The New Year's trip to Ylläs has been a tradition of Hydepakki for many years. This year there were eight of us, including four foreign students. First we travelled to Kolari with a night train and then continued the last 40 kilometers with a bus, except Petri, who always prefers cycling. We stayed seven nights in a cabin in Äkäslompolo and during the days we had the option to do cross-country and downhill skiing, cycling, snowshoeing, listening to the traditional New Year's speech of the president of Finland, cooking and eating (a lot) or just relaxing and exploring the town. Äkäslompolo has only around 500 permanent residents, but together with another nearby small town, Ylläsjärvi, they form the second most popular ski resort in Finland. The place is more commonly known as Ylläs, which is the name of the 718 metres high fell between the towns.
Some highlights from the trip were skiing and having a break in nice cafés next to the skiing track, walking on the frozen river and over the fells with snow shoes or even with a bicycle (fatbike), encounters with wild reindeer, the amazing views from the fell and the building of a Chinese snowman and a many meters tall snow castle (Afrizal and Petri spent more than ten hours over three nights to do it). There was plenty of snow and the temperature varied from zero to nearly -30 degrees celcius, but of course there was also possibility to warm up in the sauna.
As always, Ylläs did not disappoint those who enjoy snow activities!
Petri's photos from the trip: https://goo.gl/photos/7Pr3pNDgzt7YS1Gd6
