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Types of Skiing Explained: Alpine, Nordic, Touring & SkateTrip Guide
Six days, 120km, eastern Finland. Long days on skis through pine forest and across frozen lakes, back to a simple guesthouse each night. This guide covers the fitness, the cold, the kit and how the week runs, so you turn up knowing what you’ve signed up for.
You’ll need to fly into Kuusamo, where our set-time group transfer will meet you. It’s around two hours’ drive to the first guesthouse. On the final morning you’ll be leaving from Hossa, which is much closer to the airport, so the run back is about an hour.
Around two hours from Kuusamo Airport to the first guesthouse on arrival day. On the final morning it’s about an hour, because the last two nights are in Hossa, which sits closer to the airport. There’s also a 45 minute drive across to Hossa on Day 6, but that’s part of the week rather than something you need to plan around.
Small airports often close between flights. You’ll need to find somewhere warm to wait, then return to the airport for the transfer. If you fly in the day before it may be better to stay in Helsinki and get your connection the following day, than head to the more remote areas. We can only do one group transfer from and to the nominated airport per trip.
Yes – Finnish airlines connect Helsinki to Kuusamo. You might need overnight stops depending on connections. Norwegian and Ryanair also fly from London to Helsinki if you want to explore the capital.
The ski tour starts at Martinselkonen and finishes at Hossa, so the arrival and departure transfers are different journeys at different prices. Both need to be booked in advance, and the cost is per vehicle, not per person.
Arrival: Kuusamo Airport to Martinselkonen
Departure: Hossa to Kuusamo Airport
If there are others on your trip in the same position, you’re welcome to share a vehicle and split the cost between you. Contact our Bookings Team to arrange it.
You can get a bus to Kuusamo from Oulu (3 hours, from €28), or train from Helsinki to Oulu, then get the bus. This route means you’ll see more of Finland out of the window, but adds complexity. Most people stick with our recommended flights for good reason.
You need to be able to cross-country ski before you come. There’s no tuition on this trip and no time built in to learn. On the fitness side, you need to be active already and ready for six long days in a row.
Six days of skiing, back to back, covering 17 to 23km a day. None of those distances is enormous on its own. What makes this trip challenging is doing them one after another, in the cold, with no rest day in the middle.
The ground rolls rather than lies flat, so there are climbs and there are descents, and you’ll meet both most days. Temperatures usually sit between -5 and -20°C and can drop to -30. Everything takes longer when it’s that cold: getting dressed, eating lunch, doing up a boot with mittens on. That gets added to the ski day, and the days start to feel long.
Your bags travel by road between guesthouses, so you carry a day pack with layers, water and snacks and nothing else.
Nights are in shared rooms of two to four, with shared bathrooms at most of the guesthouses, so you won’t get much time on your own across the week.
On two of the days you ski from one guesthouse to the next. There’s no stopping short on those, you finish where the beds are.
If you already train regularly and you’re used to long days outside, you don’t need to overhaul anything. Keep doing what you’re doing and add some longer sessions, so your body knows what a full day out feels like rather than an hour.
If you’re active but not consistently, give yourself a few months to build for the trip. Cardio three or four times a week, 45 minutes to an hour, plus one longer session at the weekend. You need six to eight weeks to see improvements in your endurance, so cramming it into a week or two before the trip won’t help
If you’re starting from a low base, allow longer than that and build gradually. Going straight into this kind of volume from very little is how people pick up an injury before they’ve even left, so it’s worth working with a coach or a trainer for the structure.
Whatever your starting point, leg and core strength is what carries the back-to-back days, so build some in.
One honest gauge: if you’ve cross country skied with us before and the longest day of that trip felt like a stretch, these days are longer.
This is track skiing. You follow tracks cut and set by a snowmobile guide for the first part of the week, and Hossa’s own marked trails for the last two days. You need to arrive knowing how to cross-country ski: how to move efficiently in the tracks, how to get in and out of them, and how to control your speed and stop on a descent.
If your experience is backcountry skiing, that isn’t the same thing. Track skis are narrower and less stable underfoot, and following a set track feels different to breaking your own line. Downhill skiing doesn’t transfer at all. If you’ve been on a backcountry trip with us and this is the direction you want to go, we’d recommend one of our cross country ski trips in Norway or Sweden.
You don’t need to be fast or elegant. You do need the technique already there, because there’s a guide but there’s no teaching.
The rest is mindset. Day five, cold, 8km still to go, and the only way to the guesthouse is to ski it. That catches more people out than the skiing does.
Yes. This trip doesn’t include tuition, so you need to be able to ski in tracks before you arrive: moving efficiently, getting in and out of the tracks, and controlling your speed on a descent. Backcountry ski experience isn’t the same, since track skis are narrower and less stable and set tracks feel different to breaking your own line. Downhill experience doesn’t count towards it at all. If you’re not there yet, do a track skiing trip first, we run these in Norway and Sweden.
Fit enough for six consecutive days of 17 to 23km on skis in sub-zero temperatures. You should be active already. If you train three or four times a week you’re in good shape for it and just need to build slightly. If you’re not training consistently, give yourself a few months to build up your fitness for this trip. There’s more detail in the Fitness and Skill Level section above.
Cardio three or four times a week, 45 minutes to an hour, plus one longer session at the weekend, and leg and core strength alongside it. Long walks in weather you’d normally stay in for are the closest thing to a real day on this trip. Build over about three months rather than cramming, because the muscular endurance that carries day five takes longer to come than aerobic fitness does. We’re a travel company, not fitness professionals, and we’d rather point you to someone who knows what they’re doing than guess at it.
