Bird Poo

"It is bird poo". I'm looking at the ski area webcam and there is a spot of white on the green. My friend does not believe I'm seeing snow, and she is a local here in Virginia. But I think it is worth a shot, particularly since I have nothing to do on Saturday morning, having completed the week's meetings and heading back to Europe in the evening.

It took only six hours to drive to the Wintergreen resort and back, but it was worth it. The white spot was snow*. A two second run down the snow, and I need to head to the airport. Gotta admit the ratio of skiing time versus travel time was on the low side, though.

But I bagged Virginia. State #17 in North America.

*) Or a very cold piece of bird poo.

Wintergreen

Virginia has no real mountains or very cold weather. As such, the skiing options are limited. I liked the Wintergreen resort, however. The area is full of accommodation, golf and ski opportunities, restaurants and other services. But most importantly, it resides on very beautiful hills. The Virginia countryside is just wonderful in May, when the trees display all possible variations of green colour.



The ski area is a three hour drive away from Washington DC.

Photo and video credits (c) 2013 by Jari Arkko. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi.

Dublin

There is great skiing in Ireland. Even in the summer. Really.

It is Sunday and I'm spending the afternoon with Matt Campbell from the Ski Club of Ireland. We are in the outskirts of Dublin, sampling different qualities of fake plastic snow in the club's ski hill. I like the hard, brushy surface better than the soft, white beginner's surface. The white plastic feels like packed powder, but somehow I find the surface a bit too soft. I can understand that the beginners like it though, the 40 cm of padding under the surface will ease the falls. 

The harder surface feels like a groomed, icy slope. It works best at high speed and is fun to ski, but you have to be prepared for it to be very slippery. I am particularly happy with the effect the sprinklers have on the ski slope, this is much closer to a real snow feeling than what I got in Edinburgh last year. 

I feel bad about the sprinklers though, as Matt was kind enough to open the ski area just for me. I ask if they have to pay for the water. Luckily, the answer is no. The water comes from a stream, and can be reused.

By spraying water, the ski area could be operated through the year. Not that there is usually any snow in Dublin in the winter, though on some years there may be snow for a week or two. But the customers are unlikely to come during the summer, so in practice the ski area is open only from November to March.

Skiing on the hard surface is a bit unnerving though. The large holes in the brush pattern are likely to catch your thumb if you fall. Or the surface can hurt your skin. This is why I'm skiing with gloves on, and with pants and a heavy jacket. And I'm discovering one reason why the crowds may not spend a lot of time here in the summers. These clothes are pretty warm for the weather.

The ski club has three slopes and four ski lifts on its small hill. A cafeteria, rental equipment shop, and ticket office are housed in a small building next to the slope. This is yet another community owned and volunteer-operated ski area. The club members organise races, practice on the runs, and also embark on joint trips elsewhere in the world. Wonderful!

After ski? Guinness. Enough said.

By the way, normally I love travel. But now I am exhausted. I'm on a work trip where the timezone changes every couple of days from Finland to California to DC to Dublin to Geneva. Several weeks on the road, not having enough time to fly home even for weekends... and weekends are spent in the air, not getting enough exercise that I would need. On the previous day I got literally two seconds of skiing. Don't get me wrong - this has been a very exciting trip work-wise and the people that I met were just wonderful. I just wish I'd have more time to rest between stops. And I'm flying to Geneva and not having time for skiing. Imagine that!

At the top of the ski area there are some ice-looking pieces. These are wax for the skis!

Photo and video credits (c) 2013 by Jari Arkko. Tämä blogi on olemassa myös suomeksi.

Inverted Heliski

Gotta love the French. Masters of bureaucratic directives. Or circumventing them. Take heliski, for instance. Heliski is illegal in France. But here we are, spending a day with skis and helicopters. For only 60€, to boot.

