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#SoloHiking

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It’s funny how the worst weather, the one that causes the most stress, also gives you the most photogenic shots. This one is from my six-week solo ski tour to the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area in Finland, spring 2023. It’s always a difficult decision—whether to set up camp or push a bit further. The winds can pick up fast, and they can get so intense that setting up a tent becomes almost impossible, especially when you’re solo hiking.

#sonyalpha #tamron #nature #mountains #fjells #hiking #landscape #lapland #outdoors #adventure #wilderness #photography #skitour #weather #solohiking #finland #winterhiking #storm #visibility
Can’t quite remember the exact spot where I took this, but it’s somewhere in the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area during my six-week solo ski tour. Fun fact: Käsivarsi means ‘arm’ in Finnish—because if you look at a map of Finland, it kind of looks like the country has one arm reaching out. We used to have two… but then WWII happened.

#sonyalpha #tamron #nature #mountains #fjells #hiking #landscape #lapland #outdoors #adventure #wilderness #photography #skitour #solohiking #winterhiking #winter #finland #käsivarsi
It always surprises me how much open water you can find, even in the middle of -30°C temperatures. Somehow, these small streams stay open for long periods, even in extreme cold. For us hikers, they always present a challenge, as crossing them over snow bridges or even ice is always an unknown danger.

#mountains #fjells #sonyalpha #hiking #winterhike #openwater #extremecold #snowbridge #icesafety #wilderness #arcticadventure #solohiking #finland #pöyrisjärvi #pulju
This river crossing is from my solo hike in the Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Area last January. These always give me sweaty palms, especially when I'm hiking alone in the winter and dragging a heavy pulka, or in this case, two pulkas behind me. On my recent solo winter hikes, I've been pulling two pulkas, as this allows me to lower the center of gravity on the larger Fjellpulken, making it harder for it to fall over.

#sonyalpha #nature #mountains #fjells #hiking #landscape #lapland #winterhike #solohiking #adventure #outdoors #rivercrossing #pulka #finland #pöyrisjärvi #fjellpulken #wilderness
Sometimes dragging the pulka requires a bit of elbow grease, stamina, and patience. During my six-week solo winter hike, there were a few occasions where the snow was so soft that I had to wade through it. When this happens and you're alone, often the easiest way to move is to first open the path some distance ahead, ski back to your pulka, bring it with you, and then repeat. This means you cover three times the distance you would if the snow could carry your weight and you could ski on the top layer.

#sonyalpha #nature #mountains #fjells #hiking #landscape #lapland #winterhike #solotravel #adventure #outdoors #pulka #solohiking #finland #winter #skiing #endurance #patience
The Poroharju esker in the Käsivarsi Wilderness Area, Finland. I captured this photo during my six-week solo winter hike. Esker is a large and extensive formation made of sand and rocks, and is quite common in Finnish landscapes. These eskers were formed during the Ice Age by melting water from glaciers.

#Nature #Photography #Esker #Harju #Fjell #Mountain #SonyAlpha #Käsivarsi #Wilderness #Finland #WinterHike #Solohiking #Outdoors #NatureLovers #Geology
Raging madman – I found this camping stove gas canister on the shore of a pristine small lake in the Kaldoaivi wilderness area during my two-month-long hike. It had been there for a while, as it was all rusty and beaten by the weather. Needless to say, it is no longer there. Some of the trash that I collected during this hike I posted back home, and my plan is to have an exhibition of them and the photos I took on this hike.

#ragingmadman #campingstove #gascanister #kaldoaivi #wilderness #hiking #solohiking #trashcollection #exhibition #photography #fjell #mountains #sonyalpha #finland #lapland

Me, giving a lecture to my friend who is currently hiking in #Lapland:

…The easiest way to tell if the shit belongs to a bear is by the size. If its size is enormous, like nothing on Earth can shit this volume of shit out, that’s a bear. If just the sheer size of the shit fills you with anxiety and deep respect, that’s definitely a bear.