Kilpis-lake skiing holiday Review
Skiing holiday at Kilpis-lake Review with information about a mountain plateau lake at the far North West arm of Finland. The name of the town at the shore of the kilpis-lake is named kilpisjärvi (meaning Kilpis-lake in the Finnish language). The location of the Kilpis-lake is about 50 km south from the Norway town of Skibothn, and 150 km from Norway Tromssa. 280 km North West of Kittilä airports, and some 429 km North West from the city of Rovaniemi.
The exact coordinates of the Kilpis-järvi town are 69°02′57″ North. 20°47′40″ East.
Cross country skiing trails.
The frozen over Kilpis-lake is being used for cross country ski trails and for the snowmobiles tracks, the winter ice of the lake varies from season to season and place to place, from 50cm to 75 cm. The far north location is great for the cross country skiers, telemark, and backcountry skiers because of the long winter season. There are several groomed cross-country ski track loops on the frozen, snow-covered Kilpis-lake, they range from a distance of a few kilometers to tens of kilometers. The other main cross country groomed trail ski tracks to go around right around the Saana tundra fell, making the distance some 20 kilometers.
Around the Saana fell ski trail
One end of the around the Saana fell ski trail starts on the lake near the Kilpis Hotel, heading East over the main road up the ridge for a few kilometers. And once the ski trail gets around the Saana fell, it heads up North around the Saana fell and over a small frozen tundra lake near a day hut. The day hut is worth going for a visit because it is right next to the ski trail, on the bank of the small tundra lake. The day hut has a fireplace with wood reserve, there is also a visitors book there to sign if so choose to. Great place to stop for a short refreshing break before heading further up north to get around the Saana fell and to head westward towards the Kilpis-lake.
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Also important to take note that on a day when it is snowing, or the wind is blowing fresh snow, There will be places where the groomed trail is partially covered over with fresh drifting snow, because the wind-driven drifting snow can cover ski trails grooves in a matter of a few hours, in extreme conditions the ski trail grooves will fill up in a few minutes. Even if the ski trail machine has gone over the trail early in the morning, some parts of the track around the Saana Tundra ( it is higher up in altitude from the lake) may be partially covered over, so don’t expect always to be skiing in a clearly visible well molded ski trail grooves, there may be places where it is just flat with no grooves to follow. But the trail markers should be visible and the edges of the 2-meter wide trail should be visible in order to stay on the course. The kilpis-lake ski trails are more likely to stay clear of drifting snow, because there is less snow on the frozen ice due to strong winds blowing the snow across he surface of the firmly packed snow cover of the snow, unless there is heavy fresh snow at the time, obviously. If caught out in a snow blizzard then the only sure guide is the GPS, and experience and knowledge how to use it in extreme blizzard conditions. The visibility can be reduced down to a mere 5 to 10 meters in the worst conditions. Always check he weather predictions and conditions when venturing out further from the kilpis-lake region. The most obvious checklist for beginners is clothing, having the right clothes for skiing, and lots of spares. The basic principles for having spares. Spare under layers (at least the top), spare gloves, spare beanie, spare socks, because after working hard in especially when climbing up hills the body is working harder and sweating, and once reaching the destination the under layers, gloves, and the headwear can be soaking wet with sweat. With the higher altitude, he winds can be extremely cold, and it may be necessary to remove the sweat soaking layers and put on a dry layer.
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More local information can be sought out from the Kilpisjärvi Retkeily Keskus. http://www.kilpisjarvi.info/
The access to the Kilpis-lake is after the main road to Norway is crossed over. There are at least two routes to take while descending towards the main road. One is to steer towards south earlier and visit the Kilpisjärvi camping site with accommodation and a restaurant. The other is to head more towards North West on the ski trail towards the border crossing between Sweden and Finland and onto the Kilpis-lake. The ski trail should point the available options clearly. The shorter route is to visit the camping facilities and steer towards the signs that point to it. The kilpisjärvi Camping site is about 5 km north of the Kipis-lake town on the main road to Norway.
From the http://www.kilpisjarvi.info/camping site
The Google maps show where the Kilpisjärvi Retkeily Keskus is located.
Accommodation at Kilpisjärvi.
Accommodation varies from Hotel style to cottage style and caravans. One property you may want to try is Tundra. http://www.tundrea.com/majoitus/
Lapland Hotel is the largest Hotel at Kilpisjärvi, fairly old building with the landmark.
There are many other private owners and small business operators. One example here is the Saivaara Mökit (Saivaara Cottages). http://www.saivaaramokit.fi/
By visiting the www.Kilpisjärvi.org website you can see the list of businesses at Kilpisjärvi. http://www.kilpisjarvi.org/yritysluettelo_en.htm
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History of Kilpisjärvi
A brief history of the Kilpisjärvi region can be read from this web link. http://www.kilpisjarvi.org/historiikki_en.htm
It was in 1980 that the three country borders were opened, between Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The borders between these countries are open for crossing over with the guards not stopping the vehicles unless for some security reason the main road border crossing is used as a checkpoint for stopping and checking vehicles. It only happens in special circumstances where for security reasons the checkpoints are manned, and the vehicles stopped. Therefore it is possible to go backcountry skiing from Kilpis-lake of Finland into Sweden and Norway without offending anybody’s country borders.
I hope that this Kilpis-lake skiing holiday Review information useful towards planning for a visit to the Kilpis-lake, whatever your particular winter snow recreational activity is, or maybe even considering to visit kilpis-lake during the summer season. To view more pictures from the kilpis-lake visit this picture gallery Arctic Finland Holiday Destination.
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