Winter break week has arrived in Finland

Where has all the time gone?  It seems like it was just Christmas and now suddenly the ski week also known as the "winter break" has arrived.  Every school in Finland has one week off in February and that week changes depending on what part of the country you live in.  The goal is that that everyone doesn't take the week off at the same time.  Seems like a reasonable plan and then one would expect that every ski resort or vacation spot is not surrounded with millions of screaming children.  :)

What does the typical Finnish family do for a winter break?  That really depends on the family's budget and its interests.  It seems that there are two distinct types of vacations that people take during the Finnish winter holiday.  There are the sun seekers who just need a break from the long Finnish winter and there are the snow lovers, who enjoy skiing, sledding, ice skating and other outdoor winter sports.  There might even be a lucky few families who manage to do a little of both during the week long break.  The sun seekers from Finland have a few favorite destination spots.  The most popular by far seems to be the Canary Islands.  The folks from the United States might have no clue about this small cluster of Islands off the coast of Northern Africa owned by Spain.  I haven't been there myself, but it seems the Canary Islands have taken over as the Hawaiian Islands alternative for Europeans.  There are a few other sunny options in February, but none quite as popular as the Canary Islands.  Other prominent destinations for sun seeking Finns include Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in Northern Africa.  For those more adventurous with additional time on their hands, some might even venture all the way to Thailand.   There are direct flights from Helsinki to Thailand and those are growing more popular with Finns. The southern European countries of Spain, Greece and Italy are beautiful and pleasant in the winter, but also might be a bit cool this time a year so they are not as popular.

Then there is the snow sports seeking crowd. There are a multitude of options for these folks.  Many loyal to their country decide to fly or drive up to Lapland for a pseudo downhill ski vacation.  I say pseudo because if you aren't really that familiar with Finland, it is a very flat country.  The northern part of the country (Lapland, etc.) gets a bit steeper, but I think the largest mountain is Halti at only 1,324 meters.  I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and we have a 1,024 meter mountain alongside my little home town.  Suffice to say there are many 1 kilometer mountains in California and we even see mountains in the 2 and 3+ kilometer range.  Others may choose to go exploring the Alps and other wonderful ski places throughout Europe.   There are many choices scattered throughout Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria and other countries.   The budget minded stay home and hit the local cross country trails, sledding hills and some small downhill resorts.  For example, within 5 to 10 minutes from my home there are hundreds of kilometers of cross country ski trails, sledding hills and natural ice rinks.  Our kids should have plenty of activities to choose from if we stay local.  I prefer to cross country ski when I have the time because it is such a great overall exercise and it is a great way to get out to the nature at the same time.  My kids enjoy skating, sledding and building snowmen.

Winter is cold, winter is long, winter is horrible.... Yea, you have already heard it all from many Finnish blogs, and I have been guilty myself of repeating similar thoughts.  In spite of everything, winter is also a joyous time of the year and the snow scenery can be captivating and magical.  Make the most of it and then take the pleasure to know that once old man winter decides to crawl back into his cave there will be bright days ahead for many months.

Ski break week and Shrovetide cake day

This week commenced the annual ski break week in Southern Finland (Helsinki metro area).  Finland rotates this ski week with the rest of the country so that everyone doesn't go on break at the same time.  While it traditionally is time to get away and hit the slopes, it seems that many Finnish families enjoy this week by seeking out sun in order to escape the winter doldrums.   It becomes a mix of families heading up north to Lapland to hit the downhill ski resorts and some flying off to the Canary Islands or Thailand to soak in some sun.  What most people in the US don't probably know is that Finland is not a downhill skiing paradise.  Just because it snows here for a solid 3-4 months, doesn't mean that the country is loaded with chairlifts and ski resorts.  Actually most of the substantial downhill ski areas are in Lapland to the north and they are not very convenient to reach via car.  One must drive 7-10 hours north to get to Lapland where most of the resorts reside, so most Finnish families end up flying.  Finland is definitely more of a cross-country skiers wonderland as there are copious amounts of trails for this in just about every city. For many Finns it seems that cross country skiing is exercise to replace walking in the winter.

