Cross country skiing in Yllas Lapland

skies were used in Lapland for transportation and to get around, some of the oldest skies are over 4500 years old. History suggests Long before we skied for pleasure that skies were probably used even long before then. The skies were not built for speed however but simply designed to keep the skier on top of the snow so they could easily get around. Skiing carried on like this for quite some time until gradually like everything others cottoned on to the fun others were having and so skiing became popular further afield. Cross country skiing believe it or not was not really in existence until 1932 when it entered the Olympic agenda. Today cross country skiing is enormously popular with skiers far and wide and for the locals in Finland it is a tradition for cross country skiing on Christmas Eve. Yllas Lapland has over 300km of floodlit cross country ski trails and you can opt for longer trips or shorter ones if you are a beginner or have small children. Many of the trails in Yllas Lapland take you inside the Pallas national park where the views and nature are simply breathtakingly beautiful. There are so called warm tracks where the temperature may be some 15 degrees warmer than down in the village. Because there is such a varied choice on routes you can change your mind on route and take a different track if you wanted. Children are well catered for and you can easily hire skies for most shoe sizes for a small cost for the week. This means that you can participate in Cross country skiing in addition to other activities and most of the tracks are lit and open until 8pm. There really is nothing better than cross country skiing along the illuminated tracks, finished off on the way back home with a well earned drink and hearty meal.

If you haven't cross country skied before you can have lessons or you can just simply get on the tracks and have a go. It is different to downhill skiing and is harder work but the sheer beauty of the landscape and the ease of the tracks make cross country skiing a really popular sport. You will not have to book in advance to go on to the tracks; you will just need to secure your equipment beforehand. There is an abundance of hire shops and organisations around Yllas Lapland where you can get your hire equipment from. Learning to cross country ski is relatively easy and you will have absolutely great fun learning alongside your children, very often they take to the skies much better than the adults. Once you have mastered the basics you really will be off and you have the beauty of being able to learn straight away on the tracks. Many experienced cross country skiers will simply go around you if you are learning and with endless routes and tracks to choose from you will have all the space in the world