Esko Vähäröyrinki, 68, from Vantaa, is in his third season skiing a respectable 6,000 kilometers, mainly in the capital region. The man is fine with his life.
Retired graduate engineer Esko Vähäsöyrinki, 68, from Vantaa, got drunk from ingesting skiing kilometers 23 years ago after a health check-up. Santtu Silvennoinen
Twenty-three years ago, master’s degree in water management Esko Vähäsöyrinki went for a health checkup at his workplace.
– The doctor said that something should be done, Vähäsöyrinki recalls.
He shook hands with the doctor and made a deal: more exercise, lower weight and get his diet right, and said he would ski a thousand kilometers next winter.
– The doctor didn’t believe it.
The man from Vantaa ran 1,100 kilometers, overhauled his diet and lost ten kilos.
– Then the moped went out of control.
After the ton, the goal was of course 2,000, then 3,000 and 4,000 ski kilometers per season.
– 12 years ago, I did a human experiment: I skied 5,000 kilometers during the season during my vacation from work. It’s my biggest achievement, because the kilometers were mostly in the evenings and weekends.
On skis to school
Born in 1954, Vähäsöyrinki grew up on a farm in Riihimäki.
– Behind the roadless taipele, the only possibility to get to the public school was by skiing, when the road was not plowed. The shortest route was three kilometers and it went across the fields.
The schoolboy pulled the wooden sticks and cleared the path of the dead end project.
– I was in the second or third grade when the teacher said that the one who can prove to ski the most will be rewarded. In the Pelto-Pirkka agricultural calendar left over from my father, I recorded the kilometers accumulated mainly from school trips with a ballpoint pen. As I remember, there were 360 of them in the winter. I got a spoon from the teacher.
By forcing into the hall
– During the season there have been really heavy sleet, says Esko Vähäsöyrinki, who only skis freestyle. Santtu Silvennoinen
This season’s skis in Vähäsöyring have been skied since Thursday morning. The diary shows 6,000 kilometers for the third year in a row.
– The first six tons were celebrated on the morning of May Day in Oittaa, Espoo. Now there are no bigger parties, although this season has a special emotional value – I will hardly ever reach these numbers again.
For 14 seasons now, the man has skied his first ton at the Kiviko ski hall in Helsinki. At the time, the ski hall, poorly built with private money, was closed in the winter as unprofitable. The decision was made by the city of Helsinki, which acquired the hall in the 2010s.
– I had to force myself to go to the ski hall almost every time at seven in the morning. The platform was good for 30 minutes at a time until it got muddy. The worst seasons have been those when you haven’t been able to go outside to ski until January.
Half crazy
The snow conditions of the 2022–23 season have been challenging but sufficient for the skiers of the capital region: they have been able to enjoy the outdoors since mid-November. The approx. kilometer cannon snow patch in Helsinki’s Paloheinä will be maintained until May Day.
– I would believe that my wife, my daughter, my five siblings and the rest of my close circle understand the importance of my hobby in terms of maintaining well-being. At the age of 68, I am in the best physical condition of my life, Vähäsöyrinki comments and continues.
– I considered myself crazy about skiing, but I’m only half crazy. I read a story in Iltalehti a year ago about a man living in North Karelia who skied more than 12,000 kilometers in the 2021-22 season, a person from Vantaa refers Pertti Jalkaseen.
“Like a drug”
You can still ski in Paloheinä, Helsinki. With this information, the track will be renovated until May Day. Santtu Silvennoinen
Vähäsöyrinki only skis freestyle, because 23 years ago, when the skiing craze hit, he wasn’t interested in buttering traditional skis. At that time, there were no more effortless fur and grip sole skis.
– I get an endorphin rush from vigorous sweat exercise – it’s like a drug. When during my working career I tried to ski only five times a week, I couldn’t get the drug: I slept badly, I suffered from migraines, and I couldn’t relieve stress, describes the environmental advisor who retired from the Regional Administration Office of Southern Finland in 2018.
Vähäsöyrinki has collected its kilometers this season mainly on Uusimaa tracks. During the 13-day ski trip to Levin, an average of 51.5 kilometers were accumulated per day.
Usually a man skis thirty times a day, preferably in Petiko, Vantaa. He has two pairs of freestyle skis, which are lubricated with paraffin on average once a week.
– During the ski season, you can eat as much food as you can. I go to the buffet table several times a week, and the weight just goes down. I’m on the underweight side.
A few years ago wear was noticed in the hip.
– The doctor said that an artificial joint will probably never be put in if I continue skiing. If I quit, the artificial joint will come in five years. The hip hurts in the fall, but when the ski season starts, it becomes completely painless.
How wistful are you when the season ends on Thursday?
– If you take the substances away from a drug user, there will be withdrawal symptoms. Yes, I get symptoms: I feel nervous quite a lot of mornings after coffee and Hesar, that what to do now, Vähäsöyrinki answers and adds.
– Fortunately, the motorcycle and Fillari are waiting in the garage, because there is a chance to get a substitute drug.