It turns out that it is illegal to use a helicopter to take us to a mountain. But there is nothing that prevents using one take us from a mountain. So we are using the lifts to take ourselves to the highest mountaintop in Alpe d'Huez, Pic Blanc. And then we ski the backside, choosing any route as long as it gets us to the small village of Clavans le Haut. A scheduled heliservice will then pick us up, and five minutes later we are back in the central parts of Alpe d'Huez. At the cost of only 60€ per a run. Each run is over two kilometers of vertical and in an amazing backcountry that takes time to negotiate through. You can only do one or at most two runs per day. The costs are amazingly low for heliskiing, although for the first time you have to get a guide to learn the route.

The ski route that we chose was Glacier du Grand Sablat.

Dirtbag Heliskiing Options

I have never been to the expensive heliskiing operations in North America that can set you back 5 000$ or 10 000$ a week. And not just because of the money. Somehow these ultra-luxurious services are not even attractive. People who take them boast about the amount of vertical they get to do during the days and how it is all only perfect powder. But for me, skiing only powder would be akin to drinking only Champagne. It would get boring very quickly. You need to put in some effort as well, some traversing, skiing on in difficult conditions, or walking should be required. And the route in Alpe d'Huez had that. We do get back by the helicopter, but before that we've traversed a bit, walked a bit, and experienced all snow conditions from a meter of light powder to ice and wet slush.

A couple of years ago we paid 300€ for one special-request heliski ride in Alagna, Italy. We landed on a col near Monte Rosa, at 4250 meters and my skiing altitude record at the time. Even our half-empty copter was struggling to generate the lift to move at these altitudes. When we landed, we had to stay under the helicopter as it lifted off, for we could not put our skis on near the helicopter. And moving on the glacier without skis even for few meters could have been dangerous. The three kilometer run down the mountain from this spot was an adventure, including for instance, having to ski roped through crevassed areas.

A long, long time ago I went with a student group to Kittefjäll in Sweden. At the time they had one ski lift and two helicopters. At the end of the season the cost of full day heliskiing in the nearby mountains was 50€. The pilots doubled as bar tenders in the evening. I do not know if this service still exists or even if the place is still there, but it was a great experience. And again, the snow in the mountains in Sweden is not all powder. But skiing on hard, wind-blown snow forms on top may have been more interesting than mere deep powder.

Don't Miss the Last Helicopter!

The next day at Alpe d'Huez we returned to the same route. And took our time exploring the area and taking photographs, ending up at the village too late. The last heliride for the day had already gone. What now?

We succeeded in hiring a local farmer - who spoke no word of English - to take us back to the ski area with his car. A forty kilometer ride later we had gone around the valleys and had reached the closest ski lift. With just a couple of minutes to spare before the lift would have closed.

Ready to Walk Back?

On the third day we chose to abort our descent just before dropping into the village, and have our guide lead us on a hike back to a ridge where we could ski to Alpe d'Huez. The vertical rise was not more than a few hundred meters, but it was a tough walk for me. At the top of the ridge we reached a hut and enjoyed a drink. Interestingly, a barrel sauna was sitting next to the hut. It would have been even more fun to be able to use it. But we were due back to the ski area, and had no time.

Practical Details

We hired our guide from the ski area's guide office. Our guide was Patrick Guillaume.

This article is about our trip that happened in January. An earlier article described the tunnel ski run, but I ski too much to be able to write about everything on a timely basis.

Here is Jarmo's full-length video about our trip to Alpe d'Huez:



Photo and video credits (c) 2013 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth. Tämä artikkeli löytyy myös suomeksi.

Season Is NOT Over

The above picture aside, the skiing season is not over at all, not even here in the Helsinki region. Grani and Swinghill were still operating today, and Grani will run a couple of more days in the coming week. And in the other ski areas you can always hike up. And the weather is excellent. Get up, get out, get up, and come down!

