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Types of Skiing Explained: Alpine, Nordic, Touring & SkateFinland
Mar
A point-to-point cross-country ski tour through Finland’s frozen forests. Ski between guesthouses, watch for wildlife tracks and keep an eye on the sky for the Northern Lights.
Intermediate
Challenging
Back to Basics
From
£1,750
(USD $2,747.50)
Finland's Eastern Wilderness
Cross-country ski tour through Finland on tracks made just for your group. This challenging adventure is for experienced cross-country skiers ready to cover 120km over six days.
Ski from guesthouse to guesthouse through forests where wolf and elk prints outnumber yours. Luggage transfers are sorted, you just need your day packs to carry layers and snacks.
Take a sauna most nights (non-negotiable in Finland), go Northern Lights hunting when the sky cooperates, and enjoy long days on the snow with a group of likeminded women. Expect fierce debates about who spotted the most wildlife prints.
An Active Agenda
No hidden costs
Six days of guided ski touring
Cross-country skis, boots and poles
We move your bags to the next guesthouse so you can focus on skiing
Evening sauna sessions and two polar plunges in the frozen lake
Local guesthouses throughout
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
A local ski guide and your Gutsy Girls host
Pick-up and drop-off at Kuusamo Airport
Activity Overview
This is serious skiing. You’ll cover 17-23km daily through secluded wilderness, on tracks carved by your snowmobile guide.
Glide through silent forests, across vast frozen lakes, and over protected wilderness swamps for up to seven hours daily. The terrain is varied with plenty of climbs and descents as you move from guesthouse to guesthouse each day. Don’t worry about your luggage though, this is transferred ahead so you can focus on the skiing, not lugging your kit.
You need at least three days of previous cross-country experience and solid technique for this trip. There’s no instruction, just expert guiding through genuinely remote terrain.
Activity Overview
Seven nights in remote wilderness with zero light pollution gives you multiple chances to spot the aurora when solar activity cooperates.
There are no guarantees with the northern lights, but you’ll be in the best location if they do decide to show.
Activity Overview
There’s a sauna most nights, wood-fired and hot enough to loosen off whatever the day’s skiing has done to your legs. Finns treat it as an ordinary part of the day rather than a treat, and by about night three, so will you.
Two of the nights include ice swimming. A hole is cut fresh in the frozen lake, so all you have to do is run between the heat of the sauna into the shock-cold water, then back to warmth. Most people try it once out of curiosity and some discover they love the adrenaline rush.
The Destination
Your Adventure Starts Here
Land at Kuusamo Airport and meet the group transfer. It’s around two hours’ drive to Martinselkonen, your guesthouse for the first two nights.
Settle in, meet your guide and the rest of the group, and get an early night. The skiing starts tomorrow.
Collect your skis and head out from the door for a 17km loop. Your snowmobile guide cuts the track ahead of you, so you’re skiing on fresh set tracks rather than breaking trail.
17km
Stop out on the trail for lunch cooked over an open fire, then ski back for afternoon coffee and something sweet.
Sauna, then dinner. An easy first evening while your legs work out what they’ve signed up for.
Today you move on. It’s 22km point-to-point from Martinselkonen to Arola. Your bags travel by road, so you carry a day pack and nothing else.
22km
Tuck into lunch cooked over an open fire at a remote wilderness hut. Then continue skiing on tracks over frozen mires, ponds and lakes, weaving through old-growth forests hung with beard lichen on the spruce trees.
Arrive at Arola, a small guesthouse known for its cooking. Dinner is served in the traditional log house, made mostly with local ingredients.
Today's loop takes you south over frozen lakes and through towering forests. Wolf, lynx and wolverine all move through this area, and their tracks have a habit of appearing when you least expect them.
20km
Fire-cooked lunch out in the forest, then the ski home.
Dinner back at the guesthouse and an evening of keeping an eye out for the northern lights.
Pack your bags, we're on the move again. Have breakfast, then you'll push north through the reserve, passing through bear country (don't worry, they're deep in hibernation).
20km
Lunch by the fire on the way, finishing at the guesthouse you started the week in.
Sauna, dinner and hopefully the northern lights!
Breakfast, then a 45 minute drive to Hossa National Park and straight out onto the snow.
Fireside lunch, more skiing, then on to another old frontier station, this one with a sauna building right on the lakeshore.
20km
Dinner, then a lakeside sauna with a hole cut in the ice for anyone brave enough.
One last day on skis, 17km on the Hossa trails.
