than I used to. Good for me, good for the environment. However, sometimes I get to travel, and it is to see new places, go skiing, or work with your colleagues. After a long pause I visited Sweden for work, and on return flew through my local airport, Bromma.

The airport has been renewed recently, so now there's a lounge inside the secure area, the BRA VIP Lounge. I was there close to the closing time, and actually it was kind of an off day for the airport since most flights to southern Sweden were cancelled due to high winds. But Finland was still OK :-)

The lounge is small, but has some sandwiches, juice, coffee, has bathrooms and WiFi. They could have more power plugs though. Only few of the tables had them, and not the ones where it was comfortable to sit :-)

On the way in I had plenty of luggage (due to the skiing adventure during one of my evenings). And the checkin was not open yet. I ended up sitting in the empty airport, in the empty restaurant, enjoying a meal of Swedish meatballs :-) Fortunately I had a my friend, the Skibag with me sitting in the table. The conversations we had!

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Frozen car and key

Sigh, car frozen after few days at the outdoor (cheap) parking place in the Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

Oh well, it did open after five minutes of trying. And did so even before breaking the key :-)

(I was coming back from a work trip I Sweden, where I also managed to ski a bit and visit the sauna...)

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Lago di Como tower ruins

Castello Baradello is a fortress on a nice hill above present day Como, with great views of the city and the lake. Fortresses on this site date back to the 6th century, although the current fortress was rebuilt in the 13th century. This is also the site of the original settlement in Como.

Today only the tower remains, much of the rest has been destroyed in the 16th century in fear of it falling in the hands of the enemy.

The coordinates for the tower are . It can be visited during opening hours, but even when it is not open one can walk up the hill and tour the top of the hill and around the castle, essentially only missing the insides of the tower. Much recommended!

At the top there's a picnic area, an old water cistern-pond, a small tower, the main castle ruins with the still standing tower, and stretches of old castle walls.

The coordinates for the tower are N 45.794127 E 9.086032.

Views over Como and Lago di Como:

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2024 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Tower of Velate

The Velate tower is in town of Varese northwest of Milan. It is in ruins, only two sides of the tower remain.

But it is an interesting sight!

The coordinates of the tower are N 45.840353 E 8.792560.

Saturday, January 20, 2024

Grani hill 90 years!

My local ski hill in Kauniainen turned 90 today. This little hill got the first ski lift in Finland in 1934. Congratulations!

Today the ski club on the hill, GrIFK Alpine, hosts an extensive training program from beginners to racers. This winter their program is training 40 people for instructors, and 500 small kids to ski. In addition, the club has produced Finland's more racers than any other club in Finland. The typically have several World Cup ski racers.

The hill is close enough for me to walk to it. I often start and end my season there, skiing when the first snow falls and when the last patch of snow melts in late May or June :-)

Video:

Photos:

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Enough is enough?

Is this enough car window cleaning?