I wanted to do a tour of the closed ski areas in the region. But Grani was still open the full day, and the owners were running Nuuksio's Swinghill in the morning. I only got to Nuuksio in the afternoon, so with the exception of Grani, I hiked up in all of these hills. This was my Sunday exercise, so it was important to actually have to put in some effort!

I went to the following ski areas:

• Mankkaa snow dumping ground: Snow situation is good, but the recently rained one foot of sand is making it difficult to find the snow. Not recommended for your number one skis. However, I suspect that ice climbing opportunities are soon excellent. 
• Laajalahti sledging run, "Taivari": Snow situation is reasonable. Crossing the water-filled sections at high speed has been found to be interesting for kids and kid-minded people. No lift.
• Grani: Snow situation is excellent. I am pretty sure that this year we will be skiing on Glacier du Kauniainen in June. The ski lift will be closed on Thursday, however, but before that you can catch it from 6pm to 8pm. Recommended! 
• Swinghill: Snow situation is good. There are plenty of jumps and other activities on the slopes, at the same level as the upper parking lot. So this is a good place for snowboarders, for instance. The area is closed, so you will not spend much money on lift tickets. Skinning up is good for you.
• Peuramaa: Snow situation is good. Golfers are threatening to take the area over, however.

Mankkaa:

Laajalahti:

Grani:

Swinghill:

Peuramaa:

Photo and video credits (c) 2013 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth. Tämä blogiartikkeli löytyy myös suomeksi.

Druskininkai

Country number 36 is Lithuania. I visited Snow Arena in southern Lithuania, near the border to Poland and Belarus. Snow Arena is a unique indoor-outdoor ski center, something that I have not seen before anywhere. The indoor ski hall operates throughout the year, but during the winter they open an exit from the top of the structure. An elevated "bridge" carries the upper part of the outdoor slope, which then continues along the natural terrain.








Indoor

The indoor slope is one long, straight slope. The entry to the slope, though is from the middle, and a small beginners slope is near the entry as well.

Along the slope there are plenty of jumps, rails, and even an air-filled landing pad for acrobatic jumps. The slope is of medium steepness, steep enough to ski down comfortably, but not very steep. Turning indoor slopes like the one in Dubai are better in this respect. But I enjoyed Snow Arena's slope, particularly the various extra activity spots.

The exit door to the outdoor slope is visible in the middle of this picture:







Ice Bar


The ski area is well-equipped with various services. At the top of the slope there is an ice bar with interesting snow and ice structures. There is also a fine-dining restaurant with a great view, accessible to outsiders by a separate lift. (And perhaps mostly outsiders, it was closed for the skiers when I was there.)

Gear is included in the lift ticket prices, and in addition there are ski school services.

Outdoor

The outdoor slope was unfortunately closed at the time as I was visiting in April. I looked for an exit door that I could open from the indoor slope, but found none. I hiked around the outdoor slope (which was still fully covered with snow) to find a way to enter, but found nothing else than fences and security cameras.

Oh well, I did get some outdoor skiing, as I skied down the side of the slope towards the road. On untracked, soft snow!









Practical Details

Snow Arena is at Druskininkai, a popular recreation area that hosts spas, restaurants, and beautiful nature. This would have been an interesting area to spend some more time at. Recommended!



Druskininkai is 1 hour and 40 minutes away from the aiport in Vilnus. While the airport is a very nice, old-style building with modern insides, there seems to less flights to Vilnus than to neighboring countries. For instance, Finnair does not fly to Vilnus on Sundays, so I chose to go on a Saturday. I had a very productive weekend, by the way - Saturday in Lithuania and Sunday in Åland, and still found time to do a lot with my son on Friday and Saturday evenings.





Day tickets for Snow Arena cost 85 LTL for adults. This is about 26 €, i.e., relatively inexpensive.

I thought totem poles were something that only the North-American natives did, but there are also plenty in Lithuania:



Photos and videos (c) 2013 by Jari Arkko. Tämä blogi löytyy myös suomeksi.