17km
Lunch out, then a slow finish back at the guesthouse.
Final sauna, another ice dip if you want one, then dinner and packing.
Early start as you take the transfer back to Kuusamo Airport with tired legs, a full camera reel and a huge sense of achievement.
Rest & Refuel
You'll stay in small guesthouses along the route. They're simple, clean and comfortable, and some have a sauna. Bedrooms are shared between two and four guests, and bathrooms are shared too. Private rooms aren't available on this trip. After a long day on skis, they're a good place to eat, warm up and sleep.
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Big buffet breakfasts to fill up before you head out. Lunch out on the trail: hot soup, sausages and sandwiches toasted over the fire. Dinner is mostly home-cooked and simple, stews and similar, with plenty of it. Not fancy, just food that keeps you skiing.
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Book now
The Essentials
| Accommodation |
Back to Basics Stay in small, family-run guesthouses along the route. They’re simple, clean and warm, proper beds, hot showers and a place to recover after a day on skis.
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|---|---|
| Food |
All meals are included, from dinner on arrival day to breakfast before your journey home. If you have a severe food allergy, please get in touch before you book.
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| Fitness Level |
3
Challenging Skiing 17–23km daily through forests, lakes and eastern wilderness terrain for up to seven hours demands real cardiovascular endurance. At this level you’re also covering that ground independently, not following a guided lesson pace. There are ups and downs from the start, so you need both the fitness to handle sustained uphill effort and the confidence to manage speed on descents. If you’re doing cardio three or more times a week and long active days suit you, you’ll love this. You'll Need to Be
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| Skill Level |
3
Intermediate This is a trip for intermediate cross-country skiers. You must have done a minimum of three days cross-country skiing on groomed tracks and be able to move confidently in and out of tracks, snow plough reliably and control your speed on downhills. Alpine experience doesn’t transfer here; cross-country foundations are what matter. Not sure what level you are? Our Trip Rating Guide explains how we score fitness and skill. |
| Packing List |
Below is an indication of any specialist items you will need or might have to invest in before your adventure! For a full list of what you’ll need to bring, check out the trip guide. We Provide
You'll Need
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| Travel |
The meeting point for this trip is Kuusamo airport. For alternative routes and travel information, please see our trip guide. |
| Not Included |
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| Trip Code |
FINUPIXCS Include this code in any message and we’ll know exactly which trip you mean. |
The Answers
Yes, you must have previous experience. You should be comfortable moving in and out of tracks, be able to snow plough, and feel confident controlling speed on the downhills. Alpine ski experience doesn’t count. If you’re a beginner, check out our Norway or Sweden trips first to learn the ropes. Although you’ll have a guide on this trip, you won’t have a coach to teach you as you go.
We rate this trip as challenging. You’ll ski 17-23km daily for up to seven hours so fitness is key. If you do medium to high-intensity cardio (running, gym classes, cycling) for at least an hour, 3-4 times a week, you’ll manage fine. If you’re not training consistently, give yourself around three months. There’s more detail in the trip guide.
It’s hard work but incredibly rewarding.
We provide skis, poles and boots.
Then this probably isn’t the trip for you. You need to be comfortable controlling speed on descents. You’re not tackling mountains, but there are hills from day one.
Fly into Kuusamo Airport and the group transfer will meet you there. It’s around two hours to the first guesthouse, and about an hour back on the final morning, since you finish the week closer to the airport.
We will collect you from Kuusamo Airport on arrival day and drop you back on the last day of the trip. You are responsible for getting yourself to the airport.
Transfer times:
The group transfer is included in your trip package. There is no discount if you choose not to use it.
Transfers run a fixed schedule from and to Kuusamo airport. It’s better to arrive earlier and wait in the airport, or arrive earlier still and do an overnight in Helsinki because if you miss our transfer you’ll have to arrange private transport at your own (fairly heavy) cost. This is why comprehensive travel insurance is mandatory for doing this trip.
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.
Expect -5°C to -20°C, occasionally -30°C. Finnish cold is ‘dry’ so feels less harsh than damper (UK-esque) conditions and can be changeable, but you’ll need to wrap up warm.
Absolutely. Weather conditions in the wilderness can change, so our guides adjust daily plans to ensure the best and safest experience. The beauty of having expert local guides is they know when to take alternative routes or modify distances.
Bring euros for drinks in the evenings – it’s cash only and please try to bring small notes as there isn’t much change. There’s also a small souvenir shop at Hossa information centre that takes cards. Unsurprisingly there are no ATMs available in the wilderness.
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