French tourist Ludovic Dacungo steps out of the hotel with a snowmobile helmet on, wearing a sturdy winter overall. Cars are idling here and there in the hotel yard, and clouds of exhaust gas are floating in the still frosty air.
Thursday morning in Kolar's Äkäslompolo feels milder than the last few days. The reading of the village thermometer indicates that it is 26 degrees below zero.
Dacungo, who lives on the shores of the Mediterranean in Montpellier in southern France, is about to embark on his first snowmobile trip with his wife. Neither of them has experienced frost before their trip to Finland.
“The cold is amazing. Such temperatures would be incredible in France,” says Dacungo.
Ludovic Dacungo listened to the guide's safety instructions before the first snowmobile trip of his life in Kolar's Äkäslompolo on Thursday.
Pakkanen has brought with it new bodily sensations.
“Pakkanen is physically heavy. When it's cold during the day, you sleep very well,” says the French tourist.
One day, the cold took away the sense of touch from Dacungo's fingers.
“It's brutal when the blood circulation returns to the fingers.”
The French group's sledding guide appears from the hotel and leads the group to the sled for a safety briefing. Soon, the sleds start screeching and the gang of overalls disappears on the route, accompanied by exhaust fumes.
The French group followed the guide's instructions.
On Friday the freezing temperature in Lapland reached record readings of the millennium, when the temperature at Enontekiö airport dropped to -44.3 degrees in the morning.
Bitterly cold weather and strong winds have affected the operations of ski centers this week.
“On Tuesday, one elevator was closed due to the combined effect of frost and wind for safety reasons. It's surprising that there is such a strong wind during freezing weather. After all, it doesn't happen like this every time it's cold,” says the slope manager Tuomo Poukkanen About Äkäslompolo.
Poukkanen estimates that the frost bite in the fells is well over thirty degrees due to the wind.
“Customers are instructed on many occasions that bare skin should not be visible at all,” Poukkanen says.
Gondola and chairlifts have also been closed this week in the Levi ski resort.
Sledders at Levitunturi on Tuesday.
Program services the companies that offer them have adjusted their operations due to the severe frosts. There have been strong local variations in temperatures and weather. Batch guide of Ylläs Experiences company Saku Nummen according to the Äkäslompolo village of Kolar has exceptionally been warmer than the surrounding areas.
“One evening we drove with customers a short distance to Äkässaivo, where the car's gauge showed 38 degrees below zero. We changed the plan and went to the forest of Kesänkitunturi, where it was about twenty degrees below zero,” says Nummi.
According to Numme, the snowmobile trips have been stopped more often than usual in severe frosts and customers have been encouraged to move.
“If possible, more active things have been done, such as snowshoeing, where the cold is usually not a problem.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the company also organized winter kayaking trips on the Äkäsjoki.
“The river seemed to be frozen in places where it has not frozen before. The flowing water can be a little on the freezing side, but paddling with dry suits is safe. Fingers and head can get cold when they get wet, but it's easy to warm them up,” says Nummi.
According to Numme, individual foreign customers have considered before the trip whether they dare to go into the freezing cold, but have been satisfied afterwards.
According to Numme, the clothing of customers going on an excursion is checked by asking what they are wearing underneath.
“Normally, clothes for sledding have been offered, but now equipment has been brought for other trips as well, which has made a little more work.”
Petko Marinski from Bulgaria traveled north to experience 30 degrees below zero.
At the beginning of the week as a companion to the severe frost, a more rare brisk wind blew.
On Tuesday, a large mobile home turned into the parking lot near Levitunturi in Kittilä. Bulgarian Petko Marinski jumped out of the car and stepped to the trunk door of the back of the car. Marinski dug out non-insulated car windshields.
The job was more difficult than usual, because in addition to almost 25 degrees below zero, a strong gusty wind tore through the insulation. Marinski first tried without gloves, but soon jumped inside to retrieve them.
Marinski drove with his family to Lapland in pursuit of the cold weather. The family's goal was to experience a thirty-degree cold. The Marinski family arrived in Levitunturi from Kiruna in Northern Sweden. It was already excitingly cold there on Monday, -36 degrees.
“The bottles used to heat the camper were empty. We had to keep the car's engine running to focus,” said Marinski.
Marinski thinks the bitter cold is interesting.
“It's not scary. In Bulgaria, it can be twenty degrees below zero in the mountains, but not thirty, Marinski says.
In the Nordic countries, the Marinski family also travels in the summer. Even then, they are after cool air. In the family's hometown of Sofia, the temperature can rise to 40 degrees in the summer.
“It's tough,” said the father of the family.
Despite the wind, Petko Marinski managed to place an insulation blanket over his car.
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