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Travel on Trial: Racing through a winter wonderland on a snowmobile in Finnish Lapland

Penny sets off on her snowmobile adventure in Finnish Lapland
Penny sets off on her snowmobile adventure in Finnish Lapland

When I was small, my mum used to create a miniature snow scene every December on our piano. She would scrunch up balls of newspaper and run sheets of cotton wool over the top.

She’d then carefully place figurines on the snow: a tiny house with a battery-powered light that would glow in the evenings, a miniature snowman with a yellow scarf and a black top hat, dainty pine trees frosted in white, and a round mini-mirror on which she would balance a graceful skater.

It was a magical world of white and I thought that this was what winter must look like where Father Christmas lived. For my siblings and I, the highlight was the bright yellow Playmobil snowmobile that graced this pop-up world, more highly prized than any reindeer sleigh.

So as I snowmobiled out across a boundless snow-draped landscape near Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, the modern-day home of Father Christmas, it was this childhood image that came to mind. It was a memory so vivid that I could almost hear the dulcet tones of Brenda Lee echoing from my mum’s stereo: “It’s a marshmallow world in the winter/ When the snow comes to cover the ground/ It’s a time for play, it’s a whipped-cream day... in winter it’s a marshmallow world.”

Rovaniemi, Lapaland
Penny's lesson began at Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi

I had started the day feeling apprehensive. As I pulled on what looked like a onesie fit for the Michelin Man’s blue cousin, balaclava and gloves, I tried to assess if the snow beyond the window was as soft as it looked – I’m rather accident prone and fully anticipated I would be catapulted into it at some point during the day.

Pedro Pires, our guide for the afternoon, talked us through how to start the snowmobile and, more importantly (for me at least), how to stop. He explained the various hand signals we should use: a palm in the air indicated stop, punching the air meant go and waving an arm up and down translated as “slow down or you’ll plough into me”.

Rovaniemi, with its bright lights and overly commercial vibe, trades heavily on its Father Christmas connections, but thankfully Pedro steered us away from the relentless Christmas music and we made our way cautiously around a track covered in dirty snow to get a feel for the snowmobile. Locals whizzed by as we crawled past a sign indicating a speed limit of 80km per hour (50mph). I gave a muffled laugh through the balaclava – we were barely going 20.

Finnish Lapland
The snowmobiles head out across a boundless snow-draped landscape

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Once we’d mastered the basics, Pedro steered our slightly disjointed trail of five snowmobiles out across the countryside and I was so distracted by the quiet beauty of the landscape that I didn’t notice we had left solid ground until I heard the ominous crunch of the frozen lake beneath me.

As I got used to the idea of a freezing cold death sitting directly below me, excitement took over and the vast snow-covered space became a fun platform for testing out the machinery. I nearly toppled the snowmobile as I went faster than a novice probably should and forgot to lean, plunging straight into a snowdrift.

As hoped, the landing was soft – so soft that after toppling off, I hurled myself in once again for fun before reversing out of my new burrow. Pedro decided this was a good time for a break and as the engines were slowly killed one by one, the world went quieter still. The absence of birdsong lent an almost eerie quality to the puffy landscape, and the cool blue sky was tinged with a faint glow of pink as the sun began to set on the short Arctic day.

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As darkness descended, Penny headed back to the bright lights of Santa’s Village

As we ventured into a nearby forest, Pedro cautioned us to slow down – snowmobile versus tree is apparently not a competition that humans ever do well in. But the change of scenery was worth the slow pace.

The light was soft in the forest as clumps of snow dripped from spindly branches and we cruised casually past a herd of reindeer. “There are no wild reindeer round here,” Pedro told us. “These are all tagged and owned by local people who leave them in the forest to graze on moss.”

We flicked on our headlights as darkness descended at 2.30pm. The beams glinted off the snow as we left our peaceful wonderland behind and headed back to the bright lights and incessant music of Santa’s Village.

We’d seen a small slice of the countryside; a light relief from the commercialism, and it had all been gifted by a snowmobile – thank you for the inspiration, Playmobil.

Need to know

Penny travelled with Northern Lights holiday specialist The Aurora Zone (01670 785012; theaurorazone.com) on the Rovaniemi – Aurora Hunting at the Arctic Circle Wilderness Lodge itinerary. Four nights costs from £1,395pp, including flights, transfers, half-board and guided activities including two snowmobiling safaris. Departures between Dec 4 2019 and March 18 2020.