The competition director assures that, despite the exceptionally mild weather, the competition in Rovaniemi will be in reasonable conditions during the weekend.
There will be a skiing race at Ounasvaara in Rovaniemi this weekend. Jussi Saarinen
Considering the time of year, Finland has an all-time snow shortage, says the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Snow is record low at more than ten measuring stations during the 50-year measuring history.
The country is black or almost black, excluding some regions of Kainuu, broadly speaking, from Hanko to the Northeast.
This means that in most parts of Finland you can only ski on artificial snow slopes – if even on them.
– Skiing in Rovaniemi on the weekend is completely as planned. Minor snow removal operations were carried out on the ski bridges in the Ounasvaara area. It was an extra job of a few hours, which normally doesn’t have to be done at this time of the year, says the competition director of the cross-country Rovaniemi Suomen Cup Janne Hyyppä.
In Rovaniemi, the cross-country skiing championships and the Suomen cup are held from Friday to Sunday.
On Saturday, the program includes a 20-kilometer free joint start. The event is organized on a 3.3 kilometer course. Ounasvaara’s famous 5-kilometer race track would be in perfect condition, but only the 3.3-kilometer one is in use due to television.
– About half of the track is natural snow and the rest is artificial snow, Hyyppä states.
Very mild and rainy weather is predicted for the Arctic Circle during the skiing holidays.
– The tracks last. The weather determines whether you ski in soft or hard snow.
The streets and roads are black in the capital of Lapland, but according to Foreca, the snow depth at the Rovaniemi airport measuring point is 43 centimeters.
– There is 40–50 centimeters of snow on the slopes on the north side of Ounasvaara. The entire Rovaniemi piste network is no longer in skiing condition, but I would estimate that around 100 kilometers are still skiable.
Here we go
This is what it looked like at the Ounasvaara ski stadium on Thursday morning. Jussi Saarinen
The double relay championship was supposed to be skied already in January in Kuopio, but the event had to be canceled due to bitter cold.
A sweaty mittelö in traditional style will take place on Friday in Rovaniemi.
– Now there will be really good matches between the clubs, when there are more top athletes from the national team than there would have been in January, Hyyppä estimates.
Along with the pair relay and the free 20-kilometer race, Rovaniemi’s competition program includes the relays organized on Sunday. The distance for women is 3×5 and for men 3×7.5 kilometers.
The weather is quite wet in Rovaniemi. Jussi Saarinen
Ski boots go to the slopes in any weather as long as there is enough snow. Picture from Thursday in Ounasvaara. Jussi Saarinen
