The amount of light easily causes the quality of sleep to deteriorate. At the beginning of May, the light was out for only five hours a day in the Kilpisjärvi ice skating competitions, where ice skating is a side event.
Kilpisjärvi The soundscape of village highway 21 is dominated by the roar of generators. The batteries of dozens of caravans and cars parked on the side of the road have to be charged somehow.
Those who came to the ice skating competitions have to stay on their own, because the inns in the small village do not have places for almost everyone.
At eleven in the evening, the sun has barely had time to set behind the horizon and will rise in less than five hours.
Motorized drills are prohibited in Kilpisjärvi competitions, so you have to make the holes with shoulder strength. On Friday, the competition time was about an hour.
The night of Kilpisjärvi no longer darkens in the middle of the night at the beginning of May. The couple walked north along the road from Talonpoika Lall’s gig.
Smoke billows from the chimney of the green tent sauna, which is partly set up on the asphalt and on the ground. A man walking by informs the sauna heaters that he is going to get a towel and come to the baths.
“Does it fit,” the man confirms and walks away laughing.
Most Lapland’s ski resorts get quieter after May Day. Now locals and people in the tourism industry have time to spend quieter weeks before the summer season kicks off.
For example, you can go to ice fishing competitions, where every year you don’t get any fish that meet the standards.
Paula Keskitalo, from Torni, had a sudden departure to Kilpisjärvi, so she didn’t take her ice equipment with her. According to his memory, Keskitalo hasn’t iced many times in his life: “I don’t know anyone who got into ice-skating as an adult.” As a travel companion, Keskitalo and Suvi Immon from Haapranta had spouses.
Raimo and Kirsi Ahola, who live in Salla’s Hautajärvi, are, according to their friends from Salla, lust lovers. On Saturday morning, Raimo Ahola grilled sausage on a miniature grill, the dimensions of which he didn’t notice when ordering. Before the competition, the Aholas were only going to go ice skating. “Yes, you can catch fish there, but not from the competition area,” says Raimo Ahola.
In the northernmost In Lapland, the onset of light is more sudden than in the rest of the country.
In Kilpisjärvi, there are 130 days between kaamos and nightless night. At the beginning of May, there are two weeks until the start of the nightless night.
The sun sets an hour and a half later than in Helsinki and rises an hour earlier. There’s only a couple of hours of twilight left.
In May, Kilpisjärvi has snow on the ground and the lake is frozen. Fresh snow can reflect back up to 95 percent of sunlight.
Researcher at the Department of Meteorology Kaisa Lakkala checked the total radiation at the beginning of May at the measurement points in Vantaa and Pallastunturi.
According to Lakkala, the total radiation is roughly the same in southern Finland and northern Lapland precisely because of the reflection effect of snow.
“The north often has a more open and wider horizon. There is more diffuse radiation from the sky, and therefore the experience of brightness is greater.”
Lahti-based visual artist Jaakko Vuorenmäki noticed the ice skating competitions while driving from a three-week free-falling trip from Norway and camped in his tent. Vuorenmäki says that he dreamed of the Kilpisjärvi ice skating competitions for a long time. He borrowed Oiva Alaluusua’s auger, but it got stuck in the ice.
Maren Brattli Guldberg, who lives in Bardufoss in Northern Norway, visits her family’s cottage in Kilpisjärvi. He usually ices on small lakes in the mountains. In spring, a Norwegian sleeps a little less than usual. In recent years, he has participated less often in Kilpisjärvi ice skating competitions: “I sunbathe at the same time. Maybe half of this is ice cream.”
In Oulu and the amount and quality of sleep of people living further north change in the spring.
“When there is too much light day after day, the quality of sleep deteriorates. Insomnia is the most in the summer months,” says the research professor at the Institute of Health and Welfare Timo Partonen.
The effects of spring in northernmost Lapland on people have not been studied in more detail. Partonen thinks that the symptoms and changes caused by the summer may not be as harmful as the symptoms that appear in the winter.
“Quite a few people live in Northern Lapland. In the small group, you should find people who would be interested in participating in the research during the summer.”
According to Partonen, the human body also adapts to abundant light.
“In addition, there is psychological adaptation, and symptoms are not allowed to disturb one’s own mind so much. On the other hand, regulating excessive light is easier than correcting a lack of light.”
According to Partonen, the majority of Finns consider summer to be the best time in terms of well-being: it’s bright and warm.
“Now it is like this for the time being, but as climate change progresses, the image may change, as the sweltering heat periods become longer and more common.”
On the other hand, kamos symptoms have been studied in Finland and other Nordic countries as well as in Canada and Alaska.
Kairanarikka in the corner of the tent set up as a concert venue.
Vilho Sieppi, who lives in Aura, tried the ice mask that Sieppi’s ice coach gave to a man born in Muonio. The mask is meant to protect not only from the sun but also from the wind. In the spring, Sieppi heads north: “Work prevents me from being in the north, even though I’m retired. Now you can live a little more freely.”
Spring it’s a natural time to laugh, says the fisherman and nonfiction writer from Kuusamo Markku Myllylä.
“Ice fish seem to follow the rhythm of the sun in spring. And it’s nice to be on the ice when there’s light.”
Fishing became a popular way of winter fishing in Finland since the 1960s. According to Myllylä, the development of ice auger technology was central to the increase in popularity.
“Making the opening with a pickaxe or an ax was quite painful. Not many could manage to do them.”
Considered the inventor of the modern twist drill Urho Ranta. Reamers sold today are still called ur-reamers.
I mill ice fishing is one of the easiest winter fishing methods. Its popularity is also explained by the fact that it has become a way of fishing included in every man’s right.
“Initially, ice fishing came to Finland in the early 19th century with Russian soldiers who fished in the sea off Helsinki. Over the course of a couple of hundred years, ice fishing has spread throughout the country,” says Myllylä.
In southern Finland, the ice season has shortened in recent years as a result of warm winters.
“It’s good if you can go ice skating for a few months in January-February. After all, in Kuusamo you can still go on the ice from November to Mother’s Day.”
Mervi and Lauri Soppela from Salla are waiting for the coffee to brew in their caravan. They have been going to Kilpisjärvi ice skating competitions for years and drove there two days before the competitions. Lauri Soppela feels more energetic in the evenings in the spring. Sometimes you have to get up at four for morning coffee. Mervi Soppela, who works in a tourism company, wakes up to work just as early.
On Sunday morning, the line of motorhomes started to thin even before the last race started.
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