Lapland in Winter
Suomunruoktu - Kiilopää

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20^th of February 2002
Skiing tour, day 5: cold record and sunshine

We stood up at seven o'clock and it was the first night at our tour it wasn't too hot in the hut. When we made our morning measurements we found the reason for this. Our thermometer sank to -42,7°C before the LCD display passed away. We decided to wait until the temperatures rose and when we started our tour at 9.45, the temperature was already near the -20°C mark.

This day was the coldest day of our tour, with a maximum temperature of -18°C, but the weather was fine and the sun was shining from a cloudless sky. At this temperatures I had problems with the energy supply of my camera, because the fluid inside the batteries was freezing. So when I wanted to make a photo, I had to change the frozen batteries, with the set of batteries, which I had always in my trousers pocket. In the meantime I warmed the frozen batteries in my pocket and when I wanted to make the next photo, they where ready for use.

Early afternoon we arrived at the groomed trail and short after three o'clock we arrived at the Kiilopää Fjell Center, where we went as first action into the birch wood sauna.

The "smoke-sauna" is a large hut with a also large sauna oven, which is heated with birch branches. As soon as the sauna oven is hot, the smoke will be released - leaving behind a agreeable smell of birch wood. The Finns are always sitting at the places next to the oven, but we Austrians chose the most distant places. After latest 10 minutes we had to leave the hut, running out into the -22°C cold air and jumping into the ice hole in the nearby lake. After the bath between icebergs we were looking forward to run to the hot sauna ... the only difficult thing was, to find a end of this perpetuum mobile.