Jaatine – Porvoo, Finland
First off, ten quick questions with a why behind the answer or in this case twelve questions.
Knife or axe
– How dare u! I use knife everyday, but I love the axes.. dangit.. Knife, Axe.. I have to say knife.
Mountainview or Seaview
– There’s something mystical about the sea, but I’ll take the mountain.
Daytrip or spending the night
– Night trip, nothing better than spending the night, deep in the snowy forest, by the fire, with your friends..
Coffee or tea
– Coffee, outdoors.. And here’s how u do it.
(Use your burner, stove or whatnot, heat the water about (90°C) just before it boils.. Add the coffee, let it rest.. (do not add coffee grounds in boiling water!)
Early bird or night owl?
– I’m old man, so early bird.
Journey by trail or off-trail
– Off-trail, map and compass. If you follow the random trail, you get lost easily.
Tent or hammock
– Tent, hammock is for summer..
Book or movie
– I say book, my favorite is Verdun 1916, I can tell u my friends, that is a dark one.
Hot Springs or Cold Plunge Pool?
– Finnish winter is one big cold plunge so, hot Springs!
Canoe or Kayak?
– Both are great
Meadow or Forest?
– Forest for sure.
Firesteel or storm lighter
– Firesteel is a good backup, but when u really need a fire, or u die! Storm lighter is the one… And matches in every pocket.
When did you learn to appreciate being outdoors?
– Since I can remember, very young.
Biggest lesson learned being outdoors so far?
– OK, this is a two stories..
– First is, me (6years old) and my friend took a shortcut to home and got lost in the swamp, after my first school day..😅
Lesson.. yeah, didn’t learn anything from that..
-Second, this one we almost died..
It was winter 2005 me and two of my friends
went cross-country skiing in search of a good ”fatwood stump” Tervaskanto as we say in Finnish..
It was -15°C that morning and that was nothing to us in those days..
I had only axe, knife, headlight, very bad skis, 4 sausages and a big bottle of whiskey. My friends had the same kind of stuff, very light gear and food.
We found a good stump, about 1,5m long and some dry logs near by. We set up a fire, started boozing and you know.
No worries, life is good.. (see the story photo). We thought we had enough firewood for the night but, we did not.
So yeah, we were running out of the fire and decided to get back to the cabin, easier said than done.
All three, were shiiit wasted at this point, we could hardly even stand. My skiis are broken, so we had to take turns who has the working ones.
Temp is now somewhere in the region of -25°C and only getting colder, after about 1km my headlight dies and soon one of my friends headlight dies, it was too cold for led’s.
Two of us are now in almost complete darkness. The one with no skiis, goes ”balls deep” in the snow with every step, so we’re hardly moving at all.
I lost my axe somewhere during this time. At one point I see my friend trying to warm his fingers in his mouth, that’s no good I would say.
I heard that when hypothermia sets in you start to feel warm, and we were waaay past that point, I remember thinking that ”This place is good, I can stay here..” We finally did got back to the cabin, still cold as hell because there was no electrics, but we made it!
Next morning we looked at the map and the trip was only 3km, but it took us more than 3 hours.. 😅
Lessons:
– Don’t underestimate the nature.
– Don’t overestimate yourself
– Pack the right gear.
– Go easy on the booze..
Your top 3 must have, whether it’s a day trip or an overnight?
1. Knife
2. Fire starter kit
3. Food, beer, guitar.. 😅
Favorite season of the year being outdoors?
Late autumn, just before the winter.
If you could leave for one destination anywhere in the world tomorrow, for you to explore. Where and why?
I love the war history, so France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, to explore the old battlegrounds both WW-1 and WW-2 Somme, Ypres, Verdun, Dunkirk, Normandy, Caen, Cherbourg, Anzio, Carentan..
