The weather was crappy in the middle of the week, so I had to wait for the weekend with better weather to try the new skis. My brother asked me if I would like to join him for the Skiing of Immaisi (Immaisin Hiihto), a ski event in Paimio's Suksela village. The answer was of course yes, although it has been over 20 years since my last classic style skiing.
The weather did a complete turnaround on Saturday, as the temperature dropped safely below freezing and snow was falling heavily. On the Sunday morning it was still snowing and there was about 15-20 cm of new fluffy snow, and temperature was -7°C.
The 'battle' of the day, Finland vs. Norway. My skis on the left side, the Karhu Ski Centra Classic Sr. with Karhu Unica poles.
My bro Tatu cleaning the soles of his ski boots.
As usual, I had one of my cameras with me. My plan was to not get this too seriously and take some photos. For the first two kilometres my skiing felt slightly awkward but then it started to feel much better.
The route of the track was really great, with nice shortcuts through forests and open areas of the fields.
It snowed from start to finish, and the conditions were fairly slow, but my skis worked fairly well.
The best section of the track was in the end with the beatiful scenery of the Valley of River Paimio.
According to RunKeeper, the 14 km loop was 13.39 km and it took me 1:42:39 to complete.
In the finish we enjoyed hot juice and sausage.
And a nice medal for a souvenir.
It felt good to be back with skiing after so long break, and I hope to do this more often in the future.
Thanks Tatu for the company and logistics!