Our family enjoyed 2 consecutive days at a designated cross country ski area in Helsinki called Paloheinä.   This place featured many kilometers of cross country skiing in very diverse terrain.  There was a mix of fields, forests and some kiddie practice tracks.  The coolest thing about this ski area was the huge sledding hill.  This sledding hill was long and wide and resembled a small downhill ski run minus any major bumps.  Daring kids were whizzing down this gargantuan hill at breakneck speed, seemingly immune to any danger.  My son and daughter went tandem most of the time and avoided collisions with the other sledders. They are slowly getting their confidence up on these sledding hills, while it seems that the Finnish kids have courage in their DNA makeup.  

This week Finland also just celebrated a quirky little Holiday called Laskiaispulla paiva or Shrovetide cake day.  Laskiaispulla is a cardamon spiced wheat bun that has it's top cut off and the insides scooped out, and the resulting space filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream.  The practice of Shrovetide, or Shrove Tuesday was originally a Catholic tradition known for eating pancakes and other sweet things before the start of Lent.  In Finland and other Nordic countries the feast day was strictly held on Tuesday, but the Protestants relaxed the tradition and Sunday became the traditional day for the feast. I tried a few of these tasty treats freshly baked right out of the oven.  Very nice, you should try pulla when visiting Finland!   

Finnish Shrovetide cakes

Cross-country versus downhill skiing

Took entire family out for cross-country skiing this past weekend in Espoo.  We ventured down to the only currently open cross-country ski track which is located near Lake Bodom in Espoo.  The place was absolutely packed with various skiers and families just out to frolic in the snow and sled down the hills.   Even though we are all still just getting our feet wet, we had a great time and look forward to many more outdoor adventures on skis.  Being a California native, I am really only used to downhill skiing and let me tell you, cross-country and downhill skiing are worlds apart.  They each have their pros and cons, but I would have to say that for all around nature and exercise, cross-country skiing is the king.   With downhill skiing you wear a very heavy and tightly locked ski boot and it clicks into your binding, but can easily pop out if necessary for safety.  Also, downhill skis are much wider than the cross country version.  Cross-country uses smaller boots which are essentially as comfortable as hiking shoes, but they also have a small metal bar in the front which locks into your ski.  The downside is that cross country boots do not release when you fall, they need to be clicked out by pushing a button on the binding.

Which one is better to actually do?  This is all a matter of personal preference of course.  But if you are an endurance sports nut like myself (swimming, triathlon, running, hiking), then cross country would be your preference.   Don't get me wrong downhill skiing is very fun, but it is mainly about getting to the top of the hill and flying down as fast as you can.  It can be quite exhilarating and thrilling when you are flying down the hill at breakneck speeds, but there is always that fear factor of crashing which happens to the best of us.  Falling down a hill at extreme speeds is no laughing matter.  With cross country skiing, it can be more of an escape to the nature, like hiking with skis on. Cross-country skiing is typically done in little tracks that are made in the snow, but you could also just ski over the smooth snow.  With cross country skiing you essentially shuffle your legs and arms simultaneously back and forth over the flat surface to move forward and you "walk" up steep hills with the skis in a V position.  Screw the chairlifts, time to walk up those hills, baby!  If you have never tried cross-country, it is one hell of a workout.  I honestly cannot think of a better way to get in all around shape than spending a few hours a week on cross-country skis.  You are getting a leg, arm and even stomach workouts all in one. Technically there are 2 distinct types of cross-country skiing now, the classic type (shuffle motion) and the skating (like ice skating on skis) type of skis.  I wanted to do both, but then I found that one needs to purchase additional equipment (boots, bindings, skis) for each one.  Ouch!  One equipment investment at a time I guess.  What's nice is that after the initial equipment investment, you never need to pay to use the many parks that offer cross-country ski tracks in Finland.

When you live in a Nordic country like Finland, there are many places to cross-country ski, assuming the snowfall has been good.  We supposedly have over 30 areas in our city of Espoo alone for skiing.  It is great to see so many Finns out and about enjoying the nature and getting their exercise via cross-country skiing.  It must be in their blood, as I even noticed that they are encouraging skiing during recess at my 5 year old son's school. So grab your skis and go out and enjoy the nature.