The Winter 2024

The winter of 2023-2024 started out great.

The first snowfall came at the end of October 2023, just as I got my boat up for the winter. It didn't last, of course, but the last week of November was already quite cold and the lakes got an ice cover. The cold also provided some nice photo opportunities at the sea.

By the beginning of December, the skiing season started, which really is quite early for Southwest Finland. The rest of the month saw some more skiing and overnighters in wintry conditions.

There was a thaw period after Christmas, but we soon got snow back and the beginning of January 2024 was again quite wintry and also cold. Cold enough that I finally got the try my new winter sleeping bag, bought at the end of 2022, With a temperature of around -23C, it got so warm that I had to open it a little in the middle of the night.

The winter weather continued, and there was quite a lot of snow.

At the end of January another short thaw period came, followed by cold weather. This meant that the pulk track from a week earlier in all likelihood would be a perfect "groomed" trail for a fatbike. I went with Toni to check this out and we had another nice overnighter.

The first half of February was still a pretty much perfect winter, with perfect winter weather and a returning light, and I managed a last skiing overnighter before the weather changed.

After this the winter pretty much ended. The weather was warm and the snow started melting. Still many nice moments, but I still would like the winter to continue until spring.

Being an outdoor opportunist, I did of course follow the development all the time and in the beginning of March the conditions were right for a Tour de Kurjenrahka fatbike ride on ice and snow crust. Since we had had quite a bit of snow, it melted slowly and there was enough left to form a strong crust for a while, since it was still quite cold.

There were still some nice moment in March, with some snow now and then, but for practical purposes the winter was over, without there being any signs of spring.

I kept myself very busy at work and had one more winter trip to wait for, a week of skiing in the Swedish mountains. More about that later.