Arctic Night – A Survival Workshop

We are just back from our overnight Wilderness Survival Adventure and I’m still buzzing. We were met inside the Hotel Pyhatunturi at the Bliss meeting point by our guide who started off by giving us a classroom session which covered the topics of clothing and keeping safe. Our highly experienced and knowledgeable guide Sampo has years of wilderness survival experience both military and civilian to draw upon to teach us about the subject. Next we got dressed up and kitted out with everything we would need for our adventure. This included skis, sleds, and backpacks (torch, thermos, berry juice, hot water, wool socks, warm mittens, toilet roll, hand gel) and for us the optional Arctic suit and boots. We skied out with our sleds to the national park passing through beautiful snow covered countryside, learning about how the different trees grow and develop and the best tree limbs to use for carving cups. The site has several huts (one is a toilet), lovely views and is very peaceful. This is where we covered the considerations and construction of a Quinzee, fire lighting and various carving skills. We had a traditional dinner cooked on the fire and plenty of juice and coffee. We chatted round the fire until we were ready for bed. We set up our sleeping arrangements in the Quinzee and settled down for a comfortable nights sleep. In the morning we woke up warm and toasty in our sleeping bags, got dressed and started a fire. Breakfast was lovely and hot and a local Jay bird paid us a visit, flitting from place to place showing off it’s peachy coloured feathers. Finally it was time to return. We passed back through the peaceful woods spotting hare tracks and absorbing the ambiance. For me at least, being in natural snowy terrain just feels so right. We dropped off all of our kit and bid Sampo farewell, but not before discussing the possibility of longer trips in the future. It was well worth giving up a days skiing for and my wife, who had been a little sceptical about doing the trip, like me thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We will leave Pyha, and Finland with some very special memories.

It was a wonderful experience! We walked into the forest with snow shoes while pulling a sled around the waist. Because of the low snowfall, we couldn't build a quinzee, but we made another outside sleeping place. After learning some more survival skills and tips from our lovely guide Sampo, we slept well (and warm) even though it was -20 °C! The food on the fire in the evening and morning was also lovely.