We arrived in Kittilä (1000 km up north of Helsinki and 200 km north of Laplands capital- Rovaniemi). After almost waited for 2 hours in the bus, because the plane of other travelers was delayed we started our journey. We finally made it to the Äkäskero Wilderness Lodge. The lodge is located in a national park called Ylläs-Aakensus Pallas and surrounded by mountains called Äkäskero, Linkukero and Mustakero. It was refurbished in 1993 and has 18 rooms – nice and cosy but simple. No wifi is offered on purpose to ensure people relax and enjoy nature. (www.akaskero.com). Already expected we checked in and got instructions for our outfits which were eagerly waiting for us infront of our rooms.

7 pm dinner and we decided to check size etc. before we start eating. We got overalls, shoes and in case required gloves and a cap. I can tell you getting dressed was already a challenges for us: we were a team of 5 plus one guide, in our case a Swiss lady (Steffi) who is a passionate guide since 13 years. I should mention that we signed up for the advanced tour as Rüdiger (he did already 8 tours) and his wife (Petra) said, that it should  not be a problem for us.😉

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Dinner was great and the Finnish beer is tasty as well, I did 2 extra “quality-check-rounds” to check if me judgement was correct 😜. We had a section in the lodge which was almost like a little separee incl. space before our rooms which was great to get familiar with the overall and the shoes. We as a group connected before the trip thanks to Rüdiger who helped us to navigate through the list of items we needed to buy for the trip.  All the others met there for the first time 🙂 The good thing was, that we could leave our luggage in the lodge  and only took our “tour gear” which should not be much more heavy as 8kg:  thermos flask, energy bars (for inbetween), socks, warm undergarments, 2 pair of gloves, head, wind mask, sunglasses, head lamp, long warm underwear, jacket for the blockhouses, toilettery, t-shirt, hoody, camera ..

Over dinner we have been told that it was around -5C and we were almost a little disappointed as this is similar to where we came from. No big deal at all.  We learned that we need to wear one lawyer per -10C so only one was needed.❄️

During breakfast before we left to drive to the Husky center  we have been informed about a slight drop in temperature 🤒. The night was clear, many starts  …….  –26C!!! This was by far the coldest ever for me.

It was absolutely amazing to arrive at the dog center: 600 Huskys, 30.000m2 space a d the best is: when a dog is to old to work which is when they are around 11 years they can still stay there. This apparently is not the norm,