Skiing in Åland

It is mid April and the sun is shining. Is there still some snow left somewhere? There is, at Åland! The Åland islands between Sweden and Finland are known for their sunny summers and flat landscape. I took a boat there to investigate if there'd be any skiing.

Surprisingly, during the winters there is snow. And a ski area: Germundö Alpin is the local ski club hill, with one lift and two runs. It is even smaller than my home ski hill, but a fun place to ski at. And I like these community-run ski areas! They are next door to the people who ski there, no need for wasting time on travel (like I always do). You can ski couple of hours on a school evening. Most of the skiers are kids and thoroughly enjoying their experience, despite the hills being small.

At Germundö, an anchor lift takes the skiers up the hill. You can ski down either straight on the main, relatively steep slope on the left, or take the swirly and less steep right side. On the right side run there are some areas for potential off-piste skiing. But at this time of the year there isn't enough snow left for that.

The ski area sits next to a lake. As I admired the views, alone and in silence, I could hear sheep make noise on the other side of the lake. Definitely a rural area. 

At bottom there is a large warehouse and a tiny cafe. I read from somewhere that they even have gear rentals. I was unable to check out the lifts or cafes, however, as the are had closed for the season a couple of weeks ago. I kept hiking up in soft snow, carrying my gear, until I got tired. The skiing was fun. I always like skiing in soft snow. Even if this time the snow was soft for my feet, but on skis it was still somewhat firm. For this late in the winter this is exceptional. I'm sure there will be snow far into May, at least. 

But the snow had been melting a bit, enough to create a few dangerous crevasses.

Freeskiing for the Cannibals

Since I had come all the way from the mainland, I did not want to stay only at the ski area. On my way to the area I had been on the lookout for other hills. On the return trip I stopped at a hill near Jettböle. A rocky hill with some snow left. As I approached the hill, I found a parking place with a sign explaining the historic significance of the site. Five thousand years ago, the early inhabitants of Åland lived in a village here. Archeological excavations have uncovered some aspects of the life from those early days, and it turns out that the inhabitants practised cannibalism.

There is still a village in Jettböle. I do not think they practice cannibalism any more. Although the people that walked by did look at me in a weird way. I've been used to this when I carry my skis in the odd places, like on the streets of Hong Kong. Maybe it is the same thing here at Jettböle. Or maybe they were hungry?

In the historic times the sea level was higher, and the beach was on the field. Now I walked through the field, carrying my skis. I climbed and skied the hill. But it was too steep with too little snow left. Not a good experience for me, and a very bad experience for my skis. But I got down safely. With more snow, this area would be a more interesting place to ski. Maybe with lots of snow even the open cliff area would be skiable. But not in April.

Details, Details,

Germundö has about 40 meters of vertical (120 feet). Here is some additional information about the ski area on the tourist information center's pages. The area is at the Lavovägen, the route from Marienhamn can be found from this link. And the ski club's Facebook pages are here.

Jettböle map can be found here.

The entire Åland is pretty quiet outside the main tourist season. Particularly on Sundays. The one and only restaurant open in the whole city on Sunday was Kino, a small pizzeria. It is located in the same building as the Kino nightclub, the most popular club in the city. But it is not open on Sundays, either. And the pizzeria closed its doors at 9 pm.

But I can definitely recommend Hotel Savoy. I did not spend the night in Åland this time, as I arrived in the afternoon from Turku by boat and left at midnight towards Helsinki, again on a boat. But after all the climbing I felt like a shower would be needed. For a couple of Euros I was able to book the sauna in the hotel. There is also a bar in the hotel lobby, open until midnight, and an excellent, free wireless LAN. Recommended!

Oh, and Hong Kong: the locals do not seem to know that their city has the eight wonder of the world: an infinitely long ski run.

Videos and pictures (c) 2013 Jari Arkko. The finnish language version of the blog is here.