Back-Country Skiing
Off-piste and back-country skiing across Enontekiö's wilderness areas, where snowmobile tracks double as ski routes through forests, mires and fells.
Back-country skiers should head for the Käsivarsi and Pöyrisjärvi Wilderness Areas. There are no maintained ski trails in the wilderness areas (Pöyrisjärvi, Tarvantovaara, Käsivarsi, Pulju and others), but skiing is permitted throughout and you can follow snowmobile tracks that firm up progressively through the Spring.
- No maintained trails in the wilderness areas, but snowmobile tracks firm up through Spring
- Diverse terrain: spruce forests and mires to pine and birch fell forests
- Almost all summer hiking trails can be skied, including Hetta-Pallas and the Halti Trail
- Ski trail maps available at Skierri, Fell Lapland Nature Centre
- Always carry proper fell gear; conditions can turn bitingly cold and tracks vanish in wind
Back-Country Skiing
Marked winter tracks and skiable summer trails criss-cross the whole area, so there is plenty of choice at every level of ambition.
- Wilderness tracks: one runs from the village of Palojärvi to Salvasjärvi, another from Kaaresuvanto to Syväjärvi, and the Kultima-Leppäjärvi Trail doubles as a winter wilderness route
- Terrain: ranges from the spruce forests and mires of the Yllästunturi and Pallastunturi Fells to the pine and birch of the Ounastunturi Fells
- Widest trails: near the hotels in Ylläs, Jeris, Pallas and Vuontispirtti, around Hetta Village and in the Ounastunturi Fell area
- Summer trails: almost all the summer hiking trails can be skied, the Hetta-Pallas trails and the Halti Trail above all
- Safety: fell skiing always carries risk. The wind can be bitingly cold and a trail can vanish in harsh gusts, so never ski the fells without proper gear
- Maps: ski trail maps are available at Skierri, Fell Lapland Nature Centre, or can be printed from the municipality of Enontekiö website
Ski-Mountaineering & Heli-Skiing
We have run corporate heli-skiing programmes (for Nike ACG and Lapin Kulta) in the Kilpisjärvi region, but northern Finland's helicopters are currently reserved for rescue and medical use, so heli-skiing now means bringing aircraft in from Sweden.
For those willing to invest the time and lung power, the ski-mountaineering potential around Kilpisjärvi is superb. Closer to home, our guides often snowshoe or skin up Pyhakero and ski or telemark back down.
Good to know
- Areas
- Käsivarsi, Pöyrisjärvi, Tarvantovaara, Pulju Wilderness Areas
- Trails
- Palojärvi-Salvasjärvi, Kaaresuvanto-Syväjärvi, Kultima-Leppäjärvi
- Season
- Spring (tracks firm up progressively)
Ready when you are
Real wilderness, 200+ huskies, eighteen winters in.