This is the story of four days, four wild nights, and one unforgettable traverse through some of the most beautiful Arctic wilderness in Europe.
Day 1 — Into the Old Forest
After an hour and a half on the road from Ylläs, we reached our starting point and clicked into our touring skis. The first stretch was gentle — barely a couple of kilometres through an ancient boreal forest where the snow lay thick between the pines and the silence was absolute. Reindeer tracks crisscrossed the trail in every direction; this is deeply traditional herding country, and the landscape is quietly shaped by centuries of Sámi reindeer culture, its historical structures still visible to those who know where to look.
We each pulled a pulka behind us — a low-slung sled carrying our gear, food and sleeping kit — with a small daypack on our backs holding water, snacks and an extra layer for the breaks. It is the classic Lapland way to travel: efficient, unhurried, deeply satisfying.
A few small climbs and descents quickened the pulse before we reached our first night’s camp on the shore of Hietajärvi. We pitched the tents, got the fire going, and cooked dinner over open flames as the sun slowly melted behind the Ounastunturi plateau. The sky turned the colour of embers. Nobody said very much. Some moments simply don’t need words.
Day 2 — Up onto the Plateau
The second day was the one we had been waiting for. After a slow morning by the fire, we broke camp and began the long climb up onto the fell plateau — and the moment we crested the ridge, the world opened up.
Up here, trees become sparse and then disappear altogether, leaving nothing between you and the horizon. To the south, the beautiful rounded summits of Pallas shimmered in the distance. To the west, Sweden was a faint blue line. All around us, fells in every direction, wild and windswept and utterly still. The snow was firm and carried our weight perfectly; we set our own tracks up the fell’s flank, the only marks on an unmarked canvas.
Following a line of reindeer fences and tracks, we made our way to Tappuri wilderness hut for lunch — a welcome shelter where we took water from a fellstream, fired up the gas stove and ate well before stretching out on the wooden sleeping platforms for a brief, blissful rest.
The afternoon took us along the western edge of Siosvaara towards Sioskuru, our first hut night. Along the way, ptarmigan burst from the snow at our skis — those remarkable Arctic birds that are somehow both perfectly camouflaged and brilliantly alive. The gullies we passed through had been sculpted by the winter winds into extraordinary shapes: crests and cornices and hollows that looked carved rather than blown. After a solid ten kilometres of skiing, we arrived at the hut.
While the wood stove slowly filled the cabin with warmth, we celebrated Vappu (1st of May) Eve the only way that felt right: frying doughnuts on the terrace and washing them down with sparkling *sima*, a traditional Finnish Vappu drink. Later, in the long evening light, we wandered out onto the bare patches of fell where the snow had already melted, listening to the first sounds of an Arctic spring stirring beneath the ice.
Day 3 — South through the Fells
Day three dawned half-cloudy and lightly breezy — good skiing weather. We packed our pulkas, filled the thermoses with a hot lunch, and set off south along the long, gradual slopes of Rautuvaara, crossing frozen fell streams that would be rushing torrents within weeks.
Our lunch stop was a south-facing bare patch with a panorama stretching west towards Pippokero — the kind of view that makes you forget you have sandwiches in your hand. Then on through the dramatic narrows of Rouvikuru, a gorge whose
Snow walls had gathered the winter snowdrift into wild, abstract shapes, before descending to Hannukuru hut, tucked into a beautiful old forest at 388 metres.
The evening called for celebration: pancakes with cloudberry jam picked the previous summer. Hannukuru is a gem of a hut — surrounded by woodland, with access to a sauna and, for the brave, a lake to plunge into when the ice has gone.
Day 4 — The Windy Way Home
The final morning arrived clear and bright. We climbed back up onto the plateau for the last time, where the wind had strengthened and the spindrift was streaming low across the snow. Hauling a loaded pulka into a stiff Arctic headwind is one of those experiences that is simultaneously challenging and completely alive — the kind of moment you came here for.
The descent back down the steepest section of the fell was too good to manage on skis alone. We packed the skis and poles onto the pulkas, sat on top, and rode them down. Entirely undignified. Enormously fun.
On the way back to the car, we stopped one last time at the Hietajärvi lean-to — the same spot where this adventure had begun — to grill sausages over the embers and sit quietly with the fells. It felt right to say goodbye properly. *Until next time.*
Join Us: Guided Hut-to-Hut Ski Touring in Lapland
April is the finest month for ski touring in Finnish Lapland. The days are long — often brilliantly sunny — the snow is settled and firm, and the light has that extraordinary quality unique to the Arctic spring. A night in a tent under a glowing sky is an experience in itself; after that, a warm hut feels like a palace.
North Wind Lapland organises **guided hut-to-hut ski touring** in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, just 90 minutes from our home base at Ylläs. Huts offer bunk beds and proper mattresses — simple, comfortable, warm. We take care of everything so you can focus entirely on the experience: transfers to and from the trailhead, all equipment including pulkas and touring skis, meals, and professional guiding from people who know this landscape intimately.
All you need to bring is yourself — and a willingness to be surprised by just how wild and beautiful this place is.
