The changing of seasons – from a guide’s perspective

Here in Lapland we are blessed with four true seasons – winter, spring, summer and fall. Actually, according to the Laplanders, we have eight seasons, that gives you an idea of the continuous change of the nature. Activity-wise we have two seasons. Snow based activities are offered in the winter and spring months and summer activities in summer and fall. This means, that the gear and equipment changes twice every year. The snowmobiles are parked in the garage and the rubber rafts taken out, the overalls are put away on the attic and hiking outfits taken into use. But the guides are the same all year around.

Most of the programs that we offer our guests take place outdoors. The nature gives us such a fantastic playground, an amazingly beautiful stage and pampers us with fresh air, pure waters and calmness. The guides that work with us are talented and experienced outdoor guides, they are out there in all the seasons taking care of guests and presenting the fun and excitement of our programs as well as the stunning nature to the guests. A guide’s role is very versatile and requires technical, outdoor and social skills. A guide is a “good guy”, a nice person who is able to be in charge without being bossy, a person that likes to smile.

The winter’s most popular activity is snowmobiling. We offer several safaris and excursions and on a snowmobile you can get to places that might be out of reach otherwise. The summer’s most popular activity is river rafting. The rivers in Kuusamo are among the best in the country and apart from the excitement and fun; river rafting offers a sightseeing tour in our amazing nature park.

How does it feel from a guide’s perspective to be out on the free river with a boat full of guests when last time was eight months ago and all you have been doing is snowmobiling in-between? And do they have a favorite activity and season?

I asked Markku and Risto, our main guides, fantastic guys both of them, very experienced and always smiling. I have seen them and joined their safaris both in the summer and winter; they seem to be just as good and happy on the snowmobiles as in the rubber raft.

Markku has been rafting for 10 years; he said it used to be his hobby, his passion. Now it is work, but work he likes a lot. He started as a rafting guide and as he proved to the liking of our guests, he stayed the winter as well and took on snowmobiling. Markku says the changing of the seasons provide a great alteration into the job. The base is always to join the guests on the activity and make sure everything is safe and fun, regardless if winter or summer. Markku goes out to the river in the spring several times, to see if the ice is gone, how much water there is, is it flooded or safe to go. The guides in our area do a common test-rafting the first thing in the spring (and they have great fun together). They check the river, any changes caused by floods etc and the information is shared among all companies that operate on the river. Even if the winter activities have grown on Markku, one can see that he gets a special sparkle in his eyes when he talks about rafting.



Risto does really not have a favorite season. But he certainly has a not-favorite season: the in-between-weeks. That is basically 1 - 2 weeks in the late spring and again in the late fall. That is when all gear and equipment is changed, when the annual maintenance takes place, things are moved in and out of storages. The season when he is not out there in the free, beautiful nature, giving our guests memorable experiences and inspiring moments.