Pictures, pictures and pictures!

[bauerb]

east coast powder day. skiers lined up for first tracks in man-made snow at Blue Mtn in PA.

[randoskier]

Northern Finland testing out my Fischer S-bound 98 skis with Rottefella Xplore bindings and Alfa Vista Advance boots.

Kilipsjarvi? Inari?

@randoskier it was in Pallastunturi. In Kilpisjärvi and Inari there is still polar night. In Pallas the polar night just ended.

Ah near the Torne River! Looks like nice terrain I had my wool mittens knitted just south of there on the Swedish side of the Torne River, in Lovikka a village famous for mittens though it is harder and harder to find real Lovikka mittens. Nothing is warmer in my experience, not even the Austrian boiled wool ones. Kilpisjärvi is the only town I have ever been to in Finland, been there 3x, once skiing from Abisko and twice walking there from Abisko, (Sweden).

[randoskier]

Kilipsjarvi? Inari?

@randoskier it was in Pallastunturi. In Kilpisjärvi and Inari there is still polar night. In Pallas the polar night just ended.

Ah near the Torne River! Looks like nice terrain I had my wool mittens knitted just south of there on the Swedish side of the Torne River, in Lovikka a village famous for mittens though it is harder and harder to find real Lovikka mittens. Nothing is warmer in my experience, not even the Austrian boiled wool ones. Kilpisjärvi is the only town I have ever been to in Finland, been there 3x, once skiing from Abisko and twice walking there from Abisko, (Sweden).

How do you like the bindings? My wife's should come today (Day 7 of waiting for DHL "Express" from Alfa in Norway)

[randoskier]

Don't pee in this one! This is a drinking water source so you do not have to melt snow.

[randoskier]

Rudolph

[Tom M]

Today's tour. More Alfa Free / Xplore / SBound 98 testing. Somebody has to do it.

[Woodserson]

Ah near the Torne River! Looks like nice terrain I had my wool mittens knitted just south of there on the Swedish side of the Torne River, in Lovikka a village famous for mittens though it is harder and harder to find real Lovikka mittens. Nothing is warmer in my experience, not even the Austrian boiled wool ones. Kilpisjärvi is the only town I have ever been to in Finland, been there 3x, once skiing from Abisko and twice walking there from Abisko, (Sweden).

I'd like to know more about these mittens

[mikesee]

Touring and turning in rural Idaho.

[the Big Mao]

OK, I tried, but nothing works, so just trust me---I'm tired of shovelling snow, running the snowblower, putting gas in the snowblower, and popping LOTS of advil, The cognac, I don't mind at all, but the old muscles are really screaming now, after 5 straight days of 3-4 hours of the above. And true to Washington weather, JUST as I got the final tunnel cut for the mailbox, we got freezing rain. WhooHa!

[randoskier]

Ah near the Torne River! Looks like nice terrain I had my wool mittens knitted just south of there on the Swedish side of the Torne River, in Lovikka a village famous for mittens though it is harder and harder to find real Lovikka mittens. Nothing is warmer in my experience, not even the Austrian boiled wool ones. Kilpisjärvi is the only town I have ever been to in Finland, been there 3x, once skiing from Abisko and twice walking there from Abisko, (Sweden).

I'd like to know more about these mittens

Swedish mittens- Heavy duty Lovikka (left) and medium wool $10 Swedish army-surplus with the trigger holes sewn shut.
There is a wiki entry about Lovikka mittens they are in the Guiness book for knitting world's largest mitten. You might find some on the internet somewhere, try to ascertain if they are genuine.

A British guide told me about these mittens and when I was driving through the area stopped and asked around in town where I might find some, and was directed to a local "wife" who could make them, she took hand measurements and about six weeks later my wife and I got them in the post.

There is no factory it is the wives of the town who knit them and card them, but I think there are less and less f them doing this. They are a real nice piece of traditional craftmanship. Super warm, the next warmest mittens I have found are the boiled wool ones from Ortovox in Austria, easier to track down too.