On Sunday morning, I woke up with a terrible sore throat and cold. Perhaps getting only 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night for the past week finally caught up to me, combined with a sugar O.D. and a cold virus going around..
But, it was time to pack my bags and head to Oulanka Research Station, and I was NOT going to miss this opportunity.
The rooms at Oulanka are quite nice, really.
I slept 14 feverish hours on the bed on the left on Sunday night- It's amazing how sleep (and a little bit of prayer and fool's luck) can cure you of sickness.
Recording Crossbill calls with a mic/voice recorder
The ice hole. Did not venture here until Tuesday, due to my sickness.
My getup: the skiis and boots are ENORMOUS, and hard to manage, unless you are in 2 feet of powder. But, luckily, we spent most of our time in the woods. The boots are insulated rubber boots with a groove on the toe and heel which are cinched by the binding.
Beautiful scenery- with plenty of elevation change.
The research station is at the bottom of the valley, situated on the Oulanka River.
Everybody used skis, regardless of experience. The end result: plenty of wipe-outs to watch.
Props to these exchange students who have never skied before!
The evenings were free for plenty of card games-
Learned some new ones, and taught some familiar ones,
and played DOG with the Finns!!
Kuitaköngäs koski
Quite the contrast from flat-as-a-pancake Oulu!
Somebody shrunk Savu!
To me, this is despicable- a miniature husky- with all of the husky instincts, but the inability to follow any of them...
There was a dog team at the park HQ across the river, and I stumbled upon..
...Veikko?.
The avanto actually seems inviting!
Skiing out on a frozen lake
Drilling a hole with an ice auger
We took water samples every 3 meters to test how oxygen content depends on temperature
.. and went ice fishing for perch!
I caught one, but it was much too small to keep
The more fortunate ones enjoyed an evening snack
The annual sledding competition.
The hill was pretty decent size, and the corners were very hard to navigate- I didn't get past the first round
The Northern Lights marked the end of a very successful day- skiing, sledding, cards, sauna, and avanto.
Riisitunturi simply blew me away.
Words cannot describe the feeling.
Measuring and examining the snowpack on the peak.
At the top of the world- living in a post card-picture.
We had a picnic at a cabin down in the valley behind me- roasted sausage and had fresh coffee- thanks to our supply snowmobile!
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