Road rage | “I just thought there was going to be a collision” – HS was skiing in Keskuspuisto, where the slopes are teeming with walkers

We do not quite a close-up situation. It happens only a couple of hundred meters from where we are standing.

Experienced skier, walker, almost crash. A moment later we both catch up, but the parties have a very different view of the events.

In the early evening in January, the southern end of Keskuspuisto has the best skiing weather. It's a few degrees below zero, the snow isn't wet and you can barely feel the wind in the middle of the coniferous forest.

There is certainly enough traffic on the slopes – more than just skiers.

Walkers walk the trails alone or with a companion. Sometimes there is a dog at the end of the leash. Soon, a food courier on a bike also whizzes by on the slopes.

I decide to ski small test runs in different directions, and the whole way there are plenty of shoe marks between the grooves.

Some of Keskuspuisto's skiers are enraged by people walking on the slopes. For example, the website Ladulle.fi has complained about why walkers prefer to walk on the track rather than on the paths intended for them.

Yes, why?

Thrusts habitually accompany skis sliding in the snow.

No wonder. The first one we meet on the track Group Keski-Säntti has skied 250 kilometers during the winter, and this Lenk has also been skied for 15 kilometers soon.

Recently, he really had an accident that could have interrupted the journey for a while at the southern end of Helsinki's Keskuspuisto. According to Keski-Sänti, the walker dodged the oncoming person into his lane, and they almost hit each other.

“I understand that people go with their dogs and children on the local tracks and pull the stick. I have no problem with that. I just thought there was going to be a collision,” he says.

Although Keski-Säntti is understanding, the city's position is clear: the slopes are only for skiers, and you cannot walk between the traditional slopes.

Keski-Säntti continues its journey in the winter landscape.

Soon The walker mentioned by Keski-Sänti already reached us in time. He confirms that an accident just happened. However, he has a d
ifferent opinion about the situation than Keski-Säntti.

According to the walker, he was walking between traditional ski tracks when Keski-Säntti came from behind and tried to run into him.

“I then told him that there is also a footpath here,” says the walker.

Based on two different accounts, we cannot be completely sure how everything went.

The walker says that he walks along the track every day.

“I suppose you can do that if you don't jump into it [perinteisen] to the track. Can't we all fit in here.”

The walker did not give his name.

Almost all walkers take care of the traditional trail grooves, and walk next to them. The City of Helsinki's position is that pedestrians should not walk even next to the grooves on paved sections. Picture: Rio Gandara / HS

West Pasilan the slopes are made for traditional style skiers. The track grooves run along both sides of the ridden Baana. The gap is so narrow that you can't ski in free style.

It seems that no one really has any definite information about how to behave on the slopes. Sometimes both traditional tracks go in the same direction, sometimes not. Due to the width of the hill, it would not be possible to properly accommodate a skier going down and climbing at the same time.

People seem to avoid walking on traditional ruts. Sometimes, however, a dog gets lost among them. Sometimes people also change the direction of their walking route, and when crossing the track rut, the foot may slip on them.

I try to stop one runner, but he doesn't have time or desire to talk about the traffic rules of the tracks.

Riikka Hannula (pulling a stick) says that she heard that the skiers are angry with the walkers on the trail. However, he has never been in that situation. He thinks that many people are not sure who is allowed to move on the slopes and how. Siiri Hannula is sitting in the basket and Kontantinos Chatzopoulos is walking with them. Picture: Rio Gandara / HS

Niina Nyman says that she once witnessed a near-miss situation on the track. “Once, at a downhill point, a walker was left wondering about it. He was in a pretty dangerous spot, and then a skier came downhill.” Picture: Rio Gandara / HS

People see a couple of reasons why there are a lot of people other than skiers on the slopes.

At least in the part of the track where we are, there is no sign prohibiting walking on the tracks. They bring this up Riikka Hannula and Konstantinos Chatzopouloswho pull a stick on the tracks Siiri Hannulaa. Riikka Hannula says that she has seen signs on the slopes of Paloheinä, which are popular with skiers.

The one on a cross-country ski run Niina Nyman I would like better signs for the track. Also Give it to Huju it is unclear whether you can walk between the grooves or not. He has just moved to Helsinki and is in Keskuspuisto getting to know the area. In the end, he decides to walk on the narrow flat area between the track and the ditch.

A team leader who knows about the tracks in the city of Helsinki Mircos Kienanen points out that there are several junctions from the paths to the tracks. That's why you can't put a sign at every intersection.

“I tried to think a little bit about whether I could walk carefully by this side so that I wouldn't run into skiers or get in trouble [perinteisen] tracks”, Anna Huju opens her thoughts when choosing a route. Picture: Rio Gandara / HS

Second the reason for walking on the slopes is indifference, one skier duo thinks. The run is just beginning, and the skis are not attached to the skis yet.

They don't often go skiing in Keskuspuisto, but have seen walkers in Malminkartano, for example.

“Some people think that if the path goes here in the summer, I will also walk here in the winter,” says one of them.

He says that last year he witnessed a situation where three walkers walked side by side on the track. Two walked on the edges on the traditional ruts, and the third walked between them.

Antti Ruuskanen says that he has skied “pretty much everywhere” in the capital region. Picture: Rio Gandara / HS

From Espoo Antti Ruuskanen is skiing in Keskuspuisto for the second time this winter. During the winter, he has already managed to ski “a few hundred kilometers”.

He is of the opinion that walkers do not belong on ski slopes.

“I know that here you have to be prepared for walkers and everyone else. I go elsewhere when I want to ski in peace without distractions. When I come here, I know they can be here.”