Snow Surfing

Due the big snow amount,

we have had this winter in Lapland,

snow surfing has been the thing to do.

As many people I know, has been snow surfing,

as many people has been asking me

"What is snow surfing?"

This always little bit confuse me.

For first because it is weird that somebody doesn't know

at least one person who has done it.

And for second,

What can I say to explain it?

It is just what it sounds like,

snow surfing a.k.a surfing on the snow.

You know surfing right?

Big influence for snow surfing coming so popular

here at my living zone,

is my dear friend,

who taught himself to build a snow surf board

and then helped all of us who wanted to build our own.

The man is genius with his DIY skills

and the most kind person I have ever met.

So, before heading out to my next adventure,

I built my own equipment,

like a hardcore adventurer would do.

And I'm so proud of myself!

Plus it was super fun to design

my own pattern on the board

to make it look mine.

And then,

it was time to go test my new DIY board!

We headed to the back side of  Perhe-Luosto fell.

As my adventure companion told there would be perfect place.

And to be honest, I didn't question him,

as I had done snow surfing only ones before.

As had him too,

but this I learned afterwards.

As we arrive to the open back side of the fell,

the wind hit us.

The down hill was so high and steep,

I couldn't see the bottom.

"Are we really going down from here?!?!"

I was terrified.

This was not what I had in my mind

for first attempt.

He smiled at me.

"Yes, here! Are you scared?"

"Yes I am!"

"Good! Me too!"

And he laugh out of excitement and nervousness.

I was so far away my comfortable zone,

that I wasn't sure if this was fun anymore.

But, I gathered myself

and hop on my board.

I stayed up for two meters and fall down.

This continued for couple times.

The wind had blown all the powder snow away

and every time I tried to stand up,

the board slipped under my feet.

Finally we came to a common understanding,

that this is not going to work.

So we crawl in sinking snow to the edge of the field

and found actually some powder

from the cover of the trees.

And the second we stood up on our boards,

behind us came seven,

yes SEVEN,

free skiers

both side us,

and skied all the untouched powder away.

If I had been little bit irritated earlier,

now I was definitely not on the mood for this anymore.

I was tired off falling and crawling in the snow,

hungry and disappointed.

And I made it clear for my adventure companion.

(Thank you for tolerating me in this kind of situations)

We walked back up with our snowshoes,

made some pick nick on the top

and decided to head back to the other side.

We could get at least one round still going down to the car.

The front side of Perhe-Luosto was more gently sloping

and covered with big trees.

I hop on my board and surfed all the way down.

And I was thrilled.

There is no problem with my surfing skills,

I can actually do this and my board is functioning perfectly!

We both agreed, that this was good place for us to be today.

Therefore,

with the new energy from the successful ride,

we took so many rounds up and down,

that we only stopped when the day light started to fade away.

The snow surfing season is usually super short,

as you will need at least 20-30 cm loose snow for good surfing.

I'm writing this by my kitchen window,

where I can't see out anymore because of the snow.

And still,

I'm hoping for some new snow to fall soon.