Weekend in Estonia

Town hall

It was time to ski again on this weekend. Actually it was a fifth weekend in a row. 63 km Tartu maraton was waiting on Southern part of Estonia. The race office was located in a beautiful and cozy town of Tartu. Tartu and Tampere are sister cities and therefore the most evident place to stay in Tartu were Tampere maja. Real gem in the heart of the city and conveniently located. I can recommend it for anybody looking a friendly, cozy and inexpensive accommodation in Tartu.

Tampere maja lodging

The race on Sunday was a pleasant one, though physical energy wasn't at best this time. Tracks were in excellent condition and race arrangement were in good shape. All in all nice and well organised event. The last ski event of this winter will be on next Saturday at Lahti...

University of Tartu

La Transjurassienne

Through the mountain range

La Transjurassienne 50 km ski event was a scenic one. The ski track climbed through the mountain range after the first 10 km on the valley. The start was 10AM at Les Rousses and finish line at Mouthe village. 

Climbing from the valley

The altitude of the race was above 1000 meters, but somehow it felt remarkably easy to ski, Total ascent of 665 meters was a bit short of Marcialonga and Dolomitenlauf, but the weather and scenery were beautiful.

Finish line

The organisation had some hick-ups and it seems French are not that systematic and prompt as German and Swiss :) However the dinner at the school accommodation at Les Rousses was overwhelming with loads of food to digest during the night just before the race...

Dinner

König Ludwig Lauf

41. König Ludwig Lauf

The race was shortened from 50 km to 42 km due to extremely warm weather and bad snow conditions. Fortunately the classic style race was not cancelled like the free style race one day before. It started to snow during Saturday and the temperature dropped below zero, which saved the race on Sunday.

Along the valley

During the race it was snowing and the ski tracks were in awful condition, which was totally acceptable and expected due to the challenging weather conditions before the race. However I was happy to successfully complete this ski event, which was third one for this season. There are still three ski events to go, next one being in France...

Finish line

Marcialonga

First 18 km uphill behind, arriving to Canazei

The second Worldloppet ski race was famous Marcialonga in Val di Fassa and Val di Fiemme valleys. Marcialonga celebrated this year it's 40-year anniversary. The start from Moena (at 1100 m) was after 9AM and the weather was bit cold, when waiting with 500 hundred other skiers permit to start the ski. Forecast for the day was perfect, sunshine and partly sunny with temperature raising near zero.

Skiing through villages and backyards

The first part of 18 km uphill to Canazei was tough start, but then the track moved towards the lower altitudes of the valley and nearly 45 km downhill section up to Molina. The track swirled through small villages like Predazzo and Lago di Fiemme, which is hosting Nordic World Ski Championships this year.

Finish line, at last after 70 km and 775 m total ascent

Between Dolomitenlauf and Marcialonga

Only 250 km south from Tirol and the Dolomites lies Venice, the mythical city with narrow alleys and canals. When Dolomitenlauf was skied and there was a week to Marcialonga, visit to Venice was a planned activity in between these famous races.

This was my third visit to this tiny island, and now I had a chance to see how's Venice in January. Well, it's a bit misty, cold and rainy but on the other hand it was pleasant to walk on not crowded streets. Actually I like more visiting Venice at off-season.

Unfortunately the Carnival of Venice will be held on February and couldn't feel and see this world-famous event this time either. Well, the journey continues and the direction is again to the North, Val di Fiemme at Trentino in northern Italy. Val di Fiemme will host the Nordic Ski World Championships 2013 at February.

Dolomitenlauf completed

Virgen village in Hohe Tauern national park

It's snowy and beautiful in Austria at this time of the year. Hohe Tauern national park in east Tirol is one of the most beautiful national parks I have been visiting. Grossvenediger, which is 4th highest mountain in Austria. It's best to visit during summertime when hiking trails are open. 

Dolomitenlauf in Obertilliach

Dolomitenlauf is the most famous long distance ski event in Austria. It was held today and the scenery during the race is beautiful. The start and finish are located in Obertilliach village and the ski event will be held at the altitude of 1200 - 1600 m. Fortunately my body is adapting to higher altitude quite easily and I didn't had any problems on that. Physically the route was quite demanding with total of 750 ascend meters.

Dolomitenlauf completed

Northern views

Cottage at moonlight

It has been an active week at Lapland during polar night, when sun stays below the horizon all the time. Temperature has been varying from freezing -27 degrees to pleasant -3 degrees. Although the freezing temperatures at lower altitude, the inversion has been keeping the sedentary warm air on the slopes of the Ylläs-fell and it has been possible to ski every day.

Ski tracks

Ski tracks were in excellent condition although it was snowing heavily couple of days. Preparers were on the move during the nights and prepared the ski tracks for the skiers after snowfall. Thanks to all of you!

Early morning and rabbit footprints on the surface of the snow

Roughly 150 km was the total distance of skiing exercises and it was definitely enough for me, especially when I had a cold two weeks before this trip and had not been skiing at all during this period.

"Kahvikeidas" - lean-to next to ski tracks

New year eve was a bit different one from the typical firework activity. This time there were lots of lanterns sent to the sky in the middle of Äkäslompolo village. The sky was full of burning and flying lanterns! Really beautiful view and atmosphere indeed.

Lanterns on the sky