Cross-country skiing frenzy grips Southern Finland

Snowy winters have prompted many to return to the sport; winter sports outlets see equipment flying off the shelves

print this

By Heli Saavalainen
     
      In spite of the bone-chillingly cold weather on the Epiphany holiday, hundreds of skiers can be seen skiing on serpentine cross-country ski-tracks in Helsinki’s Paloheinä skiing area.
      Most of them are skiing in the classic style, but some are using the newer skate skiing technique.
      The wintry landscape is magnificent: an icy stream is winding between fields, while the trees are crusted with fresh snow.
      The tobogganing hill is swarming with riders, while the nearby icerink is also busy. The parking lot is full. The snowy conditions have indeed encouraged residents to wrap up warm and come and enjoy outdoor activities.
     
Cross-country skiing in particular is popular, even trendy these days, after a brief period in the doldrums caused both by climate and the generally bad news - poor results and doping scandals - emanating from the competitive end of the sport.
      The resurgence can be seen clearly in the Paloheinä sports park, where the ski-tracks occasionally even get as congested as the Ring Road on a working morning.
      Skiers hurry past with their woolly hats and beards rimed with frost, but they do not appear to be at all fazed by the -15°C temperatures.
     
For the German Seidenberger family, this is the first time on skis. They are proceeding with a few stumbles along the way, but particularly seven-year-old Alexander’s eyes are beaming with joy - as far as you can see from the narrow window between his woolly hat, hood, and scarf.
      Mother Livia Seidenberger is excited.
      ”It is great that there is so much snow here. We are no longer even cold but actually getting rather hot”, she says, after skiing a track of three kilometres, which she admits was quite a challenge.
      ”We will certainly come again”, Livia Seidenberger promises.
     
In the café nearby, there is a long queue of perspiring and rosy-cheeked enthusiasts, including Vantaa residents Laura Tuunanen, 25, and Timo Kohtamäki, 29.
      They already have skied around 7 to 9 kilometres from home to get to Paloheinä, and they will have to ski the same route back home to Vantaa’s district of Kartanonkoski.
      Both Tuunanen and Kohtamäki have been skiing since they were children. Even though Kohtamäki is no longer so enthusiastic about skiing, he simply had to get out today.
      ”For once, we have a decent winter; of course we have to go skiing”, he notes.
     
A party of five Helsinki residents have skied 18 kilometres so far. Essi Leskinen, 28, is a former cross-country skier who used to take part in competitions.
      For the others, skiing is a fairly new hobby, which the group has recently become more or less crazy about.
      ”I had not skied at all for ten years. Last year I went to ski 150 kilometres in three days and noticed that I should probably practise a little”, says Janne Väänänen, 32.
      Every winter the Tavastian Students’ Union organises a traditional 150-kilometre skiing event entitled Ilveshiihto in which Antti Unnaslahti, 29, also took part, after digging up his skis a couple of years ago and getting back into the sport.
      The same happened to Roland Magnusson, 31, and Jens Alderin, 28.
      ”This gives a great variety to jogging”, Magnusson says with a glow of enthusiasm.
     
Cross-country skiing is the most popular winter sport in Finland.
      Almost 800,000 Finns ski three times a week, and another 200,000 get out on the trails occasionally.
      The past snow-starved winters in the south already prompted many people to throw away their old skis, but over the previous couple of years, cross-country skiing has become popular again, lifting sales of skis to new heights.
      Many of those who last skied when they were children - or when they were forced to ski at school with lousy skis - have now got excited about the new hobby.
     
The enthusiasm is also seen in the shops, which have almost sold out of all cross-country equipment as a result of brisk demand.
      There are already shortages in selections, and in many places the supply of children’s items has run out completely.
      ”Cross-country skiing in particular has been showing an upward trend since last spring”, says Juha Nurminen, the President of Intersport Finland Ltd.
      ”Last year, for the first time in a good while, Helsinki could enjoy good skiing conditions from the last week of January onwards. People got excited about skiing, but many did not get around to buying the equipment. In the spring, there was such a keen demand for skiing equipment that some of the items ran out. This season, many people bought new equipment already in November”, Nurminen reports.
      ”We could anticipate the situation, which is why we ordered and put up for sale more merchandise than before. We have also searched for additional stock from elsewhere in Europe, but at present there is also a proper winter in other European countries”, Nurminen adds.
     
Waxing services have also been busy.
      Suomen Latu, the Central Association for Recreational Sports and Outdoor Activities, offers skiing services for which there has been a continuous queue.
      There is not much left to be rented out, and there is no time for ski maintenance until next week.
      ”We came in at 10 a.m. and we have had no time to eat until only recently”, says Suvituuli Piipponen at 3.40 p.m.
     
”The popularity of skiing has considerably increased since last winter”, confirms Jaakko Veräjäkorva, while examining the skis Jussi Wacklin, 36, has brought in for waxing.
      Even Wacklin is a ”reborn skier”.
      ”As a boy I used to ski, and a couple of years ago I began to take it up again for the sake of exercise”, he says.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.1.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nearly 700 kilometres of ski-tracks in Greater Helsinki area (3.1.2006)
  Grooming the ski-trails starts at 4 a.m. (19.4.2006)
  More and more people hiking in the Lapland wilds (19.4.2006)

Links:
  Suomen Latu (in Finnish)

HELI SAAVALAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
heli.saavalainen@hs.fi