“Make sure you follow my tracks,” warns our snowmobiling guide, Martti Kiviniemi. “Otherwise, there’s a risk.”
“A risk of what?” I ask, really not wanting to hear the answer.
“It’s possible to take a bath in minus-20-degree water.”
A hot shot of panic runs through me. We’re standing on an enormous frozen lake in remotest northern Lapland, about to take snowmobiles out to go ice fishing. Ever since watching a film where a boy gets trapped beneath ice on a lake, this has been a big fear of mine. I consider baling, but then I remind myself that I chose to do this – that it has been my dream for years to see the Northern Lights (aurora borealis), go husky mushing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and – yes – snowmobiling across a pristine wintry wilderness. That I’ve paid handsomely for three days of frosty fun in Finland: outdoor adventures by day, aurora hunting by night.
So, it’s snow showdown.
After a safety talk, helmets are on, and we’re off across the flat white expanse of Menesjärvi (järvi is “lake” in Finnish). Other than it being nigh-on impossible to keep a steady speed and the “flat” lake surface revealing itself to be anything but, it’s great.
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