Reindeer sledding, stunning snowscapes and nightly saunas help ease the chill of Finland’s northernmost region.
The bulbous, teardrop-like shape of the snow-laden pine trees makes it feel like we’re in a Dr. Seuss book. But we’re actually right on the edge of the Arctic Circle. After a mid-January night tucked away in a sleeper bunk on the train from Helsinki, we’ve arrived in Finnish Lapland.
Sure, the temperature may plunge to –50ºC while the snow piles up to 90 centimetres in Lapland’s more remote areas, but grandparents and kindergartners alike navigate the well-lit ski paths that run beside the roads, deftly pushing their kicksleds to school, to the grocery store or to meet friends for a strong coffee and a slice of. “Life is very much up to the weather,” says Liepina.
On our first full day, merino-wool base layer on and ski goggles in hand , I’m introduced to the team of six female huskies that I’m about to run through the snow-pine forest. In Lapland, there’s no sitting back; here, you drive the dogs yourself.I get some quick instructions on how to break and corner from Melina, the no-fuss trainer who races her team professionally throughout the Arctic regions, as she picks up these massive full-grown dogs as if they were puppies.
The next day, we take a trip to Sammun Tupa, a 158-year-old reindeer farm, and meet up with Tiina Kiuttu, a local reindeer herder who has lived in Lapland her whole life. She explains that although the region’s 200,000 reindeer can be found grazing in the forest, none of them are completely wild. Each reindeer you see in Lapland belongs to a specific herder, indicated by marks on its ears, and—as is tradition—most herds have been inherited.
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