Good balance is essential for weight transfer from one ski to the next. Practice standing on one leg every time you clean your teeth. Pilates, yoga and dancing help develop balance progressively. Strength and core stability will also help with the sport.
Temperatures normally vary between -5 and -20°C, sometimes -30°C or even above zero in our location in Finland. Finnish “dry” cold tends to feel less cold than a more “damp” one at the same temperatures.
Also, when skiing you usually generate a lot of heat and might get a bit sweaty, but will quickly cool down when you stop. Make sure to layer properly to not catch a chill and ruin your trip.
You’ll be sharing throughout. Some nights that’s a twin, others it’s a room of three or four. Single rooms aren’t available on this trip, and bathrooms are shared.
The guesthouses are simple, clean and family-run. The beds are good and the showers are hot, which after 20km on skis turns out to be exactly what you want.
There’s a sauna most nights. At the last guesthouse it sits in its own building down by the lake, with a hole cut in the ice for anyone who wants to swim.
The food is simple and there’s plenty of it. Breakfast is a buffet, so you can fill up before you head out. Lunch is out on the trail: hot soup, sausages and sandwiches you toast over the fire. Dinner is home-cooked, stews and that sort of thing.
It’s shared rooms only – twins, triples and occasional quads with shared bathrooms. Bring earplugs and an eye mask if you’re a light sleeper. Bath towels and bed linen provided, but bring your own hand towel if you’d like. The accommodation is simple, clean and warm!
Most dietary needs can be met if you tell us at booking – earlier notice means better preparation. Finnish cuisine is traditionally meat and dairy heavy, but our partners work with various requirements.
There’s no formal laundry, but bring soap flakes to hand wash base layers if you think you’ll need to. Drying stuff wll be a nightmare though. With daily saunas and only a week duration, most people manage fine. Pack enough base layers to rotate.
You can buy an evening beer (€2) or bottle of wine (€12). This is cash only and you’ll need small denominations as there isn’t always a lot of change. There is also a small souvenir shop at Hossa information centre which also accepts credit cards.
March in eastern Finland is still deep winter. Temperatures usually sit between -5 and -20°C and can drop to -30. On the mildest days you might get just above zero, though that’s rare.
Finnish cold is dry, so it tends to feel less biting than a damp UK winter at the same reading. It’s also changeable, which is why layering matters more than any single warm jacket.
You’re travelling close to the spring equinox, so there’s a full day of light to ski in. Sun on fresh snow is bright, which is why sunglasses and sunscreen are on the packing list.
You’ll find the weather forecast in your Customer Portal. Check it, but also trust in our packing list to make sure you bring the right stuff.
Despite the fact your eyelashes might be frozen, you’ll generate a lot of heat whilst skiing and can end up really warm and sweaty. The challenge comes then when you start to cool down at rest stops. This is where a proper layering system comes into its own – wool base layers (merino wool or synthetic – never cotton), an insulating midlayer and a water and windproof outer shell.
It’s impossible to predict, but you’ll be in ideal conditions with zero light pollution and open night skies. Don’t book specifically to see the northern lights, but consider them a potential bonus.
Money: Finland uses euros. All meals are included, so you’re mainly budgeting for evening drinks. These are cash only – please bring small notes, as there is limited change.
There is also a small souvenir shop that does take card if you’d like a few gifts for friends.
Tipping: Tipping is not compulsory on our adventures, but if you’ve had a great trip and brilliant service, a tip for your guide or host is always appreciated. We recommend giving €20-€30, or whatever you can or feel is the right amount.
If you’d like to buy drinks then you’ll need a bit of cash. Please bring small notes as there’s not usually much change – €5s and €10s work best.
Your guide is first-aid trained and minor stuff gets dealt with on trail or at the guesthouse. The guides will assess any injuries and anything really serious will mean possible evacuation -this is remote wilderness so medical help isn’t close. Travel insurance with medical cover and wilderness evacuation is essential.
As soon as you book. Your policy must cover cross-country skiing, as well as travel delays and cancellations.
Max 11 guests.
Close, in places. This is the far east of Finland and the border runs nearby for part of the route. Finland keeps a marked border zone along it, a strip of up to three kilometres that you need a permit from the Finnish Border Guard to enter. Its edge is marked with yellow signs and yellow circles painted on the trees, and your guide knows exactly where it runs. You’ll see the markers and you’ll ski alongside them, not across them.
It’s quiet, and it’s heavily monitored. Every crossing point on the land border has been closed since 2023, so there’s no traffic through it. The FCDO doesn’t advise against travel to Finland, including this region, and we keep an eye on their advice and would tell anyone booked on the trip if that changed. You can check the current position yourself at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/finland.
Layering System: You’ll get hot skiing and cool down fast at stops, so layer for both. Merino base layer, fleece mid-layer, breathable shell, and keep a down jacket in your pack for lunch.
Fabric Choices: Merino beats synthetic for base layers. It handles temperature better and doesn’t smell after a few days. Avoid cotton, which stays wet once it’s wet.
Hand and Foot Warmth: Two pairs of ski gloves minimum, because wet gloves ruin a day. Hand warmers help if you get cold hands. Bring socks in a couple of thicknesses to fine-tune your boot fit, since boots that are too tight make your feet colder and cause blisters.
Day Pack Strategy: Dry bags inside your pack keep spare layers dry. Leave room for the layers you peel off once you warm up.
Trip Code FINUPIXCS – Include this code in any message so we can find your trip straight away.
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