From Manon Carpenter:
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Join us on a four-day bikepacking trip to the highest point in Finland – Halti (1324 m) – in the very north of the country, up above the Arctic Circle.
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“Journey to Halti is a four-day bikepacking trip born from a slightly hare-brained idea three years ago, that saw us trying to reach the highest point in Finland – above the Arctic Circle, in the middle of winter, on skis.
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It was my first time on skis (brave or stupid, you decide), -28 degrees C when we set off and at the end of the year when the sun no longer rises in Lapland. We only made it halfway, faced soft snow and a lack of established skiing routes that early in winter, so it’s been an incomplete mission since then.
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Christian moved nearby for work in 2020, and me visiting for summer presented the perfect opportunity to try reaching Halti again – this time by bike. We had no idea what the trail would be like, and were aware that it might not be rideable.
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With a very literal rocky start, and slow-going flat sections and climbs, we were rewarded with descents that we could actually ride to enjoy. Smooth sections in between the boulders felt like the best trail ever!
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Four days out in the vastness of Käsivarsi Wilderness Area, with everything we needed on us or our bikes, was a great way to complete the mission of Halti, three years on.
