The popularity of winter swimming has exploded so much that Kuusijärvi's sauna oasis is overflowing with guests. Some of them come from a long way.
Sun descends behind the veil of fog and envelops Kuusijärvi in a soft mist. On the beach in Vantaa, there is a continuous stream of people in swimsuits, the steam of their sweaty bodies merging into a cloud of fog.
The temperature is close to zero, and the sunset foreshadows frost. But that's just how people splash into the cold water, being careful not to slip.
The crowd is not unusual, although a weekday afternoon in January is not peak season. There are young people, students, perhaps shift workers, pensioners. There are people from Helsinki, Tuusula, Nurmijärvi, even Tampere.
During the last few years, the number of sauna users in Kuusijärvi has doubled.
While in 2018 there were a total of 84,000 saunas and swimmers, last year's statistical peak was already 157,000.
Redundant the popularity is the result of the explosive growth of winter swimming, says the deputy city manager of urban culture Riikka Åstrand.
Without marketing campaigns, the traditional summer beach has become a year-round recreation destination. If before winter swimming was practiced by burly seniors, now it is a pastime for a very wide range of people.
Winter swimmers can use three smoke saunas and electric saunas in the main building. From the smoke saunas, people pass in a continuous stream to the platform.
Niko Hilliaho prefers the small pier of the beach smoke sauna, even though it is not kept in working order in winter.
Today, local residents have to apply directly by applying. A man dressed in swimming trunks and an orange Oilers hat comes out of the smoke sauna door Niko Hilliahowho loves the oasis of his hometown.
Hilliaho has had time to visit Kuusijärvi for years. His observation is that there used to be more people from Vantaa.
The gentlemen's club next door commented that now people come to Kuusijärvi from afar. The last time the bus of the Canadian ice hockey team went to Kuusijärvi on its way to the competition.
“There are more foreigners than before,” Hilliaho confirms.
Markku Laukkane from Nurmijärvi has 21 years of experience in Kuusijärvi. He has observed how new swimmers have found Kuusijärvi. Kari Karvinen is one of them.
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urmijärväläinen Markku Laukkanen traces the turn of Kuusijärvi's popularity to the corona epidemic. In its aftermath, the number of visitors started to grow wildly.
Laukkanen has 21 years of experience in Kuusijärvi's services. He remembers how the old sauna building burned down, small saunas were brought in and the new smoke sauna was completed in 2013.
Right now, the city of Vantaa is opening a tender for the construction of two new smoke saunas and a shower and maintenance building. The current container toilet in the parking lot is to be replaced with a heated toilet building in the same tender.
The new saunas will be built next to the old smoke sauna. Construction begins after the summer swimming season in September. It should be ready in the spring of next year.
Two new smoke saunas and a new washroom and changing room building will start construction during this year.
Construction projects the budget reservation of two million euros caused a stir before Christmas on social media and in the tabloids.
Only after the bidding process will it be known what the final amount of the contracts will be. The offers can also be favorable, because the general economic situation favors construction right now. The amount will be determined during the spring.
Director of the Vantaa Spa Center Pekka Wallenius points out that the construction site is inconvenient, because the water and drainage connections have to be drawn from a long distance.
Saunas are also built to withstand very heavy wear. This increases the price.
Deputy city manager Riikka Åstrand believes that the secret of Kuusijärvi's popularity is that it is not too polished. Behind Åstrand and spa director Pekka Wallenius, you can see the slope where the new smoke saunas will be built.
The new changing and washing facilities will have seven showers for both men and women, toilets and changing rooms. The entire building will be accessible. Therefore, in the future, even those who use a wheelchair will be able to access the sauna.
Sometimes in the future, more construction looms, when the current main building with electric saunas and cafes will one day have to be completely replaced with a new one.
The ground heating system of the main building has already started working. It affects saunas so that in electric saunas the hot water sometimes runs out.
However, Wallenius is comforting that the problem is already being sorted out.
In the old one the beach smoke sauna has a bike ramp, but the rooms are small and therefore not completely accessible. There is only one shower on each side.
It doesn't hurt the pace. Tuusulain Kari Karvinen is there for the first time, but he is already completely sold. The man goes back and forth from the sauna to the open air and back to the sauna, and smiles with his whole being.
“This is the only smoke sauna open to everyone around here. Tuusula also has a smoke sauna, but it is available by appointment.
In Helsinki, winter swimmers can access the sauna if they belong to an association or club. You have to wait a long time to become a member of the associations. Saunas run by entrepreneurs usually work on an hourly basis.
You can come to Kuusijärvi in Vantaa every day of the week and bathe to your heart's content until 9 p.m. You can enter the electric sauna for 6.50 euros, the smoke sauna for 13 euros.
“Rich people and people from Russia are welcome to Kuusijärvi. For me, Vantaa should invest twice the amount here,” declares Hilliaho with his conviction, who thanks again for opening the sauna.
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