All Day Experience on Altai Skis

• Participants must arrive suitably dressed for cold winter weather. We recommend wearing warm clothing, comfortable hiking shoes or winter boots, gloves, and a hat. Dressing in layers will help you stay comfortable throughout the tour.
• The food and drinks mentioned in the tour description will be provided. However, we recommend bringing extra snacks and a bottle of water. Please also eat well before your tour.

No previous skiing experience is required. Altai skis are short, wide backcountry skis designed for traveling through deep, ungroomed snow. Their integrated climbing skins provide grip when moving uphill while still allowing you to glide across flatter terrain and gentle downhill sections. Unlike traditional cross-country skis, they do not require prepared tracks and are well suited to exploring forests, hills, and open wilderness. They can be thought of as sliding snowshoes, which is also the literal meaning of their Finnish name, liukulumikengät.

The experience introduces you to more than skiing. You will help prepare and pull an expedition sled, or pulka, learn what equipment is needed for winter travel and practise moving safely through Arctic conditions. The objective is to complete a longer wilderness journey and reach a panoramic destination rather than follow a short recreational loop. It is a one-day introduction to expedition travel, not an overnight or technical polar expedition.

The expedition covers approximately 15 kilometres and involves several hours of movement through natural winter terrain. Participants should have good physical fitness and be comfortable with a full, active day outdoors.

The activity location and route are selected according to the weather, snow and ice conditions, accessibility, daylight and safety, as well as the group’s interests, skills, fitness, mobility, previous experience and preferred level of challenge. When needed, the guide discusses the available options with participants before departure to select the most suitable plan. Once the activity begins, the selected activity area normally remains fixed, although the route, distance or pace may be adapted if conditions or the group’s needs change. The guide makes the final decision for safety and practical reasons. The one-way vehicle transfer from Rovaniemi to the activity starting point usually takes approximately 20–35 minutes. Round-trip transportation from Rovaniemi is included. This estimate refers only to the one-way journey by vehicle to the point where the activity begins. It does not include the activity itself.